Dominique Thorne entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 'Wakanda Forever,' the 2022 sequel to the immensely popular Black Panther. There, she played Riri Williams, a young tech genius who had developed a device that the Wakandans needed. As striking as her debut was, she was at best a secondary character as Wakanda already had a black female genius in the form of the Wakandan princess, Shuri. Now, with her show, Riri gets a chance to spread her wings (or in her case, thrusters and rear stabilizer flaps) and show us what she can do.

We catch up with her at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where, while excelling in her studies, she struggles in other areas. Feeling stifled and unappreciated for her intellectual talents, she begins earning money by taking on projects not just for her schoolmates, but also for students from nearby universities. This understandably gets her into trouble with the school administration and ultimately results in her being dismissed.

Without any resources to back her suit, Riri makes a Faustian bargain with Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), better known as The Hood, as she joins his gang of hi-tech thieves and troublemakers. They are all ignored or undervalued in their field, and are looking for validation as much as a quick buck.

It doesn’t take long, however, till things go awry, and Riri has to face the fact that she may have gotten in over her head. The Hood, unsurprisingly, is keeping secrets, and the closer Riri gets to them, the more danger she finds herself in.

So far, so good. Down on your luck, in need of a break, unrecognized for your potential for greatness; these are solid motivations for a new superhero character. They are also good rationalizations for a villain, and that is the line Riri has to thread. How far toward one side is she willing to go to make it good on the other?

There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in the show, not the least of which is the AI named N.A.T.A.L.I.E, Riri’s equivalent to Iron Man’s J.A.R.V.I.S. The Neuro-Autonomous Technical Assistant and Laboratory Intelligence is Riri’s Operating System for her suit, and is based on her best friend, who tragically passed away years prior.

The one glitch in the system is that Riri isn’t particularly likable as a character. She starts in the show complaining how Tony Stark got to where he was because of his billions, and she’s stuck because she can’t afford to realize her vision. Coming from someone who was at the time a scholar at MIT, Stark’s alma mater, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

But that’s what the character development arc is for, except that by the end, she doesn’t change all that much. Maybe there are other plans for Riri in the future that we’ll have to wait and see. Who knows? Perhaps this will even feed into the long-delayed Armor Wars MCU project, once it finally arrives.

Regardless, everyone gives solid performances, and it's an absolute blast to see the old-school Iron Man-style suits again. Ironheart is now streaming on Disney Plus.