Dominique Thorne made her debut as Ironheart in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Thorne sounds keen to return the favor to have a major character appear in her Disney Plus series.
Riri Williams is only a fairly recent addition to the comics canon, but saw her cinematic debut barely a decade into her existence. Thorne’s introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as is common fare in the series, was done with the intent of a spin-off series. Ironheart is deep into production, and Thorne has stoked the rumor mill by suggesting Shuri could appear in the Disney Plus exclusive.
Questioned about what the series will entail and its connection to the greater universe by comicbook.com, Thorne implied the cast of Wakanda Forever could make their way into Ironheart.
“Honestly, I’m going to say it’s the whole core ensemble. It’s really, look at me trying to answer without giving away the story line, but I definitely think the core cast is such, for the same reason that we’ve actually just touched on. I think, of course, I’m excited for folks to see more of Ironheart and to see these other layers that they didn’t get to, they didn’t get to see or capture in Wakanda Forever.”
Thorne has definitely learned the art of avoiding spoilers, with her giving almost a textbook example of “Marvel star promoting their new series and dodging questions”. There’s a reason why these people are actors, and it’s because of stuff like this. Ironheart has seen endless speculation surrounding potential characters, with Mephisto rearing its head again in the rumor mill.
The cast of Ironheart is already a strong one, with the likes of Shea Coulee, Zoe Terakes, and Alden Ehrenreich all confirmed for the series. Ironheart will likely debut in late 2023 on Disney Plus.