Dominique Thorne reprises her role as Riri Williams in her own miniseries Ironheart debuting on Disney+ on Tuesday, and she has clearly plumbed the depths of this fan-favorite character in the process. In an interview with ComicBook ahead of the premiere, Thorne said that she was grateful the series didn’t go back in time for Riri’s origin story, and she felt the character had an equally important journey here, after her Marvel Cinematic Universe introduction in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She explained that this way, we get to explore what is holding Riri back from being the best version of herself as a person and a superhero.
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Wakanda Forever introduced Riri and gave fans some basic background on who she is and how she became a superhero, but we asked Thorne what was different about having the spotlight and the title card here. “I think the chance to really do a deep dive into who this girl is on her way to becoming,” she responded. “I was really excited by the fact that we wouldn’t necessarily be going back in time to before — like a prequel to Wakanda in that way — and reflecting on who she was and where she came from. But we’re really just picking up with the person that we got a glimpse of, and going back to find where she’s at in the world and see how she’s doing. I thought that was a nice entry point here.”
“Of course, like many of us learn through life, the only way forward is through,” Thorne went on. “Riri has taught me some things. You kind of have to go back at least a little bit in order to move forward anyway. So I think it’s really cool that we’re starting from where we are, and that in the process, we get to understand the things really affecting this girl’s heart and getting in the way of her being this ‘best version of herself,’ whatever that is, or being the ‘ideal superhero’ that some people might be expecting.”
Even in the brief time we spent with her on the big screen, it was clear that Riri deserved her own movie or TV show within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Born and raised in Chicago, Riri honed her natural genius intellect by tinkering on cars and other machines alongside her stepfather, and eventually earned her way into MIT. There, she designed and built power armor for herself similar to Iron Man’s suit, as well as the world’s first Vibranium detector.
The miniseries will be centered more in Riri’s world, bringing her into conflict with a fellow superpowered Chicagoan named Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) who has access to mysterious magical powers. The show kicks off on Tuesday, June 24th with a three-episode premiere on Disney+. The other three episodes will drop on Tuesday, July 1st.
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Image Courtesy of Pixar -
Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm
