Ever since Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame, fans speculated whether Marvel Studios would pass the metaphorical torch (or, in this case, suit of armor) to a new character. Well, it came as a delightful surprise when Marvel announced the creation of an Ironheart show in late 2020, and now Marvel executives are saying that the same show will begin filming in April 2022.
For fans not familiar with the title, Ironheart is a character in the Marvel comic books that takes over as Iron Man after Tony Stark falls into a coma after the comic book, Civil War II. Her alter ego is Riri Williams, a teenage super-genius mentored by none other than Stark.
This update comes after Production Weekly released the production grid for several different projects in 2022. While a specific date in April hasn’t been given, the grid suggests it will be in the latter part of the month. However, the grid definitively tells audiences that it will film in Chicago: Riri’s hometown in the comics. It also provided the first synopsis for the show stating:
“Genius Riri Williams, inspired by Tony Stark, decides to build her own suit of incredible armor to fight for the good of humanity. This super-smart gal works hard and brings a lot of humanity to her role as the superhero Ironheart.”
What is known about the show is little, but we know that Dominique Thorne (If Beale Street Could Talk, Judas and the Black Messiah) is signed on to play Riri Williams and that Chinaka Hodge (The Getback, Snowpiercer) is on board to write the six-episode run.
Thorne spoke with BlackFilmandTv in February about the role and talked about her upbringing by two loyal Marvel comics fans and how that shaped her love for the part and her commitment to perfecting it. According to Thorne, she spent hours pouring over the comics to learn more about this relatively new character to the canon, and she is still open to doing more work to honor the character.
“I think my mother might disown me if I didn’t. It’s very much a Marvel household. I did know about Ironheart before I was approached with the role. So it was an awe-inspiring moment to think that I would be chosen to portray this woman and to bring her to the screen in this way,” Thorne said.
With little else reported on the show, fans are still hoping to hear news of current Marvel Cinematic Universe characters set to appear. Especially if they are Iron Man-centered characters such as Don Cheadle (Ocean’s 11, Hotel Rwanda) returning as War Machine or Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Chef) returning as Happy Hogan.
Marvel and Disney have not released an official word on if existing characters will cameo, but fans can still expect the show to release sometime in early 2023 if production stays on schedule.