Ironheart (Disney +) (2025)

I am frustrated for SO many reasons. It's the first episode, so how big a negative judgment can I actually make? But here is my problem. I didn't dislike that. Not remotely. But there wasn't much about it I LIKED either. And as I was watching this, bored and stony-faced, I wondered WHY it is SUCH a big freaking ask to make a pleasing, different TV series that people will like.

Marvel movies used to be awesome because a bunch of them did their own things and busted different genres wide upon. I think Black Widow was a turning point. That was the point where Marvel decided ALL Marvel movies needed to be exactly the same. Exact same character arcs and "mindblowing", "explosive" climaxes. Black Widow was the first movie I noticed the problem because that specific premise and storyline did not REMOTELY lend itself to that kind of climax, and they did it anyways out of some weird, foolish sense that each movie has to top the previous one in spectacle. And instead of the Marvel movies previously doing their own thing like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Ant-Man did, everything is now as homogenized and repetitive as an episode of Power Rangers. And it didn't used to be.

Ironheart is exactly like every single other Marvel Studios TV show and that's a problem. There is nothing new and no good hook. I do not necessarily subscribe to the often ridiculous notion that a project that nobody asked for has no right to exist. No matter what spoiled fanboys say, that's stupid. But on the flipside, if a project can show nothing new or unique, should they even have bothered making it? This feels like a contractual obligation between Disney+ and Marvel Studios being fulfilled, rather than a piece of art / entertainment. I feel like Disney+ values my eyeballs more than they do the quality of the stuff Marvel is putting out.

The irony? If they started caring about the quality, they'd actually get more eyeballs!

I have two other general complaints about Marvel TV shows. The first one is that there has not been a SINGLE Marvel Disney+ project anywhere NEAR as good as Star Wars: Andor. And considering how much stuff Disney+ has farted out, that's not just inexcusable. To me, that's inexplicable. I'll go even further than that. I'll say there has not been a SINGLE Marvel Disney+ project as good as Obi-Wan Kenobi or Skeleton Crew either. Feige puts absolutely NO effort into this stuff. And considering how heavily he's decided to tie the movies into stuff that happens on the TV shows, he's damaging the entire franchise / continuity.

The second observation is a corollary to that. For the first few Marvel shows, the most consistent thing about them to me is that each tended to have an amazing Pilot, and the season would get worse and worse as it went along until it fell apart in the finale. The one outlier there was the first season of Loki which had a killer finale and cliffhanger. The problem is season 2 sucked as much as the rest of Marvel TV stuff does, so that arc too could not stick the landing. But for about the first half-dozen shows or so we'd get this hugely promising amazing Pilot and things would slowly turn to shit.

I feel like Marvel Television has decided to simply stop giving us those amazing Pilots. Maybe Feige reasons if they are going to ALWAYS fuck up by the finale, they aren't necessary. But I have definitely noticed that this aspect was missing from Echo, Daredevil: Born Again, and now this. Hell, Agatha All Along's Pilot, as well received as it was, doesn't do much for me.

Anything I liked? I thought it was refreshing that when Riri gives the cliched self-empowering speech about the school asking her to be small, the guidance counselor of color's immediate response is to tell her she's full of shit. I HATE shit like that on TV with gifted younger characters, and no, she's actually full of shit.

But I didn't really like anything else. I didn't really DISLIKE anything else. But I don't think liking a TV show should be an unfathomable burden for a long-running franchise like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They ought to be able to do this in their sleep if they wanted to. The fact that quality control is just GONE now is probably why people are so fed up with things. It's not our imaginations. The franchise has actually gotten lazier and worse. Sad to report, but fanboy toxicity being behind the backlash of projects starring women and people of color or not, that specific complaint is actually true. 2 1/2 stars.

It's better than the first episode by far, mostly because the character stuff was better. Riri's stuff with Natalie was equally as fun as her stuff with Joe. Great interplays and dynamics there.

And you realize the worst part of Natalie is Riri's mom asking is she can make one of Gary. That's why it sucks.

I do have to call bullshit on the entire premise of the show. Ironheart is supposedly committing these top-secret burglaries and heists... dressed in her one-of-a-kind Iron suit of which only she really has access to. She doesn't even hide it on the mission. How is this even a show? It's so stupid.

I wish the whole thing was Riri building Joe's self-esteem or Natalie giving her the business. But the show is dumb enough to think THIS specific character lends herself to a heist premise.

Ant-Man she ain't. 3 1/2 stars.

All right. I don't like this series.

Not just because Riri is a murderer, or at least an accessory to murder.

But because this is a goddam superhero show and the title superhero has saved not ONE damn innocent person. Ironheart has done absolutely NOTHING heroic in the first three episodes, and ALL of Riri's actions have been done solely out of self-interest. Rumors were Ironheart was gonna "Break Bad", and no lie, this IS a new angle for a PG-13 Marvel show, and just a couple of reviews ago I was complaining how all Marvel shows are the same. But it's not a GOOD angle. It's not an angle that improves either the show or the MCU. It's annoying.

The whole John being Ezekiel Stane thing landed like a thud because ultimately, the revelation doesn't actually matter. It's a supposed gamechanger that changes absolutely nothing.

I mentioned Marvel shows always derail at the season goes on. Is three episodes a personal best for a Marvel show jumping the shark? It just might be. 1 star.

I decided in the review for the last episode that I don't like the show, and if anything this episode entrenched that belief.

That said, whether I like it or not (and I don't) I find it interesting at how bad Riri is permitted to look. I think she might be one of the most absolutely unlikable and detestable characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As far as I am concerned, that usually is not a good brag for any work of fiction.

And yet, I feel the reasons Riri is despicable are interesting because I've never seen stuff like this shown with consequences before. Assholes on TV like Riri are a dime a dozen. If they are a hero (as likely as it isn't in this shitty TV landscape) excuses are made for the horrible behavior. It's part of the hero's journey to become a better person. All the people the selfish hero fucks up in the meantime don't matter and are collateral damage to the hero's journey. In any other project, Stane's fate wouldn't matter. Riri's mom would not specifically call her out her for her betrayal. And even if Xavier is wrong about Natalie, the truth is this is NOT the first time he should have been hearing about it.

John / Ezekiel tells Riri she's selfish, and manipulative, and doesn't care who gets hurt so long as she gets what she wants. Nailed it. I will never like this show, but I will not fully dismiss ANY show that has her mother actually call her daughter out on using her and putting a friend in danger without telling her. That simply isn't done, at least not for heroes, or people we are supposed to root for.

If you asked me the worst thing about Riri, and the specific reason I hate her, it's because she's not ill-intentioned. She never intends to cause the harm she does. Could you imagine the damage this selfish narcissist could do to the world if she were actually TRYING to? Thinking about that and how murders and frame jobs of innocent people are her version of "Oopsie! Still new at this!" chills me to the bone.

Psst! None of this stuff was ever a problem for Kamala Khan. And she did not REMOTELY have the stable homelife you currently do, Riri.

I'm disgusted at what I just watched (which is one of my harshest criticisms for fiction). I am also interested (which is one of my highest praises). 2 1/2 stars.

I like that Parker's dad is an unrepentant bastard. When he describes him as a bad investment he's not actually wrong.

Ezekiel's mercy to Riri was the right narrative move. I must not think much of this show if it was an actual surprise instead of the biggest given ever.

This Landon kid is a riot. He calls the apple juice "disrespect" and I'm rolling.

Wow, it did NOT take much to split up Parker from the crew. Maybe he had no good defense for killing Stewart for the sole reason that it was indefensible.

The White Castle fight has earned a lot of raves online, but honestly, it made me think a LOT less of the crew. Not just for trying to kill Riri without hearing her out, but for Riri, a MUCH worse and more inexperienced fighter, handing every single one of them their asses.

I will never like Riri or this show but that wasn't completely terrible 3 stars.

Marvel Studios Television has truly outdone itself. That is bar none the worst finale they have ever given us. I mean, I KNEW I hated the show, but the solution there isn't for the show to prove me right.

Do you know the worst thing about that cliffhanger? I sincerely doubt this show is getting a season 2. They are essentially putting us on the hook for something so major with little to no chance to resolve it / pay it off. It's infuriating when you think about it.

Riri takes the deal with Mephisto at the end because she is a selfish asshole who cares only about her own wants and needs and doesn't give a shit about anybody else. I was right about her too.

Marvel has insisted it's going to go easier on the TV stuff. but I think they ought to just cut it out entirely. Their films are currently shitty too, so I don't think ANY of this is doing Disney any favors.

Worst Marvel Finale Ever. I love using that specific Comic Book Guy quote to slam stuff, but as stuff has become so abysmal in general, "The Worst Ever" is kind of a hard thing to top in 2025. Kudos to the show for making the Simpsons reference actually fit. It's been years since it did for anything I saw / watched. 0 stars.