Black Panther 2 tried its best to fill the Ironman gap with the young hero Ironheart — but in doing so, MCU complicated things for Riri Williams. After Tony’s sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, MCU really needed a smart and integral character to take his place, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came running for the save. It is the first movie since Endgame to feature an armor-clad hero as an official MCU replacement for the infamous Tony Stark.
Besides the star’s performance, MCU fans always have a keen eye for every character’s backstory — messing it up means fans will have a harder time connecting to the character. While Black Panther 2 tried its best to portray Ironheart as a ferocious superhero, it has already ruined the young inventor’s story plot. Let’s find out how.
Ironheart’s Origin Was Significantly Altered By Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was used to pave the way for the solo MCU outing of Ironheart in the form of a TV show. In doing so, the directors entirely forgot about Riri Williams’s origins. In the comics, Williams was as a quite young inventor who caught the attention of Tony when she used his Mark 41 suit to build an armor for herself. However, in the movie, no particular source links Williams to the superhero mentor.
Along with that, the movie varies from comic books in multiple ways. Starting from her comic book age, Riri Williams is a 15 years old comic character that was revealed to be a child prodigy at a young age. However, in the movie, she is 19 years old. But that’s not the biggest deviation. The significant difference is in the Williams superhero mentor. The Marvel comics made Tony the sole mentor of Riri Williams, as they both had quite a few things in common, but Black Panther 2 replaces Tony with Shuri and Ramonda, which makes it completely opposite compared to the comic book concept.
How Ironheart Can Fix Riri’s Story
Even though Black Panther 2 tried to give a new life to Ironheart altogether, it messed up Riri Williams’ story for comic book fans. However, there’s still hope that Ironheart can canonically restore Riri Williams’ story. After Tony’s death, we won’t see Ironheart and Ironman in a single frame. So, bringing the exact comic story to life won’t be possible… unless the multiverse comes into play.
The only shot of fixing Riri Williams’s story is her non-vibranium suit. Introduction to Wakandan technology and equipment only served to take the character further away from her original roots. To realign her, she would have to build a version of the suit without Wakandan technology — that seems impossible after Black Panther 2. The bottom line is that Wakanda Forever did not tackle Ironheart’s backstory properly. If the Ironheart TV show follows Black Panther 2′s steps, it wouldn’t be good for Riri Williams either.
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