Somewhat unsurprisingly, Ironheart closes out its first season (and there is reason to suspect the plan does go further) with a mid-credits stinger. Unlike with the MCU’s slate of movies, Marvel’s Disney+ shows have been inconsistent about whether or not to include them. With Ironheart, the tag feels like a statement: a deliberate choice to hint at what’s next for one of its main characters. And yet, as with several recent MCU projects, it’s hard to shake the feeling that what is teased comes at the expense of a far more exciting direction the show could have taken. As well as the worrying sense that it might not actually lead to anything at all. SPOILERS for Ironheart follow.
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Instead of tying its hero into the expanding corner of the MCU where younger, more emotionally vulnerable characters are slowly being gathered (and tested), Ironheart circles back to its magical subplot. Honestly, that choice feels less like closing a loop, and more like looping aimlessly, which is a bigger issue with Ironheart’s ending overall: it doesn’t exactly prioritise closure.
The credits scene finds Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) – formerly The Hood – visiting the Stantons’ mystical curio shop. Still stripped of his powers and his hood after his confrontation with Riri, he’s looking for access to the kind of magic that could clearly make him formidable again. And he’s probably out for Riri’s blood, given he knows she killed his cousin John. Despite limited explanation for how he knows about the shop or the Stantons’ magical secret, he asks Zelma where he can find some magic. Strangely, Zelma barely seems to react to the villain she helped take down appearing in her safe space. The long and short of it here is that The Hood isn’t done, and he has a plan to somehow exploit the Stantons’ magic to return to power.
Ironheart Ignored The Perfect Young Avengers Set-Up
The problem isn’t that Parker Robbins is still in play, that’s fine, as long as something comes of it. Anthony Ramos delivers a compelling version of The Hood, and there’s dramatic potential in watching a villain claw his way back into power. But Ironheart ends with a bit of a reset, because she makes another questionable decision and ends up allied to an even worse villain than The Hood in the name of getting what she wants. A different post-credits could have at least moved Riri into a different phase of story, as well as manoeuvring Mephisto into a larger role.
Obviously, elsewhere in the MCU, a new kind of team is quietly forming: Kate Bishop, Kamala Khan and Cassie Lang are already basically locked in, and other youthful superheroes could join the growing ranks of the Young Avengers initiative. Thing is, we don’t know where they’ll appear next or what they’ll be doing to justify their existence. Riri is not just a natural fit for them because of her age and skills; she’s a necessary one. Her intelligence, drive, and ethical complexity add a lot to the group (we know this because Iron Man did the same for the Avengers). So a credits scene where she crossed paths with Ms Marvel, who we know is recruiting actively, wouldn’t just have been exciting fan service; it would have been a smart investment in the next generation of MCU storytelling.
Especially if that threat was Mephisto. There’s some history in Marvel Comics between Mephisto, Riri, and a young heroes team: it was, admittedly The Champions, and Mephisto’s agent was his son Blackheart. But the story of Blackheart infiltrating the team and turning new members against the originals to create a sort of emotional civil war was great fun, and Mephisto doing the same would be a great way to pay off the set-up of the villain without having to drop him into either of the upcoming main Avengers movies. Right now, it feels like there’s no plan for him, other than the tease, and the missing post-credits would have avoided that.
All 6 episodes of Ironheart are available now on Disney+
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