Is ‘Ironheart’ the newest Marvel masterpiece on Disney+?
Is ‘Ironheart’ the newest Marvel masterpiece on Disney+?
Reviews are starting to come in for the newest Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show, and we’ll show you what critics are saying here!
Disney+’s TV shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have run the gamut of audience and critical reaction. For every beloved show like “Loki,” there is a “Secret Invasion” that fans and reviewers alike find forgettable, or outright bad. The newest MCU title to hit Disney+ is “Ironheart,” which premiered on the streamer officially on Disney+ on Tuesday, June 24. However, reviews were embargoed until episodes were live, so we are just now getting the chance to see what the critical consensus is on the miniseries. The six-episode season of the show will air its final three episodes on July 1.
“Ironheart” stars Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a returning character first seen in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Returning home to Chicago after a life-changing journey to Wakanda, Williams is bent on making a name for herself with her incredible technical prowess. But when she becomes entangled with the enigmatic Parker Robbins, Williams will have to pit her skills against the power of magic — something no science class ever taught her to deal with.
Unfortunately, because its main character is a Black woman, “Ironheart” has been the subject of review bombing attempts by internet trolls. But critics have been kinder; the show currently has a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 57 on Metacritic, indicating mixed or average reviews. We’ll go straight to the source and show you what critics are really saying about the show below!
Watch a trailer for ‘Ironheart’
Ironheart
After the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, technology is pitted against magic when Riri Williams, a young, genius inventor 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.”
Matthew Jackson | Looper
Created by Chinaka Hodge, a writer and rapper who’s worked on shows like “Snowpiercer” and “The Midnight Club,” Disney+’s “Ironheart” is meant to be not just a reintroduction to Riri in the MCU, but a summation of who the character is, what she wants, and what trajectory she’s on now that she’s been embedded in this strange world of gods, alien technologies, and superpowers. It’s a lot to ask for out of six episodes, and at times “Ironheart” shows the strain of having to carry a lot of weight in the MCU continuity. At its best, though, this is one of the finest streaming offerings the MCU has ever produced, a very solid and entertaining show with a great lead performance and, when it’s really cooking, flashes of brilliance.
Kaiya Shunyata | RogerEbert.com
In a post-“Thunderbolts*” Marvel landscape, a show focusing on the ragtag group found in this series could be what the MCU needs. But “Ironheart” is Riri’s story—or at least, it’s supposed to be. The inclusion of so many characters and subplots, while mildly entertaining, ultimately dilutes her arc. The ensemble cast has strong chemistry, but their presence shifts focus away from the titular character, doing a disservice both to Riri’s development and the team’s untapped potential.
Kelly Lawler | USA Today
“Ironheart” tries to be a few too many things without realizing at all what it’s meant to be. It’s a crime drama with multiple heists. It’s a revenge fantasy. It’s a coming-of-age story. It’s a narrative about grief and trauma. Some ambitious and thoughtful TV series can be all of these things at once, but “Ironheart” lacks the gravitas and aptitude for such a feat. There is no satisfactory explanation for why anything happens or why the characters act the way they do. It’s a story written for someone else that slots Riri into its protagonist spot.
Mike Hale | New York Times
Setting the tone and underpinning much of the plot, though, are the moral choices Riri must face up to, and the contemporary political and cultural context in which those choices are set. The show, which was created by the screenwriter and poet Chinaka Hodge, is not very successful at elevating those ideas into appealing storytelling the way that Ryan Coogler (an executive producer of the series) was able to do in the first “Black Panther” film.
Alan Sepinwall | Rolling Stone
Ironheart, unfortunately, seems destined to fall well short of iconic status. It’s one of the last vestiges of a version of the MCU that doesn’t really exist anymore, featuring one of the least compelling main characters in any of these shows or movies. While it has some interesting ideas and supporting players, the execution is uneven. And the season ends on a note that’s only satisfying if there are going to be many more Ironheart adventures, when it seems like the character is either going to be consigned to limbo, or at best will be a minor supporting player in some more famous hero’s story.
Ben Travers | IndieWire
The six-episode limited series feels like a long movie broken into arbitrary episodes, its ending is mired by digital gobbledygook, and Marvel still doesn’t know how magic makes sense in a universe ruled by advanced technology and literal gods. But head writer Chinaka Hodge does right by her characters’ emotions and the surrounding details, rooting her MCU entry in a dynamically conflicted lead, an affecting lead performance to match, and a strong sense of place, be it the city of Chicago or our hero’s home there.
Alison Herman | Variety
The ethics of artificial intelligence as grieving aid are just one of many bites “Ironheart” takes that cumulatively amount to more than it can chew. The plot elements start to snowball as the season unfolds, threatening to lose the most worthwhile ones in the flurry. “Ironheart” feels both physically and thematically separate from the MCU — until Alden Ehrenreich appears as a mild-mannered scientist connected to a marginal presence in the “Iron Man” franchise. Riri is a scientist obsessed with making machinery work — until magic, witchcraft and other forms of spirituality suddenly start driving the story. Parker seems poised to be the primary antagonist — until Sacha Baron Cohen steps in at the 11th hour.
Daniel Fienberg | The Hollywood Reporter
[Ironheart] is an odd sandwich of a TV show. Created by Chinaka Hodge, Ironheart has no choice but to start with 40+ minutes of clunky exposition and re-establishing, only to end with a frustratingly inert finale dominated by a distracting big-name guest star. In between those stale pieces of streaming bread, though, are four episodes that I frequently enjoyed. Boasting some likable performances and amusing flights (not referring to the show’s airborne power suit) of fancy, Ironheart peaks in its fifth episode with an extended action scene/product placement that I thought was a goofy blast.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”