ComicBooks

Marvel Comics Announces New ‘IronHeart’ Series

Tony Stark’s protege Riri Williams, aka Ironheart is taking flight again in the Marvel Universe. Marvel Comics has announced the new Ironheart ongoing series from poet and playwright Eve Ewing and artist Kevin Libranda.

It is an exciting time for the writer who really never thought she would ever be in this position. Her excitement comes through as she tells the Chicago Tribune.

“Periodically I have to sit back and go, ‘Omigosh, I’m a Marvel writer’ — there’s nothing more implausible and more amazing that’s ever happened to me. When you’re a writer, oftentimes you’re grinding away and there’s a short list where you can tell your mom, grandma or your brother and they fully understand what it is. But this is something where everybody gets it; everybody understands the pop culture resonance with Marvel – what it means and what it stands for, so it’s really exciting.”

A social media campaign started by her fans set the ball rolling for Ewing to write the next chapter of Riri’s story. This support did not go unnoticed by the writer.

“When the campaign was launched, it was really humbling and really inspiring for me, because it made me realize how much it would mean to so many people to have me take on the story, but it also made me realize how upsetting and angering it is for a lot of people to think about black women and people of color more broadly moving into this space — that was eye-opening,” Ewing says. “I’m really grateful for the support that people have shown me, but I also had to kind of step up to the plate as a writer and prove myself. The campaign was for me to work on Invincible Iron Man, but when Marvel said we’re actually thinking about doing a solo title for Riri, that was like ‘Omigosh, this is the coolest thing ever.’ It’s really special, because this is a character that has some groundwork laid already but is still very new in terms of her role in the Marvel universe; it’s almost like getting into business on the ground floor. I get to play a role in really shaping who she is and who she’s going to become.”

With her assignment in place, Ewing shared a bit about what readers can expect from the new Ironheart series and what new insights they will learn about Riri.

“So I think the really exciting thing is really building out Riri, not as just Ironheart, but who is she as a person? Specifically, what does it mean to be a teenage black girl from Chicago? Somebody who has lost family members to gun violence, somebody who understands the realities of the community is going to bring something very different to questions about justice and who the good guy is and who the bad guy is and what you do about that. She’s also a teenage genius and because of that, she skipped over a lot of social things — she went to high school when she was very young, she’s already in MIT, so Riri is not really great with her peers, she doesn’t really have any friends. Being a genius and knowing how to fix stuff and build amazing gadgets doesn’t necessarily make you a happy person. So how do you figure out how to use the power that’s available to you and how to connect with and be accountable to the people around you?”

Brief Character Bio: Riri Williams is a 15-year-old engineering student who is the daughter of the late Riri Williams Sr. Following Riri Williams Sr.’s death, Riri lived with her mother and her paternal aunt Sharon. She started attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on scholarship. Working alone, Riri designs a suit of armor similar to the Iron Man armor using material stolen from campus. Tony Stark hears of Riri’s accomplishment and goes to meet her. During their meeting, Tony Stark states to Riri that he will endorse her decision to be a superhero.