Riri Williams is a genius MIT student who gets kicked out of school for helping other students cheat for money. She goes back home to Chicago where she's still really sad about two people who died - her best friend Natalie and her stepfather Gary were both killed in a drive-by shooting. Riri is broke and angry, so when a criminal named Parker Robbins (who calls himself "The Hood") offers her money to help with his crimes, she says yes.
But here's the thing - Parker isn't just a regular criminal. He has a magical hood that gives him supernatural powers. Riri doesn't know this at first. She thinks she's just helping with normal crimes using her tech skills. During this time, she builds an AI assistant for her iron suit, but because she's so emotional about Natalie's death, the AI accidentally becomes a digital copy of her dead friend. She calls it N.A.T.A.L.I.E.
As the episodes go on, Riri starts noticing weird things about Parker's hood. People who touch it die mysteriously. Parker himself is getting more violent and scary. Riri tries to figure out what's going on and discovers the hood is actually magical - it's from another dimension and it's making Parker evil.
Meanwhile, Riri finds out that a guy she's been getting weapons from is actually Ezekiel Stane, whose father was the bad guy from the first Iron Man movie. This makes everything more complicated because now there are connections to Tony Stark's past.
The crimes get worse and worse. People start dying. Riri realizes she's in way over her head, but she can't get out. Parker's gang starts falling apart. Some members turn against him when they find out he's been lying and killing people.
In the final episode, we learn the truth: Parker made a deal with a demon named Mephisto years ago. Mephisto gave him the magical hood in exchange for... well, basically his soul. Parker got power and money, but he also became evil and lost everything that mattered to him.
At the end, Riri defeats Parker and takes his hood away from him. But then Mephisto appears to her and offers her the same deal: he'll bring back her dead friend Natalie if Riri gives him her soul. Even though she knows it's a bad idea, Riri is so desperate to see Natalie again that she says yes. The show ends with Natalie alive again, but Riri now has evil marks on her skin showing she belongs to the demon.
The show does some really interesting things. First, it doesn't make Riri a typical hero. She's actually kind of selfish and makes bad choices throughout the whole series. This is different from other Marvel shows where the hero is basically good from the start. Riri joins a criminal gang, helps with crimes, and puts other people in danger. The show doesn't try to make excuses for her - it shows that grief and desperation can make people do terrible things.
N.A.T.A.L.I.E., the AI version of her dead friend, is probably the best part of the show. It's both beautiful and creepy - Riri gets to talk to her friend again, but it's not really her friend, it's just a computer pretending to be her. This creates really emotional scenes where you feel happy and sad at the same time.
The show looks great. The music is excellent, the Chicago locations feel real, and the Iron suit effects are impressive. They built a real suit for filming instead of just using computer graphics, which makes it look much better.
Parker Robbins is a good villain because he's not just evil for no reason. He wants respect and power because he grew up poor and abandoned by his father. You can understand why he made the deal with the demon, even though it was wrong.
The magic vs. technology theme is interesting. Riri represents trying to solve problems with science and hard work, while Parker represents taking shortcuts through magic and deals with evil forces. The show explores how both approaches can be dangerous if you're not careful.
The biggest problem is that Riri is often really hard to like. She's selfish, entitled, and doesn't seem to care about hurting other people. The show wants us to understand that she's acting this way because she's grieving, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes she just seems like a bratty teenager who thinks she's smarter than everyone else.
Her decision to join the criminal gang doesn't make sense. She's supposed to be a genius who went to MIT - surely she could find legal ways to make money instead of becoming a criminal? The show tries to explain this, but it never feels believable.
The pacing is weird. Some episodes feel rushed, like they're trying to fit too much story into a short time. Other parts feel slow and boring. The show has six episodes, which isn't enough time to fully develop all the characters and storylines.
Some of the dialogue is clunky and unnatural. Characters sometimes say things that don't sound like how real people talk. The exposition - where characters explain what's happening - often feels forced.
The most frustrating moment: Tony Stark, the emotional core of the MCU is reduced to nothing more than a rich guy. Riri Williams casually dismisses his legacy by suggesting he was only Iron Man because he had money. This is the man who built a suit of armor in a cave with scraps, who outsmarted gods, and ultimately gave his life to save the universe. His heroism came not from his wealth, but from his heart, his intellect, and his willingness to sacrifice. To reduce all of that to a bank account isn’t just lazy, it’s disrespectful to the character and the very foundation of the MCU.
This show is important because it tries to do something different with superhero stories. Instead of showing someone becoming a hero, it shows someone making increasingly bad choices and ending up in a worse place than where they started. Riri literally sells her soul to a demon by the end - that's not something you usually see in Marvel movies or shows.
The introduction of Mephisto is a big deal for Marvel fans. This demon character has been rumored to appear in Marvel projects for years, and his appearance here opens up possibilities for future magical storylines across the entire Marvel universe.
The show also deals with real issues like poverty, crime, and how grief can make people do destructive things. It's set in Chicago and shows actual problems that real cities face, not just fantasy superhero problems.
Ironheart is a show that tries to be more mature and complex than typical Marvel content, but it doesn't always succeed. It's technically well made with good effects and music, but the story and characters don't always work as well as they should.
The show's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness - it makes Riri genuinely flawed and morally questionable, which makes her more realistic but also harder to root for. Some people will love this more complex approach to superhero stories, while others will be frustrated that the main character isn't more heroic.
It's definitely not a show for everyone. If you want traditional superhero stories where good clearly wins over evil, you probably won't like it. But if you're interested in darker, more complicated stories about how good people can make bad choices, you might find it compelling.
This miniseries faced heavy review bombing before it even premiered, with a wave of negative audience scores on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. This wasn't based on the show itself, but on backlash against its diverse cast and themes - something that's become common for Marvel projects featuring women, people of color, or LGBTQ+ characters in lead roles. Because the series stars Riri Williams, a young Black female inventor, and includes characters like a non-binary hacker, some viewers criticized it as being too "woke" without watching it. As a result, audience ratings were highly skewed. However, once released, many who actually watched the show found it better than expected, especially praising Riri's emotional journey and her AI companion N.A.T.A.L.I.E.
The show exceeded my expectations, I went in expecting generic Marvel content, but it turned out to be far more ambitious and willing to take creative risks. That said, those risks don't always land, making 'Ironheart' a series that's more interesting than it is successful. This marks the second recent attempt by Marvel to break out off its formula. Thunderbolts*, which hit theaters earlier this year, also faced backlash for its bold choices and struggled financially, earning just $371 million against a break-even point of $425 million. Unlike Thunderbolts*, Ironheart debuted on Disney+, so its success is judged more by audience reception. Unfortunately, this show's potential has been overshadowed by review bombing, which has skewed public perception and led many to prematurely label it a failure, despite generally positive reviews.
Watch on Disney+