Marvel Television’s Ironheart series might have just introduced the perfect new villain for the upcoming Young Avengers team in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and it’s not who you’d initially expect. Ever since she debuted in the MCU back in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams, the armored hero Ironheart, has been a popular candidate to become a Young Avenger. While the team hasn’t yet formed, she could join Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, Wiccan, Speed, Cassie Lang, and more as a team of young heroes, but Riri Williams might have a darker role in the team.
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In the final moments of Ironheart episode 6, “The Past Is the Past,” Riri Williams strikes a deal with Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), who finally made his MCU debut in the Phase 5 series. While their deal might set up Mephisto as a villain for the Young Avengers, a new Reddit theory suggests it’ll be Riri Williams herself who opposes the team, perhaps with Mephisto working through her. The demonic villain’s influence over Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) turned him into a monstrous creature, and the same now seems to be happening to Riri Williams.
The same dark veins that covered most of the Hood’s body during his time working under the influence of Mephisto started to appear on Riri Williams’ arm when she hugged the resurrected Natalie (Lyric Ross) in Ironheart’s finale. This means that Riri’s next appearance as Ironheart in the MCU could easily feature her as a manipulated villain, and she could pose a significant problem for the Young Avengers team. This kind of hero-to-villain story is popular and has been done many times, but now that Mephisto’s in the mix, it would be given a new layer of complexity and poignancy.
Riri Williams debuted in the MCU as a hero, fighting as Ironheart alongside Shuri’s Black Panther (Letitia Wright) and the Wakandans to protect them from Namor (Tenoch Huerta-Mejía) and his Talokanil. However, she didn’t display many heroic tendencies in Ironheart, and was actually something of a wrongdoer. She joined Parker Robbins’ crew of low-level Chicago-based criminals to take control of TNNL and Heirlum, all the while manipulating and blackmailing Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich) to use his advanced black market technology and secret laboratory.
The fact she’s already proven herself to be corrupt, selfish, and something of a villain – especially now that she’s working beneath Mephisto – means Riri Williams’ Ironheart would be a fantastic villain for the Young Avengers. Of course, we want Riri to become a steadfast hero, continuing Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) in the best way, but her current position as Mephisto’s lackey means a villainous future may be on the cards first. The idea that Ironheart has taken another step towards the Young Avengers’ debut is very exciting, though we’re yet to see which villain this new team will face.
Do you want to see Riri Williams’ Ironheart become the Young Avengers’ first villain? Let us know in the comments!
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