During December’s Disney Investor Day, it was announced that Marvel Studios is bringing the fan favourite character Riri Williams to Disney+, with up-and-coming actress Dominique Thorne (If Beale Street Could Talk) cast in the title role for a live-action Ironheart series.
Speaking to BlackFilmandTV during a promotional interview for her new film Judas and the Black Messiah, Thorne has spoken for the first time about her impending debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and her hopes for the role and the series.
“I knew about Ironheart before I was approached with the role so it was it was an awe inspiring moment to think that I would be chosen to portray this woman and to bring her to the screen in this way,” said Thorne. “For me, at this point, it’s really about the story. That’s what many of us who enter into this profession think. What draws you in is the the ability to tell stories that mean something to people. In high school, the motto was to empathize, to empower, or to educate and so that is what I still abide by today. So hopefully, I’m involved in a story that is doing that.”
Riri Williams was introduced into the Marvel comic book universe in 2015 and is a young engineering student and super-genius who designs her own Iron Man-style suit of armor using material stolen from her campus and begins fighting crime as the superhero Ironheart.