Iron Man’s MCU Replacement Is Doing What He Never Could

Warning: This contains SPOILERS for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.Iron Man's replacement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is already doing something he never could, as Ironheart will see Riri Williams fight magical villains. Tony Stark's death in Avengers: Endgame has left the MCU with a major hole to fill. While characters like Doctor Strange and Spider-Man could become the new faces of the shared universe, it will be Riri Williams who will serve as Iron Man's more direct replacement. The first set photos for the series confirmed The Hood as Ironheart's villain, proving just how different Riri will be from Tony regarding which part of the MCU she operates within.

Ironheart's MCU story starts in a very different place than Iron Man's, as she first fought Namor and the MCU's Talokan forces in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Apart from how the MCU's Riri Williams has an origin story with ties to Wakanda and made her debut in the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever cast, another big difference between Tony and his replacement will come in Ironheart through her battle with Parker Robbins, aka The Hood. In the comics, The Hood is a villain tied to the magical side of the Marvel universe, as his cloak is powered by Dormammu. It is not uncommon for Iron Man to fight mystical or magical threats in the comics, but he never did that in the MCU. Now, Marvel is seemingly using that missed opportunity as a way to immediately set Ironheart apart as a legacy superhero.

Why Iron Man Never Fought A Magical Villain In The MCU

For most of Iron Man's time in the MCU, he was preoccupied with fighting villains that were tied to technology, and usually those that he helped create in some fashion. Obadiah Stane, Whiplash, and Aldrich Killian served as the primary villains of the Iron Man trilogy, alongside rivals like Justin Hammer and a fake Mandarin. Arguably, Iron Man's greatest villain was Ultron, a sentient AI that wanted to destroy the world. Although Iron Man's opponents also include fighting powerful villains from space like Loki and Thanos, Tony never faced mystical antagonists like Ironheart villain, The Hood.

Ironheart getting the chance to fight magical villains like The Hood directly reflects how different the MCU is now compared to when Iron Man's story was still unfolding. Marvel Studios started the MCU with a goal to keep everything relatively grounded at first and then build from there. Iron Man was a direct reflection of that, as Tony Stark's technology served as the ground floor for Marvel to build on. They could do super-soldiers and gods from there, but it was not until 2016 that magic entered the MCU with Doctor Strange. Iron Man's solo franchise wrapped three years before this, and his overall story ended just three years later when Tony Stark died saving the universe.

Marvel's decision to keep Iron Man away from magical villains in the MCU is mostly understandable. There is an argument that the most technological franchise would have been a great place to feature magic, which is why the expectation of The Mandarin being Iron Man 3's villain was so exciting. Knowing where the MCU went with the Mandarin and introducing Wenwu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, seeing Iron Man's technology fight Wenwu's mysticism could have been great. It could help Tony realize the limits of his technology or push him to even greater extremes. Instead, it will be Iron Man's MCU replacement who gets to be at the center of the technology vs magic battles as Ironheart villain The Hood enters the MCU.

Blending Magic And Tech Continues A Black Panther Tradition

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With Ironheart making her debut in the hi-tech, spiritual world of Wakanda, it's clear that Riri Williams isn't just a female Iron Man, and will be a legacy hero that properly pays tribute to two of the best-written characters in the entire first half of the MCU. While Tony Stark's story arc advanced the MCU's initial main plot, Black Panther — through Wakanda's Ancestral Plane — was the first MCU movie to truly bridge the gap between technology and spirituality, echoing Arthur C. Clarke's infamous words, "Any advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Ironheart debuting in this world and having closer ties to Wakanda than Tony Stark foreshadows the magical direction of her future as a legacy superhero in the MCU, especially with Ironheart villain The Hood making his own debut in Riri's upcoming MCU Phase 5 series.

While Iron Man's tech-heavy world will continue in War Machine's adventures in Armor Wars, Ironheart moves forward both Tony Stark and T'Challa's respective legacies, especially with Riri Williams striking a partnership with Shuri, the new Black Panther. This is likely what will tonally distinguish Ironheart from Armor Wars, though both are inevitably connected because both stars are Iron Man legacy heroes. As Armor Wars carries the military and political themes of the Iron Man movies, Ironheart is bound to further explore technology from a spiritual perspective like the Black Panther franchise, and bring Riri face-to-face with magical threats in a way Tony Stark never was.

Next: Will There Be A Black Panther 3? Everything We Know