IRON HEART Explained: How WAKANDA FOREVER Sets Up YOUNG AVENGERS and MEPHISTO (no, really!)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever set up a new series Iron Heart. In this video we explain the new series, how it connects to the Midnight Sons, Vision Quest, Young Avengers, and Mephisto!

Edited by Harriet Lengel-Enright, Randolf Nombrado, and Brianna McLarty

#WakandaForever #IronHeart #Marvel

First I want to talk about Riri Williams from the comics–her origin, and how that is going to inform the direction of this show.

Just like in the movie, she is from the south side of Chicago, and grew up poor. But she was born extremely gifted, categorized as a super genius when she was just 5 years old. Now, remember, this is Marvel comics where there is super genius running around everywhere, so there was an actual protocol in place for this. Her doctor told Rir’s mom and stepdad that they had to show Riri the good side of humanity, so she didn't become introverted and turn into a supervillain [rpofessor chaos lighting].

Like most heroes, she has a tragic backstory, when her best friend and her stepdad were killed by a drive-by shooting when she was just a kid–and she watched it happen. And when she was just 15 she got a full-ride scholarship to MIT–the alma mater of her hero, Tony Stark.

When she was at MIT, she built her own reverse-engineered iron man suit, using spare parts and whatever she could steal from MIT. and the result was like what you see in the movie, kind of a janky–but functional iron man suit. Campus police tried to arrest her, but she flies away, and then she comes to the attention of Tony stark. He starts to mentor her, just in time for civil war 2 to break out in the MCU–and that conflict leaves tony in a coma.

So tony created an AI of himself to mentor Riri, as she filled in for him as Iron man–and she eventually renamed herself Iron heart. During this time she gets close to Pepper potts and Mary Jane Watson, who were running stark industries with the help of Today’s I Friday.

This is where we might see a few things in common with the TV show. Because Tony was technically missing, the board at stark industries tried to take over his country. And in Spider-Man no way home, we’ve seen that star industries drones were seized by damage control. And then those same drones were later used to chase down Kamala Khan. Got some theories on how this will affect the show that I'll go over later in the video.

Dddr squatch

Now there are a few things about her in the comics that we won’t see in the MCU, but they still say a lot about her character. Like, how she made friends with Dr doom.

Doug: but…but he’s a bad guy.

Yeah, I know. He’s my favorite bad guy. So while tony was si that coma, dr doom was trying to make amends for his troubled past, and he decided to become Iron Man. Riri told him to stop and the two of them started to bond over how boring school was for them because they are so smart… then RiRi guides him on a spiritual journey. [isnt it great we’re all better people, Wayne's world ending].

Let’s see, what else, she helped take down Hydra with the Champions, fought Thanos, and briefly fell under the sway of Blackheart, otherwise known as the son of Mephisto.

Doug: Not the bees, not the bees. [not the bees!]

And by the way, if you like our not the bees gag, maybe you’d be interested in our not the bees shirt in our screen crush merch shop. We just added a new shirt, which depicts the entire plot of when harry met sally as a star wars scroll.

But moving back to Iron heart, a key moment from the comics that will likely affect her show is the underage superhuman welfare act, which outlawed teenagers from becoming vigilantes. And this meant that RiRi had to give up being Iron heart, temporarily, o course,

[darrienjohnson]

Can we all applaud the rise of Ryan and ScreenCrush. Thanks for all the work you guys do 👏🏾

[kurtpearson]

I just love Doug. Always with the best questions. Smart dog.

[NickelAntonius]

Also sets up Armor Wars, by giving Okoye and Aneka suits with the Iron Man style HUD. I know the Midnight Angel suits are Shuri-Tech and not StarkTech, but a plot element in the comic story was that some characters' armor and suits were mistaken for StarkTech and hunted down by Iron Man (Stingray in particular).

[zengamer]

Ryan's dedication to mispronouncing as many names as possible is actually kind of admirable in a strange way.

[WestsideMas]

I'm super glad you did that "Hood" gag cuz ever since the announcement, I couldn't stop making that comparison lmfao like yeah she's from Chicago, of course she's gotta fight against the hood 😂😂😂

[julijan]

Honestly after wakanda forever i cant wait for iron heart series.

[nicholasgarrick]

I can see happy hogan, and war machine looking after riri.

[ibapreppie]

People are going to keep throwing Mephisto out there in every movie til he finally appears.

[samurexatlas]

11:05
But... with Ruri being 19, so legally an adult(18) that really wouldn't impact her.

[thembanitheone]

I hope this show improves on Wandavision by providing an adequate explanation for why no masters of the mystic arts investigate the magical threat. They haven't really been seen doing their jobs outside of the Strange-Wong duo.

[Moncriefs]

"The Villian is the hood"🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣, as a black person, this shit is funny asf

[s.v]

You are just pumping these great video's the last days! Love your videos sooo much!

[wisemoon]

I don’t think Riri could be subject to an Underage Vigilante law, because in the US legal adulthood begins at age 18. If Riri is 19 in Wakanda Forever, she’s already an adult.

[jklein]

This is the first time ive heard kang being related to Rere and I think that would be awesome.. explains some things

[RyNoBlade]

Kang as a descendent of Riri is actually a really dope theory.

[blackreaper]

My theory is we will learn Riri Williams is a Snap Victim, in 2016 she was a 15 year old Child Prodigy attending MIT and was one of many who received Tony Stark's Grants and was in attendance during the TED talk. She has a tumultuous relationship with Tony Stark as she never met him face to face but his contributions to MIT opened a doorway for her projects to be seen such as her Vibranium Tracker. In 2018 a now 17 year old Riri was snapped and upon returning in 2023 she owed her life to Tony Stark who had died to bring everyone back. She later learns that the snap was hard on chicago and her family and she wants to be like Tony Stark and use her genius to make living in Chicago better, hoping to build her own Iron Man style suit. 2025 rolls around and she's 19 and Events of Black Panther Wakanda forever unfold and she gets the chance to experience the vast technology of wakanda before returning to MIT.

My theory in Iron heart is that She will be placed on a DoDC watchlist while MIT also keeps her on a probation, her friend will become the hood and as chicago falls apart she'll create the new Iron heart Suit. Pepper will approach her in the end for doing what's right, something that Tony always did no matter the trouble it got him into and ask for her help in protecting his legacy and revealing that DoDC and the US government have appropriated all of Tony's AI and Armor tech and that pandora's box is open.

[RSumm]

Walanda Forever was really such a central movie for the next steps of the MCU, it makes sense that it closed phase 4

[mrman]

You guys are terrific. Thanks for the nice videos.

[grendelkahn]

Riri guided Doom on a spiritual journey...modern comics smh

[Jherick]

9:12 That cover for Secret Wars is freaky but awesome! OMG! I just now realized it! This is awfully similar to the movie posters for Endgame. Everybody is looking at something we can't see. The colors are about the same. Even the light effects look similar. I wonder if this comic art inspired the movie poster