Stark's Successor

Dominique Thorne sets up what Riri Williams will be facing in her upcoming Disney+ series Ironheart

- WORDS: TARA BENNETT

Going back to your origins as Ironheart in the MCU, when were you first told that they wanted you to lead your own series?

What I was told is that they wanted to do a Disney+ series focused on Ironheart, and that was the pitch. But they would introduce her in Wakanda Forever. At that point, what I understood was that she was gonna get to do a show. It would probably be really cool, because Marvel's really cool.

Who gave you the most guidance on shaping your version of Riri Williams for the film and then going into this series?

[Executive producer] Nate Moore was the person who gave me that initial phone call and set up, “Okay, this is what we're thinking...”. Then right after that, maybe a month or so, I had a call with Ryan [Coogler, executive producer] where he walked through, “This is what we're thinking for the story” and this is how he sees Riri in that world. Of course, that would come to change a bit, but I think those two conversations set me up to do my own digging and reading of the comics, both Ironheart and Invincible Iron Man, to see who's the Riri that the true Marvel comic fans would already be familiar with.