Marvel Makes Final Desperate Ironheart Marketing Push
Ironheart premieres tonight; shall we take one more amusing look at Marvel’s desperation over yet another Disney+ series nobody wants? It’s surprising, but every time I think they’ve finally pulled out all the stops in promoting this show, Marvel does something else that seems even more pleading. First up is a bit of a re-run – actually, more like a re-run of a re-run. In May, an Empire article had the series’ star, Dominique Thorne, talk about hearing from Robert Downey Jr., the once and future Iron Man (and, in another case of Marvel’s naked desperation, the future Doctor Doom), and receiving his seal of approval. I don’t doubt the story, but I’m also sure this was calculated by Marvel’s marketing team to make people feel like Tony Stark wants them to watch the show. Not long after that, a “Legacy of Riri Williams” video was released in which the show’s producers denied that Riri was taking Iron Man’s mantle in what appeared to be a shift in messaging. A month later, they shifted right back by having Thorne again mention that people should watch the show because Downey likes it, which was followed by Downey “interrupting” an interview on Good Morning America to voice his support for Ironheart. Now, he’s done it again in a sketch (let’s not pretend this is anything else) where he gives Thorne a wakeup call to remind her that her show premieres tonight, and he can’t wait:
https://youtube.com/shorts/Fav-ABC8LnM?si=OYR2HVkQwPh0Yh_E
If nothing else, the video suggests that Robert Downey Jr. is a better actor than Riri Williams because at least he’s trying to sell this as a natural conversation. And as I said last time Downey made a video, I don’t have a problem with this marketing strategy; it isn’t bad or anything, just one more indication that Marvel knows they’ve got yet another bomb on their hands. Nobody tried to get one of the Avengers to tell everyone to watch Moon Knight, for example, because Marvel didn’t yet realize that they were turning off their fanbase with these awful shows, among other reasons. (To be fair, I didn’t watch Moon Knight; maybe I would have if Captain America told me to.) But this is kind of late in the game; it’s the day of the show’s launch, and they need Robert Downey Jr. to remind people once more to tune in while on the set of the next Avengers movie.
Speaking of which, that’s another strategy Marvel is putting the pedal to the metal on. When Dominique Thorne mentioned Downey the second time, she subtly suggested that Riri Williams may pop up in Avengers: Doomsday and/or Avengers: Secret Wars. The point of this strategy is obvious: make people think they need to watch Ironheart to understand the upcoming Avengers movies, something that worked well for Captain Marvel, sandwiched between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, with a post-credits scene at the end of Infinity War that teased Carol Danvers’ involvement in Endgame. (Ironically, Ant-Man and the Wasp was much more important to understanding parts of Endgame, and that one didn’t get the post-credits boost.) Last night, at the red carpet premiere for Ironheart, producer Ryan Coogler – director of the Black Panther movies – teased that Ironheart may introduce a concept central to Doomsday’s antagonist:
#Ironheart executive producer Ryan Coogler on spectral magic and how it could play into the next projects in the MCU pic.twitter.com/Wll7cvfl85
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) June 24, 2025
Ironheart is now going to lead into Doomsday by introducing the concept of fusing magic and technology, according to Coogler. And while he says this is more of a happy accident than an intended connection between the two projects and characters, it’s worth pointing out that Ironheart underwent reshoots between February and April of 2024 – right around the time Marvel officially decided to replace Kang the Conqueror as the next big Avengers villain after months of rumors of Doctor Doom stepping in to be the new heavy. I don’t think it’s a leap to assume that these elements were added to Ironheart to make it look essential. It also makes these last few phases feel more planned than they clearly were. Remember, for example, in Iron Man 3, when Tony Stark was leaning on artificial intelligence to an unhealthy degree, and this led to the creation of the titular villain in Age of Ultron? The difference is that the Ultron setup involved Tony Stark, the key figure in that storyline, while the introduction of melding magic and tech will come from Riri Williams instead of Victor Von Doom. One is a natural story progression, while the other is a desperate attempt to make a minor character relevant. Moreover, it is another example of how Marvel is rushing Doctor Doom’s inclusion in the MCU, bypassing character development to get to a big-name villain; his emergence as the new big bad will have him chasing crumbs left by Riri Williams, and no matter how much they try to drill it into our heads that Ironheart is on the same level as Spider-Man, she is a very minor character in the Marvel Universe, not some phenomenon that took the world by storm.
But they’re still operating the drill, which brings me to the last point, the one we all knew was coming. The race card is now in play, with The Huffington Post (of Huffpost, or whatever KFC-style rebrand they call themselves now) playing up how Riri Williams is the first black woman to put on Iron Man’s armor – while also making sure to let people know that she is her own person and shouldn’t be compared to Iron Man. It’s laughable not only in how inconsistent the messaging is but in how specific they have to get: they have to say she’s the first black woman to wear the armor because they want to gloss over James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Tony’s best friend who is also War Machine. Not only is War Machine being brushed aside, but nobody seems to care that his show, Armor Wars, was turned into a movie and then just kind of disappeared. I wonder if people would have been more interested in a War Machine show than Ironheart; I guess we’re not supposed to ask those questions. Regardless, strap yourselves in for Ironheart, and be prepared for all the names Marvel, Disney, and their media sycophants will call you if you don’t love it.
Let us know what you think of the final Ironheart marketing push in the comments!
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