Ironheart Picks Up After Wakanda Forever in New Marvel Series

Ryan Coogler is rolling hot. After earning another big hit with his most recent film, Sinners, the award-winning director already has another blockbuster under contract: Marvel’s upcoming limited series Ironheart. The studio just dropped a sleek, action-packed trailer for the show just in time for its highly anticipated June 2025 release.

The six-episode series, which will be the final TV installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Five, stars Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams (aka Ironheart), a teenage tech genius who is a protégé of Tony Stark’s in the comics. Marvel has positioned the new project as “a crime show with an Iron Man twist at the center.” As such, it may be one of the grittier and darker series in the MCU thus far.

Ironheart was first announced way back in December 2020 and was set for a 2023 release date. Marvel later shifted its long-term strategy, choosing to reduce the overall number of films and shows coming out each year. This was likely at least in part to address market saturation concerns, and pushed the premiere to this summer. Footage first seen during the 2024 D23 event teased “a new type of superhero” that lives in a “parallel universe to Tony Stark’s” and “employs her brain over brawn” to solve problems.

Marvel Studios

The character first made her on-screen debut in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In the film, she gets caught in a conflict between Namor and his blue-skinned minions after inventing a vibranium detector during her time at MIT. Throughout the film, Riri befriends Shuri (who finds her just as much of a nerd as she is) and helps Wakanda by building her armored suit (modeled on Iron Man’s) to combat the invaders. By the end of the film, the problem is solved, and Riri has to give the suit back to the Wakandans before going back to MIT.

A Game of Cat and Mouse

Ironheart will pick up not long after the events of Wakanda Forever. In the official synopsis, Marvel writes: “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).”

The show will feature a bevy of talented performers. Lyric Ross will play Riri’s best friend, Natalie Washington; Alden Ehrenreich will play Joe McGillicuddy; Manny Montana is Cousin John; Matthew Elam will take on the role of Xavier Washington; and Anji White will play Riri’s mother, Ronnie. Shea Couleé will be playing Slug. In addition, the series will welcome back to the MCU Jim Rash as the dean of MIT, a role he first played in the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War. Sacha Baron Cohen is also on board, though Marvel has yet to announce any details on his role.

The new trailer dives right into action. It begins with Riri being locked into a closed pizza restaurant, before getting stuck in an elevator full of poison gas with two minutes left until the place is completely flooded with the lethal vapors. We soon find out that the entire situation was an experiment, or “interview,” as the villain setting it up calls it, set up by The Hood. He informs her over the intercom that she’s going to die if she doesn’t break into a box with a gas mask in it that’s bolted to the floor of the elevator. Riri, however, has other plans and instead works on a “creative” method of escape.

Impressed with her resourcefulness, The Hood invites her to join his crime crew, of sorts, on an unspecified mission that’s not on the up and up. Riri is ready to sign on the dotted line just long enough to finish making her mask; however, The Hood’s pretty pleased with that for now. Later, though, her friends have some strong words for her for getting involved with the shady guy in the mask, especially Natalie, who can already see where this is going and doesn’t like the look of it one bit. The warning may not be completely off-base, either, given that The Hood tells Riri, “Anyone who has ever accomplished anything iconic in life has had to do some questionable things to get it done.”

Viewers will likely be kept guessing as to how far exactly Riri is willing to go to make her mark on the world and whether or not she can walk away from the whole thing unscathed (if that’s even a possibility). Ironheart is set to debut its first three episodes on Disney+ on June 24, 2025, with the final three dropping weekly after that. No second season has been announced, but it’s not out of the question if the show performs well in its first run. Marvel has also released a behind-the-scenes featurette to give fans an early look at the action, drama, and tension of the series.

Marvel Studios

Ironheart could be a major hit for the MCU, drawing upon the high-tech history of the Iron Man films to create a new kind of superhero crime series. With Coogler and Thorne on board, fans could be in for a real treat when the series finally hits Disney+.