'Ironheart' Makes a Major Pivot From the Comics With This One Change - Sunburst Viral- Latest News on Celebrities, gossip, TV, music and movies

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Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Ironheart Episodes 1-3.

Ironheart has finally landed after what seems like forever, and it hasn’t wasted any time establishing connections to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) is finding herself out of MIT and out of cash to keep her armor running after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which leads her to work with the mystically powered criminal known as The Hood (Anthony Ramos). She’s also found an unlikely ally in “Joe McGillicuddy” (Alden Ehrenreich), who secretly turned out to be Ezekiel Stane — the son of Iron Man‘s Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges).

But the connection that most fans were wanting to see was between Riri and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), especially since the two share a connection in the comics. Stark’s appearance in Ironheart was a long shot due to his death in Avengers: Endgame, so the series takes a different approach by giving Riri her second A.I. companion: N.A.T.A.L.I.E. (Lyric Ross). This is a change that actually works for the best, especially considering how Ironheart’s story is unfolding.

Riri Williams’ Comic Origin Saw Her Joining Forces With a Holographic Tony Stark

Riri Williams first appeared in Invincible Iron Man (2015) #9 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr., where she caught the attention of Iron Man after building an armor similar to his with spare parts she liberated from M.I.T.’s campus. Iron Man offered to train her as a hero, but that training would take a different approach due to the Civil War II storyline by Bendis and David Marquez. Iron Man and Captain Marvel came to blows when an Inhuman named Ulysses revealed that he could see the future; Captain Marvel saw it as a way to prevent crimes before they happened, while Iron Man was against it as he felt the future wasn’t fully set in stone.

Eventually, the superhero community is split down the middle, and Captain Marvel deals a nearly-fatal blow to Iron Man, forcing Tony Stark to transfer his consciousness to a holographic form so he can continue mentoring Riri. Eventually, Tony is able to transplant his mind back into his body, while Riri eventually joins forces with the teenage heroes known as the Champions. Ironheart would also headline her own ongoing series by Eve Ewing and Luciano Vecchio, where N.A.T.A.L.I.E. is first introduced. The first two episodes of Ironheart, “Take Me Home” and “Will The Real Natalie Please Stand Up?”, even mirror N.A.T.A.L.I.E.’s origin in the comics. While Riri is trying to create an AI companion for her armor, her computer scans her mind and creates a holographic version of her late friend Natalie Washington. This leads to one of Ironheart‘s best elements.

‘Ironheart’ Is Taking the Chance To Unpack Riri’s Past by Using N.A.T.A.L.I.E. Instead of Tony Stark

By starting off with N.A.T.A.L.I.E as Riri’s A.I. instead of Tony Stark, Ironheart is slowly starting to unpack the trauma that Riri‘s been through. Before the events of the series, she was close to Natalie until a gunfight broke out and claimed the lives of Natalie, as well as Riri’s stepfather Gary. Riri has also has to deal with more death, as she witnessed Wakanda’s former queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) sacrifice herself to protect her from the wrath of Talokan in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Ironheart even features a shocking death in its third episode, “We in Danger, Girl,” where Riri gets in a fight with The Hood’s cousin John (Manny Montana) and leaves him in a locked greenhouse after a heist goes wrong, eventually leaving him to die.

The experience causes Riri to go through a panic attack, and it’s only thanks to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. that she’s able to work through it. That’s not the only time that N.A.T.A.L.I.E. proves to be what Riri needs; in “Will The Real Natalie Please Stand Up?”, she confronts Riri over working with The Hood and rightfully points out that she doesn’t know anything about him — leading Riri to steal a piece of his cloak. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. also saves Riri’s life in “We in Danger, Girl”, first by piloting the Ironheart armor while Riri goes to get The Hood’s cloak and then breaking into the greenhouse to save her. These scenes are given much more impact by the fact that Riri and the real life Natalie shared a bond. In contrast, while Tony Stark was Riri’s first AI companion in the comics, they didn’t have that connection in the MCU, so this change was for the best.

What You Need To Remember from the MCU Before ‘Ironheart’

It’s time for Riri Williams to suit up once again.

N.A.T.A.L.I.E. Isn’t Like Any Other Artificial Intelligence in the MCU, and That’s a Good Thing

Throughout the MCU, we’ve seen other artificial intelligence come to life. Tony Stark would create J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y. to help him pilot his armor, and later helped co-create Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Age of Ultron would also see the remnants of J.A.R.V.I.S. form the Vision, and Spider-Man: Far From Home saw Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker dealing with the AI known as E.D.I.T.H., who had control over a network of drones. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. stands out from the pack because she feels like a real person: part of that’s the fact that she’s actually based on a real person in-universe, but part of it is also due to Lyric Ross’s performance. Ross infuses N.A.T.A.L.I.E. with plenty of wit, charm, and her dynamic with Dominique Thorne results in some of Ironheart‘s best scenes.

It also provides an excellent template for the upcoming Vision Quest series, especially since that show will be dealing with most of the artificial intelligences in the MCU. Suppose Terry Matalas wants to make Vision Quest one of Marvel Television’s standout projects.In that case, he should definitely look at how Ironheart portrays N.A.T.A.L.I.E. While Iron Man might not be a part of Ironheart, the bond that Riri and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. share means that this change was one of the best things that showrunner Chinaka Hodge did while adapting the comics to the screen.

The first three episodes of Ironheart are available to stream on Disney+, with the remainder of the series premiering on July 1.