Ironheart “Legacy of Riri Williams” Video Denies Passing of the Iron Man Torch
Ironheart is on the horizon, and the marketing for Marvel’s new Disney+ series is enough to give you whiplash. Last week, Empire ran a puff piece about the show where the lead actress, Dominique Thorne, recounted a conversation with Robert Downey Jr. in which the once and future Tony Stark wished her well and told her he was “rooting for” Ironheart to succeed, which was dutifully spun into a passing of the torch moment in which the new character, Riri Williams, was taking over for Iron Man, the hero on whose shoulders the Marvel Cinematic Universe was built more than any other. Thorne was also sure to include some no doubt Marvel-directed thoughts implying that Riri Williams was better than Tony Stark because she is self-made, while Tony had everything handed to him: “She’s dumpster-diving, whereas Tony Stark [was] this bajillionaire… What she’s able to accomplish is remarkable.”
Well, I guess that approach wasn’t met with the cheers and ticker-tape parades Marvel expected, because they’re trying something new with their next marketing gambit. Today, the studio released a short video called “Ironheart – Legend of Riri Williams” ahead of the first trailer for the series, which will drop tomorrow. The video features executive producers Ryan Coogler (who directed the two Black Panther films), Brad Winderbaum (head of television, streaming, and animation for Marvel), Chinaka Hodge (who is also the head writer and “creator” of the show; Ironheart was filmed before Marvel realized it needed a showrunner just like every other series, so don’t expect much), and Zoie Nagelhout (again, also a writer, and she also worked on the two Black Panther movies, Captain America: Civil War, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, and Daredevil: Born Again), as well as Dominique Thorne talking about Riri Williams and what she’ll be like on the show. It’s the usual promo material for a project, but what makes it so interesting is how they’ve pivoted hard from the Iron Man successor angle – and I mean HARD, as in Coogler, Winderbaum, and Nagelhout (the Marvel stalwarts) all emphasize that this is absolutely not a passing of the torch, and Riri Williams is her own character that has nothing to do with Iron Man. It’s hilarious, and you can watch all 106 seconds of it below:
My favorite part is when Ryan Coogler says that Riri Williams has her own identity completely independent of Tony Stark, and it’s followed by a series of shots that are actual, literal recreations of iconic imagery from the Iron Man movies. There’s Riri forging her armor with a hammer the same way Tony did in Iron Man, Riri going on her first wild test flight like Tony did, and Riri having her new armor fly toawrds her and cover her in pieces the way Tony did when trying on the Mark XLII armor in Iron Man 3. They can say Riri is her own original character all they want, but they can’t hide that she’s a derivative of Stark when even the filmmaking highlights this. Regardless of reality, it’s fun to see them change course so rapidly when trying to sell people on Ironheart; unless they’re complete idiots, Marvel has gotten the message that the audience doesn’t like the way they’ve been establishing their current lineup as the new versions of the original Avengers, especially because they’re all presented as being better than their forebears. This video talks up Riri Williams, which you’d expect, but they don’t compare her positively to Tony Stark, and that’s a big difference from the Empire piece, which now seems like the last gasp of the old marketing strategy, the backlash to which must have been pretty severe. I think they’re finally realizing what a terrible idea this was, and they at least need to stop dragging everyone’s favorite characters through the mud if they want to retain any of their fans.
Let us know what you think of the “Ironheart – Legacy of Riri Williams” video in the comments!
***
Get a META PC today; use code “199” to save on all purchases!
If you want to know what kind of political leanings movies have or just talk about cinema, check out the movie ratings community Criticless.
Get Your Geeks + Gamers merch here!
