Marvel Studios’ “Ironheart” represents a pivotal moment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, centering Black girl brilliance and innovation as it expands into new territory. The Disney+ series, debuting June 24, 2025, follows the journey of genius inventor Riri Williams and explores themes of friendship, grief and technological prowess through a fresh lens.
Stars Dominique Thorne and Lyric Ross bring depth and authenticity to this groundbreaking story, embodying characters whose relationship serves as the emotional core of the series. As Marvel continues to evolve and tell diverse stories, “Ironheart” stands as a testament to the power of representation in superhero narratives, offering young audiences new heroes who reflect their own experiences and potential.
How does it feel to be part of Marvel moving into another generation?
Dominique: I think it’s exciting. It’s cool. I mean we both were talking about how central MCU has been in our lives since its inception and so for it to be approaching a point where they’re looking to continue to expand and to tell new stories and to explore other parts of the universe is so exciting and it’s very cool. [Furthermore] to think that they’re gonna include little us. [The] journey is incredible.
What was the energy like on set?
Lyric: It was a whole bunch of things. Oh boy. It depends who was on set I feel like. I think I had [a lot of energy] too. I mean I had to dance one time. A lot of required dance parties. We made it fun.
Dominique: Anthony cracking jokes. We had a couple comedians like legitimate comedians on set. Sonia Dennis, an actual comedian. The energy was cool. It was a mixed bag. You never really knew what you were gonna get.
How would you describe the dynamic between Riri and Natalie?
Lyric: What you think? I’ll describe it. Oh boy. I don’t think I have one word for it. It’s just, it’s one of those back and forth things of like let me help you or help me help you. Oh man. Natalie is looking for a specific thing out of Riri and because of the way Natalie is built, she can’t really seem to give that up just yet.
And on top of that Natalie is trying to figure herself out just as Riri is trying to figure herself out. So it’s like they’re going through very similar things together, in a sense, that’s what Natalie wants. Natalie wants them to work as a team. Riri is not really on the same page, not unless it’s technical. But it’s just a lot of fighting through and understanding what this is. And once they find a common ground of some sort, they’re back to “what they used to be.”
From the perspective of technology and spirit, what did you draw from to make sure that connection remained real?
Dominique: I think there’s a bit of the just wanting to hold each other accountable that comes with this process, that comes with making a show to this scale that I think Lyric and I were able to maintain just as actors. That then when you think about this relationship that Lyric is describing about these two girls who were once super close and love each other and who now in a brand new form that they really don’t understand yet still want to support and love each other.
But because of all these extra circumstances, it’s very strange and weird. And I think, understanding that they also have this unfortunate, I don’t know, the elephant in the room is all of this grief that they both have to unpack. And that neither one of them has really been able to do, Natalie because she doesn’t know that she has to and Riri because she’s not interested in all of that. So I think kind of what Lyric said, there’s a couple things in here that they don’t really, they’re not really recognizing, they have in common. And then their attempts to kind of get away from each other, the similarity just kind of keeps pulling them back together.
What do you think the role of Riri does for the conversation around STEM, for youth around the world?
Dominique: Oh man, I hope it helps to neutralize this kind of intensity around why and why it should look a certain way and who it should look like and where we should expect to find that level of brilliance.
I hope that when folks see it, but also just by the existence of yet another super genius character in this incredibly vast world who happens to look and sound the way that Riri does, that it’s a reminder to us of the real life Riris that are out here who look a lot more like her, that they’re real and this is the type of work that also comes natural to them or that they’ve also spent a lot of time really crafting and honing because they’re equally as passionate about it as maybe some of the more familiar examples that we’ve gotten throughout the MCU, but also I think just in film and television to this scale.
“Ironheart” premieres on Disney+ on June 24, 2025.
