It’s on the cusp. It’s right there. With the last three episodes of Ironheart landing on Disney+ in – I’m assuming – a classic Iron Man landing pose, Riri Williams’ iron upstart has a further trio of chances to upgrade her solo series from being simply “fine” to something more iconic. With every episode the show is getting ever closer to becoming something special but much like Williams herself, the show is struggling to work out what it actually wants to be as it’s lead stumbles between both sides of the law.
Of course, it’s the old Iron Man story of ethics played out on a more urban scale; while billionaire Tony Stark lived a selfish lifestyle devoid of personal responsibility as his weapons were being sold to any old warmonger while he assaulted his liver with booze. In comparison, Riri is happily justifying working with criminals to justify paying for the tech upgrades she needs. However, reality has finally crashed into her life like an iron suit punching through a wall and with a death on her hands, it’s time to see what Ironheart’s heart is truly made of.
Riri Williams has put herself in something of a tight spot. To absolutely no one’s surprise, her venture into the world of crime in order to score funds has ended in disaster. In an attempt to obtain a piece of cloth from the supernatural cloak her boss wears, Riri blew the heist she was currently in the middle of and the ramifications proved to be seismic. For a start, after fighting for her life against Parker Robbins’ trusted number two, John, she left him to asphyxiate as the security systems kicked in. Elsewhere after carelessly leaving an item of tech she borrowed off mawkish weapons dealer Ezekial Stane at the scene of the crime, he’s not taking the rap for the Hood’s crimes and has ended up cooling his heels in a cell.
The result of all this has left Riri in a state of constant panic as she’s plagued by anxiety attacks caused by the guilt and fear that Robbins will take revenge on her loved ones if he finds out. But after admitting to her mother that something is wrong and that she needs some spiritual guidance, they both get more magic than they bargained for when her friend Madeleine Stanton and her daughter Zelma actually have abilities in the mystic arts. The piece of Parker Robbins’ hood is proof that some bad magic is afoot and this only causes Riri to take even more extreme measures to keep her loved ones safe.
However, Robbins isn’t planning to take Williams head on and instead busts Stane out of jail and helps him upgrade his own body with bionic enhancements on order to use the vengeful dude as a weapon.
However, possibly the most raw piece of damage that’s been caused by Riri’s continuing recklessness is the fact that Xavier has finally discovered that her AI has taken the form of his late sister and a confrontation ensues that emotionally compromises all three.
A deliberate pace. A morally compromised main character. A distinct lack of action. While all these accusations are technically true, that’s not to say that Ironheart has been a wash thus far. For a start, I’ll admit that the decision to make Riri’s inaction chiefly responsible for a man’s death didn’t sit particularly well with me at first as it seemed to be an overly callous act that didn’t do the character any favours when it came to making us embrace her. However, when you look at the hero she’s trying to most emulate, the show is trying to break her down emotionally in order to finally have her rise up. Yes, we all love Tony Stark and the legendary, swaggering cool that Robert Downey Jr. brought to him, but let’s not forget that the fleshy human that dwelt within the Iron Man suit wasn’t exactly squeaky clean himself. Not only did his freewheeling, self obsessed attitude lead to his weapons being sold to all manner of despots and warlords behind his back, but his continuing rash actions has led to the direct creations of such villains as Obadiah Stane, Ivan Vanko, Aldrich Killian, Mysterio and Ultron. While Riri Williams obviously hasn’t gotten the opportunity to self reflect while being held hostage in a cave in Afghanistan, her cave seems to be an emotional one as she sees the damaged she’s caused possibly affecting her loved ones in various forms. If that’s the case, then Dominique Thorne is selling it with all she’s got as her panic attacks and crippling anxiety recall Tony Stark even more as he went through something similar during Iron Man 3.
However, despite some genuinely cool wrinkles added by the episode, there’s still a sense that there’s a sizable disconnect lurking somewhere within the story and I’m beginning to think it may be coming from the villain end of the story. Bizarrely enough, my issues with the Hood’s underwritten crew were alleviated slightly thanks to them feeling like more well-rounded characters after John wake – however, despite the fact that Riri’s panic attacks are indicative of how much of a threat the Hood can be, I’m just not really feeling it and it’s long past time for the curtain to be thrown back on the mysterious aspects of his powers.
However, swooping in and saving the day are two scenes that not only opens the world up to the larger world of the MCU, but also hints that some tech powered brawling is nigh. The reveal that the friend of Riri’s mother is actually a dropout of Kamer-Taj (Doctor Strange’s old stomping grounds) and that her daughter, Zelma, is also proficient in realm-hopping hocus pocus proves to be so much fun, I didn’t even mind that it’s a massively overly-convenient plot swerve. We’ve not seen such a merging of magic and tech since Stark and Strange teamed up in Inifinity War and obviously, the more the two things merge, the closer we get to a certain Victor Von Doom.
But let’s not get ahead or ourselves. While the spectres of various massive Marvel threats lurk in the background, a more urgent threat is quickly forming in the form of Ezekial Stane and his fast-tracked villain journey. But while you could argue that his path to supervillainy is just as convenient as Riri suddenly getting a magic contact, Zeke arc is probably one of the most interesting ones present. Finding himself suddenly tumbling into the shoes of his father (whom everyone still believes died in a tragic plane crash when actually he was wearing a giant metal suit and going on a rampage), Stane finds that he’s lost everything in the blink of an eye thanks to Riri’s carelessness and while his recruitment and subsequent biological upgrade may seem like something of a knee jerk reaction, at least itvnow means the show is finally picking up pace – because with only two episodes left, it really needs to.
While advance word seemed to suggest that the final three episodes would provide what the season is said to be lacking, Bad Magic actually isn’t the turnaround that the show needs right now. However, even with bucket loads of revelations and twists possibly waiting in the wings, me might have to accept the reality that not even bleeding edge tech with an edge of magic can manage to pull Ironheart up by her rocket boots.
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