After the incredible success of the Spidey and his Amazing Friends Disney Jr. animated series, it didn’t come as a surprise that Disney would taking a similar approach for everyone’s favorite armored Avenger with Marvel’s Iron Man and his Awesome Friends. This preschool animated series follows the adventures (and misadventures) of best friends and super geniuses — Tony Stark/Iron Man, Riri Williams/Ironheart and Amadeus Cho/Iron Hulk — as they work together to solve problems, both big and small, and protect their city in their very own Iron Suits.
Ahead of the release of the Iron Man and his Awesome Friends, we had the opportunity to interview Executive Producer Sean Coyle and Co-Executive Producer/Story Editor James Eason-Garcia to discuss introducing everyone’s favorite armored Avenger and other Marvel characters to a younger audience.
Taimur Dar: This new Iron Man and his Awesome Friends preschool animated series is obviously in the same mold as Spidey and his Amazing Friends. However, it’s not a continuation. Was it ever discussed to have this animated series take place in the same universe or was it always intended to be its own separate continuity?
Sean Coyle: Our wonderfully talented supervising director, Mike Dowding, coined this phrase that we all ran with internally, “Spidey swung so that Iron Man could fly.” That’s how we always think about it. There are some similarities. That show was hugely successful and was a wonderful collaboration with Marvel and Disney Jr. From a business point of view, they just wanted to keep that relationship going and platform to introduce Marvel characters to young audiences. The no-brainer next step was going to be an Iron Man show. As far as how those shows fit together, Spidey is its own thing. Iron Man is its own thing. There are definitely themes that carry over from show to show like teamwork and the celebration of friendship. But they are two very distinct worlds but just similar enough that if we ever wanted to have any of their characters visit our West coast scenario or have any of our characters visit their East coast setting, we have the freedom to do that.
James Eason-Garcia: I like to say that we’re all building from the same sandbox but we’re building different castles. But everything is made up of that juicy Marvel sand.
IRON HULK
Taimur Dar: In this series, Iron Man is joined by friends Riri Wiliams a.k.a. Ironheart and Amadeus Cho now sporting the moniker Iron Hulk. As a comic fan, I wondered why James “Rhodey” Rhodes wasn’t part of the cast until I realized having a character named War Machine probably isn’t appropriate for a preschool cartoon. I’m curious how you thought to include Amadeus Cho?
James Eason-Garcia: For us, we were always focusing on who Tony is as a character. He is this super genius and one of the most brilliant minds in Marvel comic books. We wanted to surround him with other super genius characters who could build Iron Suits along with him. We always had Ironheart right there because she is already close to the Iron Family. As we were looking, we [realized] Amadeus is such a brilliant mind as well who is equal to Tony and Riri. It just felt like a good fit. Also, who doesn’t want a “Totally Awesome Hulk” to be a friend and a character to write for. That’s where it came around [to] center the show around super genius friendship.
Taimur Dar: Iron Man and his Awesome Friends also features a new canine companion for the team named Gamma. What went into her development?
ULTRON, IRON PUP
Sean Coyle: Everybody in the show loves dogs. James loves dogs. I love dogs. Our bosses at Disney and Marvel love dogs. It felt like a natural addition. It’s a show for kids and superheroes. Of course we want to have a superhero dog as part of their team. Who wouldn’t? Then you see the design of Gamma in this awesome Iron Suit. I still remember the day I saw the initial sketch.
James Eason-Garcia: It’s funny because this has been the summer of super dogs with Krypto over in Superman and we’re introducing Iron Man and his friends [having a] dog. Part of the fun was we wanted to explore this idea of, “What if a dog had iron armor? What could this dog do?” Gamma really is just a dog. She’s playful and fun. She has all the regular traits of a real dog. And then she gets armor and so all those traits are amplified. Instead of having zoomies, she has super zoomies. Instead of having a bark, she has an iron bark. It’s fun to get to play with that. Who doesn’t like having a cute, adorable dog sidekick to hang out with?
Sean Coyle: Krypto vs. Iron Pup! We’ll let the fans decide!
Taimur Dar: Moving onto the villains, you have some classic Marvel baddies reimagined for a younger audience. I would never have thought to cast the amazingly hilarious Tony Hale as Ultron. How did that brilliant casting decision come about?
ULTRON
Sean Coyle: We give all the credit in the world to our awesome casting director Allyson Bosch. She’s literally the best in the business. James and I and our companions at Marvel and Disney were brainstorming. Ultron is a very sinister character especially the representation by James Spader in the MCU. He was awesome in that role for Age of Ultron. How do we figure this out for kids and not make them poop their diapers. Allyson came to us and said, “Tony Hale is going to be Ultron. Don’t worry about it.” It was the most brilliant casting decision we ever heard. The first record we had with him, he pumped so much enthusiasm. He’s kind of manic but also very sweet. He hates humans so much that it drives him crazy but it’s fun crazy. He’s a gift. Our whole cast is a gift. Vanessa Bayer, Talon Warburton, and our amazing cast of kids [are] a true embarrassment of riches.
James Eason-Garcia: My favorite thing is we got Forky to be evil. [Laughs]. He’s not doing Forky in any way, shape, or form. But it’s still Tony Hale and he has a distinct sound to his voice. To hear him being so angry at children is really funny and entertaining. To Sean’s point, there’s a softness to him that you want him to show up in the episode. That’s the way with all of our kid characters and adult actors. Anytime they show up, they bring something special and fun to that role. Beyond our main cast, we have Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Spider. You feel that extra excitement that they’re there.
Taimur Dar: Finally, any particular episode or moment from the series that you’re excited for fans to see?
Sean Coyle: So many. For me, it was getting to introduce Captain America to this world. James runs the story stuff but he [asked], “Do you want to write the Captain America short?” And I was like, “Yes, please!” [Laughs]. In my brain, I can still remember the script page and Iron talking to Captain America and exchanging witty banter as they’re being chased by robots. This is a kid’s dream come true. I’m so blessed and thankful. The Sam Wilson version is our Captain America. To introduce that version of Captain America to a new audience is so fun and cool.
James Eason-Garcia: I have two examples. The first one, I am a huge Disney Parks fan as are plenty of people on our show and team. We decided pretty early on that we wanted to make Stark Expo a major location on our show especially to get Howard Stark voiced by John Stamos as part of the series. We tried to figure out how to make an expo preschool relatable. It’s Disneyland meets Epcot. We put those things together. Pretty early on we have a fun episode where we’re at Stark Expo and we lean into akk those classic theme park things. We have churros and the little stickers that kids get. Ultron is trying to take over Stark Expo with giant stickers of his face. It does evoke that Disney park vibe. We also do an episode where we get to go to Wakanda for the first time. Being given the chance to write Black Panther for our team and carry on that character’s legacy from the films to our series and introduce Wakanda as place to preschoolers is one of the coolest things. Getting to type down the words “Wakanda Forever,” in a script was one of the coolest moments of my career.
Iron Man and his Awesome Friends premieres on Monday, Aug. 11, on Disney Jr. (8:30 a.m. ET/PT) and later that day on Disney Channel, with the first 10 episodes available on Disney+ in the U.S. and select international markets and Disney Jr. On Demand the following day, Tuesday, Aug. 12.
