When the character Riri Williams (played by Dominique Thorne) made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut back in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the idea was that we’d be seeing the character again the following year in her own Disney+ show Ironheart… but 2023 came and went without Ironheart, and the show still doesn’t have an official premiere date. This has caused some fans to speculate that Marvel and Disney+ might have decided to scrap Ironheart, along with the series Wonder Man, which had Yahya Abdul-Mateen II taking on the role of the title character, who is also known as Simon Williams and hasn’t been seen in the MCU yet. But no, Ironheart and Wonder Man are not being scrapped, and in a new interview with Agents of Fandom, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation Brad Winderbaum described the shows as spectacular, amazing, and different.
Winderbaum told Agents of Fandom, “We’re editing both of those shows as we speak. They’re spectacular, they’re amazing, and they’re different… We’re able to explore corners of the universe that are really exciting. Riri Williams is one of them and I cannot wait for people to meet Simon Williams.“
As for why Ironheart is taking so long to make its way out into the world, that is entirely due to the decision to take more time between the releases of Marvel movies and shows. Winderbaum said, ” “Frankly, in all honesty, there was a mandate to kind of create as much as we could for Disney+ as quickly as we could. And then, there was a shift, and all of a sudden, we have to start spreading our release dates out. So, that really accounts for a lot of the delays.“
Dominique Thorne stars in Ironheart as Riri Williams, “a genius inventor who creates the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man”. Anthony Ramos takes on the role of Parker Robbins/The Hood. Also in the cast are Manny Montana, Shakira Barrera, Alden Ehrenreich, Regan Aliyah, Shea Couleé, and Zoe Terakes. We’ve heard that Sacha Baron Cohen was in talks to play Mephisto, but his casting has never been officially confirmed.
Chinaka Hodge, whose previous credit include Snowpiercer and The Midnight Club, is the head writer on the series. Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes direct the episodes. Ryan Coogler, who was behind the Black Panther movies, is an executive producer on the show.
Wonder Man focuses on one of Marvel’s oldest characters, as Simon Williams was introduced back to 1964, in the pages of Avengers #9. “He began his comic book career as a villain but got reintroduced as a hero in the late 1970s. Wonder Man’s civilian name is Simon Williams, and he was a founding member of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Avengers. As an actor and stuntman, Williams’ look included wearing a turtleneck, a red jacket, and sunglasses. Wonder Man strongly relates to Marvel characters Vision and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. The trio shared several adventures, with Wonder Man and Vision thinking of each other as brothers in action. After Vision was dismantled, the villain-turned-hero developed intense feelings for Wanda.”
MSN notes that Abdul-Mateen is joined in the cast by Ben Kingsley, who reprises his Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings role of actor Trevor Slattery; Demetrius Grosse, who plays Simon’s brother, Eric Williams, an Avengers villain from the comics known as the Grim Reaper, and Ed Harris as Simon’s agent, Neal Saroyan. Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton as a producer on the show, with Andrew Guest (Hawkeye) serving as the head writer.
Are you looking forward to Ironheart and/or Wonder Man? Let us know by leaving a comment below.