Dominique Thorne Builds Her Legacy in Ironheart

Director Ryan Coogler is already following up on the massive box office win of his most recent film, Sinners, with another upcoming big-screen superhero project in Marvel’s upcoming limited series Ironheart.

A new official trailer for the show has just dropped in advance of the June 2025 release, and it gives fans a first look at the crime-drama series that will star Black Panther: Wakanda Forever breakout Dominique Thorne.

Ironheart, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, follows Tony Stark’s protégé Riri Williams, a teenage tech genius who becomes Ironheart in the comics. The series is slated to be the last TV installment of the MCU’s fifth phase.

Ironheart was originally announced back in December 2020, with a release set for 2023, but Marvel would go on to change its five-year strategic planning, moving away from a big slate to a smaller one. Marvel later admitted that they were “a little fatigued” with the quantity of MCU content, which led to them repositioning the release of the series to this summer.

Featuring footage from the 2024 D23 convention, Ironheart was described as being “almost like a crime show, with an Iron Man twist at the center of it,” with Thorne noting the character would have a “unique, sort of dorky edge to her” that could give the MCU series a more “earthy” or “real-world” feel than its typical superhero output.

Ironheart sees the character’s first solo outing, although she first appeared in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she found herself in the crosshairs of Namor and his blue-skinned army after developing a vibranium detector at MIT. During the film, Riri befriends Shuri and other scientists at MIT, in part due to their common love of science, and eventually develops an armored suit in the likeness of Iron Man in order to help the Wakandans fight against Namor. After the threat has been dealt with, she has to relinquish the suit to the Wakandans before leaving to return to MIT.

Mixing Tech and Magic

Ironheart is set to follow shortly after the events of Wakanda Forever. According to an official description, “Set after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ironheart pits technology against magic when Riri—determined to make her mark on the world—returns to her hometown of Chicago. Her unique take on building iron suits is brilliant, but in pursuit of her ambitions, she finds herself wrapped up with the mysterious yet charming Parker Robbins, aka ‘The Hood’ (Anthony Ramos).”

Rounding out the cast is Lyric Ross as Riri’s best friend Natalie Washington; Alden Ehrenreich as Joe McGillicuddy; Manny Montana as Cousin John; Matthew Elam as Xavier Washington; and Anji White as Riri’s mother, Ronnie. Newcomer Shea Couleé also stars as Slug. The MCU will see a return from Jim Rash as the dean of MIT, reprising the role he previously had in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and Sacha Baron Cohen is also confirmed to appear in an as-yet-unconfirmed role.

In the newly released trailer, viewers see Riri arrive at a closed pizza restaurant. She ends up in an elevator filled with poison gas that has only two minutes before the doors automatically lock. Her struggles to escape only work to increase the tension, but it’s revealed that this is all a test of some kind by a mysterious person calling himself “The Hood” that he has set up to scout for new talent. The Hood interrupts her on the intercom, with her quickly learning that she is suffocating and must break into a floor-mounted device with a gas mask before it’s too late. Riri, naturally, has no intention of doing what the Hood demands, and she instead comes up with her solution.

Impressed by her skills, The Hood agrees to help Riri on an unspecified project that isn’t exactly legal. Riri has no problem joining him, at least not for long, as she wants to show the world how to build something “iconic.” This concern is shared by her friends, in particular her best friend Natalie, who expresses doubts and a concern about The Hood’s potential criminal leanings. She could be right, as the Hood tells Riri, “Anyone who has ever accomplished anything iconic in life has had to do some questionable things to get it done.”

Marvel has confirmed that the first three episodes of Ironheart will be available on Disney+ on June 24, 2025, with the other three episodes releasing weekly after that. There are no current announcements of a second season, but that could always change if it finds success. In the meantime, those who want a first look at the show can check out the trailer and a new behind-the-scenes featurette to tide themselves over.