How Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Sets Up Marvel's Ironheart Disney+ Series

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now playing exclusively in theaters, taking the Marvel Cinematic Universe to some shocking new heights. Not only did the film serve as a conclusion to the franchise's "Phase 4", but it catapulted forward the narrative into a number of new stories. Some of these stories have already been confirmed — including Ironheart, a Disney+ exclusive series that will follow the further adventures of Riri Williams / Ironheart (Dominique Thorne). Riri made her live-action debut in Wakanda Forever, proving to be a unique lynchpin in the events of the story, and also setting up her spinoff series in the process. Spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever below! Only look if you want to know!

The film sees Riri's technology — namely, a Vibranium-detecting device — put her in the crosshairs of both the Wakandans and the Talokans, who have wildly different outlooks on the world having access to Vibranium. Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) rescue Riri before the Talokans and the U.S. government can get to her, and discover that she has made her own Ironheart mech suit. Riri and Shuri become close allies in the conflict with Talokan that follows, and Riri is able to build a second Ironheart armor with the help of Wakandan technology. Riri then uses the suit in the fight against the Talokans and prepares to return back to America, but Shuri convinces her to keep the second Ironheart suit in Wakanda, so it can't fall into enemy hands. Riri then leaves for her hometown of Chicago, Illinois — with a perfectly-recreated version of the sports car that she was rebuilding in her old garage, as a tribute to her father.

How does Wakanda Forever set up Ironheart?

For starters, the events of Wakanda Forever make it clear that Riri won't be at "square one" of her personal superhero journey. She has now gotten acquainted with a pretty significant part of the superhero world, visiting Wakanda and fighting against centuries-old underwater beings. This adds an interesting layer to the events of her Ironheart solo series, which is confirmed to be seeing her face off against an entirely different otherworldly domain — magic, in the form of Parker Robbins / The Hood (Anthony Ramos).

Even on an emotional level, the events of Wakanda Forever are sure to fuel Riri's personal journey going forward. Namely, the fact that Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) died to save Riri could be a unique driving force for her character going forward.

Are you excited for the Ironheart spinoff after Black Panther: Wakanda Forever? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now playing exclusively in theaters. Ironheart will debut on Disney+ at a later date.