Since her debut in 2022, Riri Williams has designed and built five powerful suits of armor as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ironheart. Dominique Thorne first appeared as Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she found herself caught between a war between Wakanda and Talokan. After being safely returned home, 2025’s Ironheart series saw her become involved with Parker Robbins’ Hood (Anthony Ramos) and his gang of low-level Chicago-based criminals. Ironheart saw Riri give her suit some incredible upgrades, making it remarkably powerful. Be warned: MAJOR SPOILERS for Ironheart are ahead.
Riri Williams has been set up as a perfect candidate to become a member of the MCU’s upcoming Young Avengers team as Ironheart. However, now that she’s struck a deal with none other than the demonic supervillain Mephisto himself (Sacha Baron Cohen), it’s possible she could continue to use her suit of armor to pull of criminal activities, even becoming a villain. This means her suit could go through even more changes, making it even more powerful than her first five iterations of the Ironheart armor.
5) Ironheart Armor Mark I
The weakest Ironheart armor was the first iteration, which, in the style of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), was compiled from pieces of scrap metal and stolen Stark technology. This suit wasn’t a full-body armor, leaving a lot to be desired when it came to actual protection, but it was equipped with blasters and flight capabilities, which allowed Riri to escape from the CIA during their chase in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This costume took Riri years to piece together, but was only seen in one brief scene in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever before Williams was taken captive by Namor (Tenoch Huerta-Mejía).
4) MIT-Controlled Suit (Mark III)
Upon returning to Massachusetts after her international excursion to Talokan and Wakanda, Riri Williams set to work refining her Ironheart armor, inspired by her time fighting alongside Shuri’s Black Panther (Letitia Wright). Designed at MIT using resources from the school, the Mark III armor looked flashy and high-tech, but unfortunately didn’t fall under Riri Williams’ own control. Instead, without a working artificial intelligence, MIT’s AI, named Trevor, resembling Microsoft’s Clippy, controls the suit, and soon shuts it down when Riri gets back to her hometown of Chicago, Illinois, prompting her to design a new armor.
3) Hood’s Gang Ironheart Suit (Mark IV)
After the MIT armor fails her, Riri Williams pieces together a new costume in a very short time, making it ready for her first gig with Parker Robbins and his crew. As an addition to the armor, Riri scans her own brainwaves to create an artificial intelligence, that ends up taking the shape and memories of Riri’s deceased best friend, Natalie (Lyric Ross). This bulky suit makes Riri Williams a huge asset to the Hood’s crew, but it still amounts to very little when Riri fights Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich) after he becomes enhanced with bionics and cybernetics.
2) Wakandan Vibranium Suit (Mark II)
While this suit of armor didn’t get a lot of attention or screen-time in the MCU, given its only appearance occurring in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the fact that the Mark II armor was made entirely of vibranium makes it one of Ironheart’s most powerful. Riri designed and built this suit during her time in Wakanda, making her strong enough to help the Wakandans in the battle against the attacking Talokanil. This suit was the most reminiscent of an Iron Man armor, proving that Riri Williams would perfectly continue Tony Stark’s legacy, which became even more prominent in Ironheart.
1) Magic-Enhanced Ironheart Suit (Mark V)
Ironheart’s final two episodes saw Riri Williams band together with her family and friends to create a new suit of armor capable of taking on Parker Robbins and taking the Hood for herself. This suit has immense sentimental value, as it’s built from the pieces of the old car that she had been working on with Gary (LaRoyce Hawkins) before his sudden death. Sleek and modern, the Mark V armor received even more power thanks to Zelma Stanton’s (Regan Aliyah) risky spell, though this inadvertently deletes the NATALIE artificial intelligence, which sets up Riri to make her deal with Mephisto.
Dominique Thorne hasn’t yet been confirmed to be reprising the role of Riri Williams in the MCU’s future, so it’s unclear whether she’ll be seen again soon, and what suit she’ll be wearing if she does return. Ironheart’s finale perfectly set up a second season, given Riri’s dangerous deal with Mephisto, and the tease of Zelma and Parker forming an alliance, but Marvel Studios hasn’t yet confirmed this. It’s possible Thorne could also return in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, perhaps becoming a founding Young Avengers member – albeit one connected to the MCU’s newest and most terrifying antagonist.
Which Ironheart suit has been your favorite so far? Let us know in the comments!
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