Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Preview, TV, YouTube | Tagged: black panther, disney, Dominique Thorne, ironheart, marvel, riri williams

Ironheart Star Dominique Thorne on Riri Williams Return & More

Ironheart star Dominique Thorne discussed reprising Riri Williams, carrying forward the momentum from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever & more.

There is nothing like the "red carpet synergy" that a Marvel Studios premiere brings, and that's exactly what we got this week with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania bringing together a number of familiar faces from across the MCU. That means it gave us a chance to hear from Dominique Thorne (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), who will be reprising her role as Riri Williams for the upcoming Disney+ series Ironheart (which wrapped filming back in November).

In the first clip, Thorne shares how it feels to be carrying both the character and the franchise from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to Ironheart, followed by a fun response to a fun question about whether or not Riri's ready to take on Jonathan Majors' Kang:

And in the following red-carpet featurette, Thorne discusses the important themes that both her character and the upcoming series represent and why they're such important messages for both the MCU and the real world:

Dominique Thorne on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Ironheart Connections & More

Speaking with Variety in support of the film late last year, Thorne discussed what it was like putting on the 52.5-pound Ironheart suit for the first time and what viewers can learn about Riri from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ahead of the spinoff streaming series:

Putting On the Ironheart Armor for the First Time: "Ah, man, it was pretty cool, I'm not going to lie. It was pretty otherworldly to feel the weight of it. That was the quickest entry point into Riri Williams because, of course, I know that she's an engineer, she's a mechanic, I know she is a gearhead. She's into building things with their hands — very much from scratch — to form what's in her mind. Unlike some of the other suits that may be added in later with visual effects, the Mark I was all practical. To get to feel the weight of that on my body and just understand how it moves — you almost want to say it's clunky, but when you have it on, you realize, 'Oh, this is actually such a smart build, like all my joints are free so I have so much movement. But also, this is heavy as hell. And it flies? Whoa!' The doors open wide into Riri's mind and how she thinks; what she saw was possible and then actualized.

"Wakanda Forever" Offers Viewers an Introduction to Riri Williams… But There's More to Learn: "The film does such a good job of showcasing one sliver, one side of who she is. We get a little taste of the colors that exist within her — we see her as a hustler; we see her as a little bit of a bully; we see her fearful; we see her in all these different lights. But primarily, she is in a world of confusion. This is her outside of her element, in the very opposite of her comfort zone, so the Riri that we see, it's a bit of fight or flight [mode]. That's such a great place for the audience to be because by the time that they get to "Ironheart," they are in for the chance to sink into who she is truly, without the war of the worlds [between the kingdoms of Wakanda and Talokan] in the background. We get to see who she is day-to-day but also get a bit more of an understanding of the genius that got her into this situation in the first place.

Joining Thorne & Anthony Ramos (The Heights) in Ironheart are Lyric Ross (This Is Us), Manny Montana (Good Girls), Zoe Terakes (Nine Perfect Strangers), Regan Aliyah (XO, Kitty), and Shakira Barrera (Sprung, GLOW), along with Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), who's reportedly been cast in a key role. RuPaul's Drag Race winner Shea Couleé has also joined the cast in an undisclosed role, along with Cree Summer (What We Do in the Shadows). Reports are that Sacha Baron Cohen may be joining the cast (and the larger MCU) in the role of Mephisto. Sam Bailey (Dear White People) and Angela Barnes (Mythic Quest, Atlanta) have been tapped to direct the streaming series.

Created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato and debuting in 2016's Invincible Iron Man No. #7, Riri Williams (Thorne) is a teenage genius who made a major first impression by building her own version of Tony Stark's Iron Man suit- and would eventually go on to lead her own comic book series.

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