In the comics, Ironheart is a straightforward tale: Riri Williams, a teenage genius, reverse engineers an Iron Man suit. Tony Stark notices her brilliance and becomes her mentor. Boom. Done. Easy. Inspirational. Marvel had one job—but instead, they decided to throw in every unnecessary plot twist imaginable and turned what could’ve been a grounded tech origin into a chaotic mess.
For a Genius, Riri Is Dumb
Let’s get this out of the way: Riri is brilliant. She’s an MIT-level genius, builds advanced tech from scraps, and could land a cushy job at Stark Industries if she wanted. But instead of being the next prodigy of Stark’s legacy, she says:
“I’m gonna plagiarize my way into a quick buck and get expelled so I can build my suit now!”
Okay. Lesson learned, right?
“Nah, I’ll join a criminal heist group instead.”
Things go wrong. A person dies. Time to lay low?
“Nope! Let me sabotage the next job, kill the boss’s cousin, and get my friend arrested.”
Her boss makes a deal with a devil and becomes corrupted. That’s clearly a red flag, right?
“Actually, I’ll make a deal with that same devil to bring back my dead stepsister!”
This girl isn’t just walking into danger—she’s sprinting into it with fireworks strapped to her back. Her every move feels like the opposite of what a genius would do. It’s like she’s allergic to good decisions.
How Ironheart Should’ve Been Written
It’s so simple. Make her reverse-engineer the Iron Man armor. Let Pepper, Rhodey, or even Happy take notice. With Tony gone, the logical progression is someone picking up the torch—not crashing it into a wall at full speed.
Throw in conflict: Hammer Industries, HYDRA, AIM, EXTREMIS, Zola or even Kingpin trying to pay her for her designs. She gets tempted by money but ultimately chooses to protect, not profit. That arc alone would be a beautiful tribute to Tony Stark’s legacy. A story about innovation, responsibility, and identity.
But nope—we got magical artifacts, devil pacts, crime lords, and a heaping spoonful of “what even is the tone of this show?”
Mephisto: The MCU’s Most Wasted Icon?
Mephisto is Marvel’s literal devil. He’s big-time. He belongs in a Doctor Strange movie, or WandaVision, or Moon Knight. But nope—Marvel drops him into an Ironheart show like he’s some random side quest boss.
That’s like putting Kang in an Ant–Man movie- Wait a second…
Conclusion: It’s Bad
Marvel had gold in their hands and threw it into a blender. Ironheart could’ve been Marvel’s next grounded, tech-based legacy story. Instead, we got a muddled, bizarre, borderline disrespectful mess that forgot what made the character great to begin with.
2/10.
A tragic waste of potential wrapped in a magic-meets-tech slop fest.
Muhammad Hariz