Iron Man met his maker in Avengers: Endgame, leading fans to wonder who will take up the Armored Avenger’s legacy in the future of the MCU. There are numerous options out there – maybe Rhodey could get a promotion? Or Pepper becomes Rescue full-time? – but probably the most popular is that the recent comic book character Ironheart is introduced into the franchise. In fact, it’s something that Spider-Man actor Tom Holland certainly wants to happen.
The Spider-Man: Far From Home trailers have played up the fact that Peter Parker is continuing his superhero’ing in Tony Stark’s honor, with him even being asked if he’s “the new Iron Man.” However, this isn’t something Holland would want for his character, as he told Fandom that he thinks Riri Williams/Ironheart would be the best successor to Tony.
“Her name’s Ironheart; Riri. She’d be a cool person to bring to the big screen … the multiverse opens up so many doors where we can introduce so many cool new characters like Ironheart.”
Ironheart was introduced into the Marvel universe in 2015. A gifted, precocious student who engineered her own armor, Riri is a 15-year-old African-American girl. Making use of her in the MCU would certainly fit with studio president Kevin Feige’s wish to make the franchise a more diverse place with better representation moving forward.
And Holland’s not the only star who supports the character appearing in the movies, either. None other than Robert Downey Jr. himself has said that he wants to see Riri join the MCU crew at a recent event, which excited Ironheart comics writer Eve Ewing. With all this talk of the heroine making her live-action debut, it seems likely that she’s at least on Marvel’s radar to potentially make an appearance in Phase Four. Fans have even come up with an idea of how she might look on screen.
Do you want to see Ironheart in the MCU, though? Sound off in the usual place below with your thoughts.