Marvel"s Ironheart Trailer Proves The MCU Is Fixing A 10-Year-Old Iron Man Problem

The MCU"s Ironheart show will finally break a frustrating Iron Man trend that has been present in the franchise for a decade. Ironheart"s MCU story is expected in 2025 and will build on the character"s introduction to the franchise. Riri Williams first appeared in 2022 and was last seen in the ending of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever after building her first Ironheart suit using Wakandan technology. Now, the upcoming MCU TV show will outline Riri forging her own legacy in Marvel"s sprawling universe, alongside another new suit of Tony Stark-like armor.
Ironheart has a lot of exciting elements overall, from the continuation of Riri"s storyline to the implementation of magic in a technology-based story via the inclusion of the Marvel Comics villain known as The Hood. More so than these aspects, though, many are looking forward to seeing how Ironheart addresses the legacy of Iron Man. Whether indeed the show will do this or separate Riri from Tony Stark completely remains to be seen, but one confirmed element from Ironheart will at least fix a problem that has plagued Iron Man in the MCU for almost a decade.
Ironheart’s MCU Armor Will Be Mostly Practical CGI Will Be Primarily Avoided

Custom Image by Kai Young The element in question is how CGI-heavy the titular Ironheart armor will be. Given that Ironheart is a hero who will fly around in metal armor just as Tony Stark did in the Infinity Saga of the MCU, CGI will naturally be implemented into the show to a heavy extent. That said, a recent comment from Marvel Studios" Head of Streaming, TV, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum, has brought to light an interesting aspect of Ironheart"s CGI usage where Riri"s suit of armor is concerned.
In an interview with Brandon Davis, Winderbaum was asked about Ironheart"s armor, specifically whether it will be completely CGI or have practical elements. Winderbaum replied:
[indent] “There’s a full practical suit. It doesn’t obviously do all the crazy things that the suit does but we used a lot of techniques that go all the way back to the first Iron Man film, where we actually had a practical suit on set."
[/indent]In an age that sees Hollywood movies relying ever more on CGI environments, sets, and even costumes, this news comes as a welcome surprise. As evident by Winderbaum"s comments, the team in charge of crafting Ironheart attempted to emulate Iron Man, which contained practical elements where possible for Tony Stark"s armor. The fact that Ironheart is committed to this practicality is exciting not only for the show itself and how it will look but also because this will fix an Iron Man problem that has been prevalent in the MCU for a while.
Ironheart’s Practical Armor Brings Back Iron Man’s Suit-Up Moments

The problem is that the longer Iron Man existed in the MCU, the more he lacked genuinely badass suit-up moments. The early appearances of the character were filled with scenes like this, from the unveiling of the Mark I suit in Iron Man to the iconic suitcase suit-up during the Monaco Grand Prix in Iron Man 2. These scenes were made all the more impactful due to their practicality, with the weight, importance, and strength of Iron Man being established due to the armor actually existing for audiences to see.

Related MCU: Every Iron Man Suit-Up Scene Ranked Iron Man was a central pillar of the MCU for years, and throughout his films, he had plenty of great scenes suiting up for action.
However, as the MCU grew in size and scope, Iron Man"s suit-ups became less memorable. The moment in which Tony falls out of a helicopter only to be in his Iron Man suit in Captain America: Civil War, or the scene including his nanotech suit-up at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War are both exciting, but hold nowhere near the same sense as weight as his earlier suit-up scenes. This is primarily due to a smaller reliance on practicality, as CGI superhero costumes became the norm. Hopefully, Ironheart"s commitment to practical armor will harken back to Iron Man"s more epic moments of Phase 1.
Marvel’s Common Nanotech Complaint Will Be Resolved In Ironheart It Isn't Only Iron Man Who Suffered From The Increase In CGI Close Not only this, but Ironheart"s practical armor will resolve the MCU"s common nanotech complaint, if only briefly. Since Black Panther introduced nanotech to the MCU, the characters of the franchise have relied on CGI costumes more. Iron Man"s suit became nanotech in Avengers: Infinity War, leading to the aforementioned lack of physical weight and, thus, impact. Spider-Man"s Iron Spider suit was then also nanotech, resulting in similar issues.
The Avengers" time-travel suits from Avengers: Endgame were also fully CGI and implemented nanotech helmets, further contributing to this issue.
Beyond that, characters like Ant-Man received nanotech suits that looked and felt inferior to the practical one of his earliest appearances. The same can be said for the Black Panther movies also. With Ironheart, this nanotech problem will hopefully be solved given the greater focus on practicality. To make this even better, it is incredibly fitting that the legacy hero of Tony Stark, the character who began the franchise, will once more usher in an age of practical superhero costumes.

Ironheart Set after Dominique Thorne's MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios' Ironheart series follows Riri Williams as she follows in Iron Man's steps as a high-tech superhero and crosses paths with Anthony Ramos' Parker Robbins a.k.a. The Hood, a magic user with ties to the dark arts. The six-episode Disney+ series is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 5.
Cast Manny Montana , Dominique Thorne , Anthony Ramos , Harper Anthony , Alden Ehrenreich , Lyric Ross Network CBS Writers Chinaka Hodge Directors Chinaka Hodge Showrunner Chinaka Hodge Upcoming MCU Movies