Ironheart blurs the line between Marvel prestige and bland comfort TV

Riri needs a solution to at least one of her problems, and magic seems worth exploring. Enter Zelma Stanton, daughter of Maddie (Cree Summer), who, from her perch atop her mother’s Wicker Park crystal shop, transports Ronnie, Maddie, and Riri to the “Western Cortex of Neverish,” a nebulous realm where the women can investigate The Hood more freely. We learn Maddie studied at Kamar-Taj (Sorcerer Supreme University), where Zelma hopes to enroll. A more serious revelation unsettles Maddie: “You know how we say there’s no bad tech, just bad people using tech? Well, there is bad magic, and it is dangerous for everyone.” This warning finally prompts Ronnie to press Riri for answers. It turns out her casual cool-mom attitude comes from envy. (In happier days, Riri would confide in Gary instead of her.) Riri, not ready to fully unpack this, hops into her suit and flies straight to another mess: Xavier (Matthew Elam), who discovers N.A.T.A.L.I.E.’s existence and is horrified by this digital image of his late sister.

As Riri’s life falls apart, Zeke’s gets a second lease courtesy of The Hood, who springs him from prison and pulls him into his circle. A fresh start means a new look. His shaved head “is giving store-brand Jason Statham,” according to Slug (Shea Couleé), but the transformation isn’t just aesthetic: Parker upgrades Zeke into a willing biotech Frankenstein, which I don’t buy even a little. Zeke’s speed run to the dark side feels both convenient and underdeveloped; I wish there were a few more scenes to show the depth of his internalized anger. (No such luck—even The Hood gets short shrift in this department.) After all, didn’t this bio-nerd feel weird about touching this technology two episodes ago? Now he’s grafting it into his flesh?

Anyway, once Slug procures Riri’s suit (N.A.T.A.L.I.E. took it after the Xavier drama—how Slug tracked it, who knows), Hood’s revenge quest locks into place in “Karma is a Glitch,” and the series finally gets a jolt of action. Natalie go-go-gadgets her way out of Slug’s clutches just before they can run Riri down in the street, and Riri, suited up, twists some metal. The effects of the series continue to punch above their weight. The bit where Riri pops the truck into the air while flipping Slug the bird is the kind of gonzo grace note Marvel used to excel at. The high is short-lived: Zeke swings by to tear up her suit with his new bionic abilities, though he spares her life, possibly because his heel turn won’t be permanent.

Naturally, Riri’s latest low point brings out the best in her friends and family. Gary’s Auto comes to life, and his car, which Riri sold between Wakanda Forever and the series premiere, becomes Riri’s new protective shell. (This is significant considering she built her suit to protect her family after his death.) Riri rises, powered by the Dark Dimension (courtesy of Zelma) to counter The Hood’s magic—and with some new hardware to wield it. As Team Ironheart rushes to finish the new suit, Parker tightens his grip. He fires his crew after failing to ice Riri and asserts control over Zeke, who cuts a path to Parker’s ultimate target: his father (Paul Calderón). We find out, too late for the scene to carry much weight, that he kicked Parker out of the house at twelve, took his inheritance, and set him on this dark path. He hands Dad a new contract. “Sign it in ink…or sign it in blood,” he commands, and Dad obeys.

We’ve seen what the use of The Hood has done to Parker, not just physically (those scars are looking pretty intense) but also mentally. The man has lost himself, enveloped in crimson tatters. This recklessness is mirrored by Riri, who allows Zelma to tap into forbidden magic to upgrade her armor. But Zelma warns that magic has a cost, a price Riri is only too willing to pay. Little did she realize that she’d have to pay in advance. Her first sacrifice, inconveniently, is N.A.T.A.L.I.E., erased by the suit’s infusion of magic. 

Parker also feels his cost in the truncated finale, “The Past Is The Past,” where the sum of his choices leaves him feasting alone at the head of his ill-gotten empire. It all started with a handshake with a sinister-looking stranger (Sascha Baron Cohen), who, in flashback, gave Parker his cloak in exchange for… well, he puts it like this: “You won’t even miss it.” As for Zeke, his reward for being a dumb-dumb is becoming a lackey, though Riri later manages a hard reset of his systems with a well-placed kick to his groin—a pulled hit, she says, “for the sake of the Stane family name.” Though Zeke complies with this reboot, he, not without affection, insists that they are “not done.” 

All that’s left is Parker. It’s your standard Marvel boss fight: Riri tests her new gear against The Hood’s powers, though how Riri suddenly knows how to wield magic is unknown. (Maybe Zelma gave her a remedial primer during the last episode’s montage?) Riri comes out on top, taking The Hood and leaving Parker a weeping mess on the floor. On her way out, however, comes a scene Marvel Zombies have been waiting for since the days of WandaVision: the introduction of Mephisto, sans his scarlet visage (presumably to save on the budget), who gives Riri the same offer he has given many over the millennia—that is, Parker, popes, and a Beatle (poor Ringo). “Tell me: What can I do for you?” the Dark One asks. 

The finale plays with our perception of time. Is Riri back in Gary’s Auto, reunited with her friend, or is she just imagining what she knows she can’t have? The answer comes quickly, and the moral ambiguity is both compelling and frustrating. Turns out, Riri hasn’t learned the cost of taking shortcuts. She hasn’t re-coded Natalie. She hasn’t reckoned with her impulse to fix everything through force or magic. Despite her brilliance, she’s stuck in a loop. That might be the most Marvel thing about Ironheart: not the cameos or the setup for the next story, but the feeling that growth always remains one installment away.

Stray observations

• • Miniseries MVP belongs to Dominique Thorne, who embraces her character with steely grace and makes Riri’s crummy decision-making seem almost reasonable. She’s a bona-fide Marvel asset at this juncture. 
• • Despite its storytelling foibles, Ironheart was very well-cast, from Anthony Ramos (who makes that corny hood almost look imposing, no small feat) to Alden Ehrenreich (who does much and more with a woefully underwritten character), from the addition of Regan Aliyah as Zalma to her TV mom Cree Summer. Special shout-out to Sonia Denis, whose Clown was handily the most interesting member of the Desposito’s Pizza crew and, when it counted, the most intimidating.  
• • Let’s hear it for the Damen Blue Line stop, my favorite CTA stop. Also, there’s a great bookstore just east from there called Myopic that Zelma definitely goes to.  
• • I realize CPD response times aren’t record-breaking, but the authorities gave that White Castle a wide berth as all hell broke loose for the first quarter of episode five. Is it owned by the mob or something? 
• • Am I crazy or was Ronnie watching The X-Files when her force field watch went off? 
• • One thing about Riri’s turn to crime that just doesn’t click for me is her development of an AI as intuitive, empathetic, and—it must be said—mercurial as N.A.T.A.L.I.E. Wouldn’t the proof of her be Riri’s salvation? Can’t she take it—and her ability to build a whole new suit inside of a single episode—to some bigwig in the private sector who would pay her good money?