2 years after it finished shooting, Marvel just gave us our first proper look at the MCU project we never thought we’d see

If 2024 was the MCU on a diet then 2025 will be the cinematic universe on supersize portions. You know all those Marvel projects you heard about years ago and then wondered what happened to them? Well, wonder no more as next year is when they are all about to land. Daredevil: Born Again, Wonder Man, Thunderbolts*… Every project held up by the 2023 strikes is finally coming to screens in 2025. As is Ironheart, although that’s a whole other story.

Disney Plus is celebrating the new year early as this adrenaline-pumping, hype-rising promo (see below) teases all the key new releases set to hit the streaming platform next year. The two-minute trailer features fresh looks at everything from The Bear to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, not to mention Ironheart. The ad contains our best look yet at Dominique Thorne back in action as Riri Williams, first introduced into the Sacred Timeline in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Ironheart new look teases the Black Panther spin-off we’ve been waiting years for

It’s been a full two years since Wakanda Forever released, and in an ideal timeline, we wouldn’t have had to wait so long for Riri’s return. Ironheart seemed primed to follow up on Ironheart’s MCU debut at top speed seeing as the show entered production way back in May 2022 and was wrapped up by that December. And then Marvel just… sat on it.

The delay to Daredevil and Wonder Man was unavoidable thanks to the writers and actors’ strikes preventing the studio from working on them for much of last year. Ironheart, however, was already in the can long before the strikes came about, so it should’ve been good to go in 2024. Tragically, word has it that Marvel was not pleased with the first cut of the show and was waiting to go back for extensive reshoots. Sure enough, additional photography happened between February and April this year.

A likely reason for why this one has caused Marvel such a headache is because it has strong ties to the wider MCU narrative. Not only is Riri a Black Panther universe character, she’s also the inheritor of Tony Stark’s Iron Man mantle. And as if that wasn’t enough, Anthony Ramos’ villain, the Hood, belongs to the ever-expanding supernatural side of the MCU. Rumor has it that Mephisto may even finally make himself known in this show… as played by Sacha Baron-Cohen!

When is Ironheart hitting Disney Plus at long last?

Until very recently, we weren’t even sure if Ironheart was coming in 2025 as it looked like it was going to become the TV equivalent of the Blade reboot. Thankfully, the six-part series — starring Thorne, Ramos, Lyric Ross as Riri’s best friend, Natalie, and Solo‘s Alden Ehrenreich as Ezekiel “Son of Obadiah” Stane — is now locked into a premiere date.

Catch it when it blasts onto streaming just over half a year away, on June 24, 2025. Yes, that will be almost three years on from its original production finishing and a full five since it was first announced in 2020. It had better be worth the wait!