Despite only appearing in one episode of Ironheart, Mephisto has been wheeling and dealing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for centuries. He explains to Riri Williams that his client list includes popes, kings, members of the Forbes richest list, as well as one of the Beatles, Ringo Starr. Anyone who’s after something is susceptible to Mephisto, which is why Riri is so quick to shake his hand after he offers to bring her AI companion, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., back. The temptation is too much, and it always helps the villain’s case that he claims only to want something the person on the other side of the table “won’t miss.”

The big mystery now is who Mephisto will set his sights on next. After all, the MCU is full of down-on-their-luck characters who could use a win. One of the most notable candidates is Spider-Man, who makes a deal with Mephisto in the comics to bring Aunt May back from the dead. However, Peter Parker isn’t the only member of Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s cast that has ties to the Lord of Evil.

Mephisto Comes to Frank Castle After the Anti-Hero Begs for Help

Just like in the MCU, Thanos terrorizes the heroes of Marvel Comics whenever the opportunity presents itself. In his own solo book by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, the Mad Titan arrives on an alternate version of Earth and starts wreaking havoc. The planet’s heroes aren’t having any luck stopping him, and Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, is one of the few that survive. It isn’t long before Thanos turns his attention to him, though, so he asks the universe for a way to stop the villain. Mephisto appears before Castle and offers him incredible power that will allow him to defeat the Mad Titan and save his home. Without any other options, Castle accepts and becomes the next Ghost Rider.

By the time Castle returns to Earth and is ready for a showdown, he realizes that everyone on Earth is dead and Thanos is gone. Mephisto does hold up his end of the bargain, but he doesn’t promise Castle an audience with his enemy or anything of the sort. Castle can do nothing but roam the planet alone and slowly lose his mind. However, his fortunes change when an injured Galactus shows up and offers him another deal that would give him additional power and the chance to hunt down Thanos. Things don’t go the way Castle wants them to, but that doesn’t mean the story is all bad. In fact, the MCU could adapt parts of its if the rumors about Brand New Day‘s villain are true.

Read Next

Is Fantastic Four: First Steps Pushing Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards Into an MCU Villain Arc?

Punisher Could Be in Need of an Upgrade in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Thanos is no longer a threat to Earth-616, as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes dealt with him in Avengers: Endgame. He’s far from the only character that can threaten the world, though, and some of the biggest threats aren’t even villains. Rumors are making the rounds that claim Hulk will be one of Brand New Day‘s villains. The details are few and far between, but it appears that Savage Hulk could be making his MCU debut in time to make trouble for Spider-Man. Obviously, Punisher isn’t nearly as strong as either of the former Avengers, making guns his weapons of choice. Bullets aren’t going to help in a fight against the Hulk, so Mephisto may see an opening to add a talented killer to his roster.

If Hulk is tearing New York City apart and Spider-Man is down for the count, Mephisto could set up a meeting with Castle and offer him the chance to become Ghost Rider. There’s nobody in the role at the moment in the MCU, and who better to host the Spirit of Vengeance than a man who makes it his life’s mission to get revenge. Taking the deal would allow Castle to go toe-to-toe with Bruce Banner’s alter ego and save the world. And once he’s done with that, he can fight even bigger threats like Galactus or Doctor Doom. It may seem like a wild transition for a character who got his start on Netflix, but stranger things have happened in the MCU.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters on July 31, 2026.

Would you like to see Frank Castle make a deal with Frank Castle in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Do you think he could become the next Ghost Rider? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Mephisto’s Next MCU Deal Could Come in Spider-Man 4 (But It Won’t Be With Peter Parker) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

After years of speculation, the long-awaited Marvel villain Mephisto finally made his MCU debut in the Disney+ series Ironheart. British actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen played the role of Marvel’s devil with a slickness and an ever-present threat of danger in the finale episode of the show, seemingly making a deal with Riri Williams. Now, fans are just as enthusiastic and busy theorizing where the demon will pop up, and which Marvel character’s Mephisto will make a deal with next. At a recent roundtable for the MCU’s next release, Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige confirmed that we’ll likely see more of Cohen as the character going forward.

Feige discussed his initial reluctance to include a cosmic being like Mephisto on screen before the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying he didn’t know how to bring a character like Mephisto into the world of superheroes. “He’s the devil; how do you do that character?”

While he made his MCU debut in Ironheart, Mephisto made his first appearance in the comics in Silver Surfer #3 in 1968. Since then, Mephisto has played formative roles in the stories of many Marvel characters, including Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom. However, it was Mephisto’s history with Scarlet Witch that led to fan theories about him appearing in WandaVision back in 2021, which did not go unnoticed by Feige.

“He was never part of WandaVision,” Feige was quick to say, reiterating similar sentiments shared by the creators behind WandaVision and subsequently its spinoff Agatha All Along. “But the enthusiasm with which he was theorized on that certainly was cool and was fun to watch.”

Read Next

Mephisto Needs His Own MCU TV Spinoff (Like Agatha)

Feige Confirms More Mephisto in MCU

Feige answered with a firm “yes” as to whether there are plans to use Mephisto more; however, he remained tight-lipped on exactly how. “He was a big part of Thanos’ storyline in the comics. So again, now that he’s here, the potential is clear.”

While Thanos is dead in the MCU continuity, there’s a chance we may see Mephisto again as soon as next year in a Marvel project. The soonest could be in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, slated for release next summer. Mephisto, who considers Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s daughter the key to his undoing, heavily factored into the controversial “One More Day” storyline in the comics, in which Peter makes a bargain with Mephisto to save Aunt May in exchange for erasing his marriage to Mary Jane from existence and making his identity secret once more. Thus, if Peter and MJ aren’t together, they can’t give birth to Mephisto’s nemesis.

Mephisto could also tie into 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, given that he made a deal with Victor von Doom’s mother, Cynthia, before he became the villain Doctor Doom. A skilled Romani sorceress, Cynthia made a bargain with Mephisto for the power to seek revenge against those who persecuted her clan. However, the demon neglected to mention that for every man she killed, she also took a child’s life, and though she was horrified and renounced her power, she was fatally stabbed. Victor eventually enlisted Doctor Strange to free Cynthia from Mephisto’s realm to a better afterlife in the classic 1989 Marvel graphic novel Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, widely considered one of the defining Doom stories. While he may not be a leading character in Avengers: Doomsday, Mephisto’s connection to Doctor Doom’s past could very much merit at least a cameo from Cohen in the upcoming film. And even if not, there are still countless ways the Mephisto could make his devilish return to the screen.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters Friday, July 25th.

The post Marvel’s Kevin Feige Addresses Mephisto Finally Making His MCU Debut, And What’s Next For Him appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The best possible rival to the upcoming Harry Potter reboot series is a Marvel Cinematic Universe spinoff that was set up in Phase 5’s Ironheart. HBO’s new Harry Potter series has now started filming, giving us a first look at Dominic McLaughlin as the new Boy Who Lived and Nick Frost as Hagrid. The first season is expected to premiere in 2027, which could see it release around the same time as a magical MCU spinoff that, while it hasn’t yet been officially confirmed, could give the Harry Potter reboot a run for its money.

Marvel Television’s Ironheart series just introduced us to Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah), who proved her talent when examining a piece of the mysterious hood and when enhancing Riri Williams’ (Dominique Thorne) new Ironheart suit with magic. Stanton’s debut has raised speculation that Marvel Studios will be pushing forward with a spinoff series focused on the Strange Academy, a school for young magic-users run by Stanton and Doctor Strange in Marvel Comics. A series set in the MCU’s Strange Academy would be the perfect rival to HBO’s Harry Potter reboot.

Both Strange Academy and Harry Potter focus on young sorcerers finding their feet and learning their talents while getting into some precarious situations. The similarities between these two stories and settings are obvious, so it would be fantastic for a Strange Academy series to piggy-back off the notoriety of the Harry Potter franchise, and for Harry Potter to benefit from Marvel Studios developing its own MCU-set magic series. In February, Deadline reported that an MCU series set in the Strange Academy was shelved, but the success of Ironheart and the development of Harry Potter could change this status.

Read Next

Every Actor Cast In HBO’s Harry Potter Remake So Far (& Who They’re Playing)

Of course, the Harry Potter franchise is much more well-known than the Strange Academy, which only debuted in Marvel Comics in March 2020’s Strange Academy #1. This means there might not be such a rivalry, but the magnitude and immense popularity of the MCU means a Strange Academy series would be a strong competitor. With the likes of John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, Paapa Essiedu, Anton Lesser, and more cast in Harry Potter, the series will surely be a prestige and legitimate adaptation, despite some controversies, while a Strange Academy spinoff could also include some major names.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Regan Aliyah, Anthony Ramos, Xochitl Gomez, Benedict Wong, and more could all appear in a Strange Academy series. It would be great to see new young sorcerers introduced to the MCU, and Strange Academy has the opportunity to pull off some weirder, wilder, and more vibrant stories than a Harry Potter series – of which everyone already knows the narrative. A show set in the Strange Academy hasn’t yet been announced, but with Harry Potter moving forward quickly, it would make sense for Marvel to go full steam ahead on its own magical adventure.

Do you want to see an MCU-set Strange Academy series release alongside HBO’s Harry Potter? Let us know in the comments!

The post The Harry Potter Reboot’s Biggest Rival Could Be The MCU’s Next Big Spin-Off appeared first on ComicBook.com.

In Marvel’s Ironheart series, Riri Williams joined an elite and surprising group of heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that deserves to be addressed in the future. Dominique Thorne’s return as Riri Williams following her debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been met with success. Marvel Television’s Ironheart series on Disney+ concluded the MCU’s Phase 5 by pitting the titular armored hero against the magical Parker Robbins’ Hood (Anthony Ramos) and his demonic benefactor, Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), but Riri Williams also showed off a mysterious and unexpected new gift.

Episode 5 of Riri Williams’ debut solo series opened with her being attacked by the Hood’s gang at a White Castle, including Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich), who destroyed Riri’s Ironheart suit. After seeking help from her mother (Anji White) and the NATALIE artificial intelligence (Lyric Ross), Riri builds a new suit from the car she had worked on with her step-father. A montage spotlights her and her friends building the suit while Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah) prepares her magic, and this montage ends with Riri staring straight down the camera lens, breaking the fourth wall.

In the MCU’s history, only a handful of characters have shown the capability of breaking the fourth wall, and Riri Williams just joined this exclusive group. The most prevalent fourth wall-breaking heroes are Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany). It’s unclear why these two heroes are able to break the fourth wall, but perhaps is something to do with their superpowers, as neither speak to the audience prior to receiving their gifts. This could mean that Ironheart is hinting at Riri Williams gaining some superpowers of her own, perhaps thanks to her deal with Mephisto.

Read Next

3 Marvel Characters Deadpool Needs to Meet in the MCU

A number of other characters in the MCU have also made sure we know they’re aware of the camera, even though they have seldom actually spoken to the audience. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pizza Poppa (Bruce Campbell) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in Loki season 1, and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) in Agatha All Along have all stared straight into our souls. Riri Williams is just the latest, and we hope this gets more exploration in the MCU’s future.

Dominique Thorne hasn’t yet been confirmed to be returning as Riri Williams, but several teases in Ironheart’s series finale hint at future stories involving the armored hero. Her new deal with Mephisto may see her become a villain, perhaps fighting the MCU’s upcoming Young Avengers team, while Zelma Stanton, Parker Robbins, Natalie Washington, Ezekiel Stane, and Mephisto all deserve more attention, too. Whether future appearances see her breaking the fourth wall or not is another question, but a possible Ironheart season 2 could address this mystery.

What do you make of Riri Williams’ fourth wall break in Ironheart? Let us know in the comments!

The post Ironheart Just Joined An Elite Group of MCU Heroes (& You Totally Missed It) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel’s Ironheart miniseries on Disney+ cemented the fact that Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) is a major new figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s technological arms race. After building her own Iron Man suit from scratch, and getting one-of-a-kind tutelage from Princess Shuri and Wakanda’s scientists (in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Riri took the world-changing leap of not just perfecting her own armor designs (using her own resources), but bridging the gap between technology and magic in order to defeat The Hood (Anthony Ramos).

Now that Ironheart is done, there’s a lot of chat and debate among MCU fans about how Riri stacks against Tony Stark. Granted, not all of that talk is nice, as Ironheart stepping into Iron Man’s legacy seems to be making some (trolls) angry, just on principle. However, more level-headed fans are fairly wondering just how far Riri has come to actually develop armor tech that can rival Tony’s Iron Man suits.

Let’s break down where the MCU armor wars currently stand, after Ironheart.

Power Sources

There’s no denying that Tony Stark’s miniturized Arc Reactor design still stands as the technological heart of the MCU. The output of the reactor, which Stark only refined over time, is second to none when it comes to powering armor suits. And, during the run of the Infinity Saga, there’s no doubt that Iron Man had the dominant technological power on Earth.

However, what Riri Williams has accomplished can’t be understated (even though it has been in the franchise). Riri’s Mark I armor was powered by its own Arc Reactor, which she custom-built herself using Tony Stark’s blueprints. That same power source was both refined and then housed in a Vibranium armor (the Mark II) that was far more advanced than her Stark-based design for the Mark I.

Tech Power Levels

Pausing the conversation right there: it’s already a debate as to whether Ironheart’s Mark II armor, with its Vibranium enhancements, isn’t on par with Tony’s later nanotech armors, like the Mark L from Avengers: Infinity War, or the Mark LXXXV from Endgame. The real question is whether or not the nanites and Stark’s armor were a match for the Vibranium in Riri’s suit. It’s a power level showdown that the MCU got to side-step, since Tony Stark never made it to the nation of Wakanda (that we know of) and never pitted his nanotech armors against any of its warriors (like Black Panther or Shuri).

Read Next

Every MCU Character Who Has Worn An Iron Suit

Likewise, there was no crossover between Riri and Tony in the MCU, so no armor vs. armor fight will be able to settle things. There’s also the fact that Riri’s Mark II armor was left in Wakanda, and the Mark III and IV armors she built at MIT and back home in Chicago (respectively) presumably lack the Vibranium enhancements that would make them on par with Tony’s nanotech.

Magic Factor

The finale episode of Ironheart has made this conversation a bit trickier. Riri Williams opened a whole new door by merging her armor technology with magical energy to power it, so that she could counter the mystical energies of The Hood. Riri’s magical levels only seemed to increase after her deal with Mephisto. So, while the sophistication of Riri’s armor tech may have taken a step back, the magical enhancement has far more power potential. It’s also a form of energy (and potential combat) that Iron Man would necessarily be able to compensate for, at least not initially (Tony can turn anything into a solvable equation, eventually).

Who Is More Powerful: Ironheart or Iron Man?

As it stands right now, with all factors considered, it seems like Iron Heart has pushed further into what kind of power and armored suit can have than Iron Man ever did. Granted, Tony Stark has been dead for years in the MCU, and a major part of Riri’s arc is being the unlikely person who comes from the unlikeliest of places to end up being the one who finally cracks the code on continuing Iron Man’s heroic legacy, despite the obvious disadvantages of financing and resources. That inherently requires that Ironheart be advancing the line of armored power forward, just to have her be a competitor at all. So it’s easy to give her the edge… at least in theory.

Obviously, after just two major battles, Ironheart has not been tested like Iron Man was. Tony largely had to stand alone (or with War Machine) when facing the Iron Monger, Whiplash, Aldrich Killian, and any number of their lackeys. Tony also saved the entire world multiple times over – feats that almost always required the direct contributions of his genius and battle prowess. So, until Riri starts playing on that kind of level, it’s fair for veteran MCU fans to still claim Iron Man as their GOAT.

Iron Man, Ironheart, and Avengers content are all streaming on Disney.

The post How Powerful Ironheart’s Suit Is Compared to Iron Man’s in the MCU appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Several other characters have joined Tony Stark in donning an Iron Man-style suit of armor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man was the first on-screen hero in the MCU, despite not having any innate superpowers of his own. His gifts are given to him by his technologically-advanced armor, which many characters have tried to replicate or acquire in the 17 years since 2008’s Iron Man. This has made way for a number of armored heroes sporting iron suits in the MCU.

Most characters in the MCU have some sort of naturally-occurring or chemically-enhanced abilities, but there are many others who need assistance to operate as superheroes alongside these innately-powered individuals. Suits of armor developed by Tony Stark or based on the Iron Man suit have elevated 11 MCU characters into formidable heroes and even more terrifying villains, , including Iron Monger, War Machine, and the Iron Spider-Man, culminating in the evolution of Riri Williams’ Ironheart suit in her 2025 Disney+ series.

Read Next

10 Coolest Iron Man Armors That Haven’t Appeared in the MCU Yet

Currently, no armored heroes have been confirmed to be returning in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, so it’s unclear what the future holds for Iron Man’s legacy. After Ironheart’s finale, it’s very likely Riri Williams will return, while it’s possible that Robert Downey Jr.’s appearance as Doctor Doom – who is expected to sport armor of his own – could open the door for an Iron Man variant to also show up. Any number of these former Iron Man-style characters could return in the MCU’s Phase 6.

11) Tony Stark’s Iron Man

2008’s Iron Man opened with Tony Stark being attacked and taken captive by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, who urged him to create weapons for them. Instead, Stark and his fellow prisoner, Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub) forged a miniaturized arc reactor and the first Iron Man suit, which allowed Stark to escape. Since then, the Iron Man suit went through many variations, each more powerful and impressive than the last, which helped to cement Tony Stark as the face of the MCU and one of the franchise’s most formidable and dedicated heroes.

Tony Stark’s Iron Man made his final appearance in Avengers: Endgame in an armored suit capable of withstanding the combined energy of all six Infinity Stones. Stark really outdid himself when creating this armor, as holding all six Infinity Stones was no mean feat. Even so, it’s possible Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars could introduce variants of Tony Stark with even more powerful suits – perhaps armor capable of traveling the multiverse. Variants of Tony Stark have sported many brilliant suits in the animated What If…? series, too, but Stark’s live-action armors are the MCU’s most iconic.

10) Obadiah Stane’s Iron Monger

The MCU’s first movie didn’t only debut an armored hero in the form of Iron Man, but also introduced a similarly-armored villain – Obadiah Stane’s Iron Monger. Jeff Bridges delivered a brilliant and memorable performance as Stane that has recently been given new life with the debut of his son, Alden Ehrenreich’s Ezekiel Stane. To become Iron Monger, Stane developed his own armor from the scraps left behind by Tony Stark, but he was ultimately bested and killed by the titular hero, as Stane hadn’t worked out all the kinks of the Iron Man armor that Stark had.

9) James “Rhodey” Rhodes’ War Machine

Originally played by Terrence Howard, then later and more prominently by Don Cheadle, Rhodey was introduced as Tony Stark’s best friend and Stark Industries’ liaison in the United States’ Air Force’s Department of Acquisitions. In 2010’s Iron Man 2, Rhodey stole an early Iron Man armor, which was kitted out by Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) with all sorts of weapons, turning him into War Machine. Rhodey has operated as War Machine ever since, but has never been given the limelight. He’s supposed to appear in the MCU’s Armor Wars movie, but news on the project has been scarce for years.

8) Pepper Potts

Gwyneth Paltrow’s long-running love-interest to Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, first donned an Iron Man suit in 2013’s Iron Man 3, where Stark put the suit on her to protect her during Aldrich Killian’s (Guy Pearce) attack on Stark’s Malibu mansion. It wasn’t until 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, however, where Potts suited up in an armor of her own. This blue suit of armor allowed Pepper Potts to fight alongside the Avengers against Thanos and his armies as Rescue, taken straight from the pages of Marvel Comics, but Potts hasn’t been seen in the years since Stark’s demise on the battlefield.

7) Eric Savin

Eric Savin (James Badge Dale) was Aldrich Killian’s right-hand-man during his terrorism campaign and creation of the Mandarin. He was enhanced by Extremis, which worked successfully for him while unpredictably destroying other subjects, but Savin also gained the enhancement of the Iron Patriot armor – formerly War Machine – in Iron Man 3. He stole the Iron Patriot armor and used it to kidnap President Matthew Ellis (William Sadler), before being killed by Tony Stark thanks to him firing a repulsor blast through the bully Savin’s chest, obliterating his heart entirely.

Read Next

7 Biggest Marvel Changes That Made the MCU Great

6) President Matthew Ellis

Matthew Ellis was one of the few individuals in the MCU to wear an Iron Man-like suit of armor and not actually put it to any use as a hero or a villain. Ellis was kidnapped by Savin and brought to Killian’s oil tanker in the Iron Patriot suit, where he was strung up and prepared to be killed in front of the world audience as a symbol and the fabricated Mandarin’s final attack. Rhodey saved Ellis and reacquired the Iron Patriot armor, allowing him to help Tony Stark’s Iron Man take down Aldrich Killian and his Extremis soldiers.

5) Peter Parker’s Spider-Man

First teased at the end of 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker finally suited up in the Iron Spider-Man costume in Avengers: Infinity War only a year later. This fortified suit of armor, made from Stark’s favored nanotech, gave Spider-Man even more abilities, including helping him breathe at high altitudes, giving him protection against attacks, and gifting him extra limbs that allowed him to save Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and be a huge asset in the fight against Thanos. Peter Parker has since gone back to basics, and will have his homemade suit in 2026’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

4) Bruce Banner

Even though the Hulk refused to emerge to help during the battle against Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) wasn’t so quick to back down from the fight. In order to obtain the Hulk’s power without actually transforming, Banner suited up in the Hulkbuster armor in Wakanda. This armor was first seen in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which saw Stark wear it to fight the Hulk in Johannesburg. Banner’s appearance in the Hulkbuster armor was brilliant given his friendship with Tony Stark, and a great stepping stone in the hero’s evolution.

3) Steve Rogers’ HYDRA Stomper

The animated What If…? series might have introduced a number of Tony Stark variants, but the Multiverse Saga show also debuted other armored heroes. The first of these was Steve Rogers (Josh Keaton), who suited up in the Howard Stark-created (Dominic Cooper) HYDRA Stomper armor during World War II after Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) became a super-soldier. Copying Bucky Barnes’ (Sebastian Stan) Winter Soldier storyline, Rogers’ HYDRA Stomper returned in the present day of Captain Carter’s timeline as a soldier of the Red Room. This put a fantastic twist on the typical Iron Man story.

2) Justin Hammer’s Hulkbuster

In What If…? season 2, episode 3, “What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?,” Sam Rockwell made his much-anticipated return to Marvel to voice Justin Hammer, who attacked Avengers Tower in a Die Hard-style storyline, hoping to acquire a vial of Bruce Banner’s gamma-irradiated blood. It’s Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) who is injected with the blood, turning him into Freak, but Hammer opposes him by suiting up in the Hulkbuster armor. There have been calls for Justin Hammer to return to the live-action MCU, and after his appearance in What If…? season 2, this prospect is even more exciting.

1) Riri Williams’ Ironheart

Dominique Thorne made her MCU debut as Riri Williams in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she suited up in two different versions of the Ironheart armor. One of these was created with vibranium, which made it remarkably powerful, but was kept by the Wakandans when Riri returned home. 2025’s Ironheart series gave Riri Williams new powers, however, as she went through two more suits of armor before landing on her final Ironheart design. She used this suit – empowered by Zelma Stanton’s (Regan Aliyah) magic – to battle Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), ultimately claiming the mystical Hood for herself.

Read Next

7 Major Questions Marvel’s Ironheart Left Unanswered

The final moments of Marvel Television’s Ironheart saw Riri Williams make a deal with the demonic supervillain Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), and kitted out her Ironheart armor with the Hood, which has already started to corrupt her. The series finale, “The Past Is the Past,” consequently debuted perhaps the most powerful suit of armor in the MCU’s history, but also the most dangerous. It’s unclear when or if Riri Williams’ Ironheart will return to the MCU, but it’s exciting to think about what abilities her upcoming suits of armor will have now she’s working with Mephisto and using the Hood.

Who are your favorite armored characters in the MCU? Let us know in the comments!

The post Every MCU Character Who Has Worn An Iron Suit appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel Studios might have just brought a strange part of Iron Man’s legacy back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe during one emotional moment in Ironheart, “Karma’s a Glitch.” Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) proved herself to be the perfect custodian of Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) legacy in the MCU in Ironheart. The series took heavy inspiration from Stark’s history, especially through Williams’ building of several suits of armor and the appearance of Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich), the son of Stark’s original villain, the Iron Monger, but Stark’s legacy might have continued in another way, too.

After her violent defeat at the hands of the Hood’s low-level criminal gang in Ironheart episode 5, Riri returns home and seeks help from her mother, Ronnie (Anji White), and the NATALIE artificial intelligence (Lyric Ross). When Ronnie takes Riri to her deceased stepdad’s garage, NATALIE shows them a projected memory of a young Riri dancing with Gary (LaRoyce Hawkins). NATALIE was created when Riri scanned her own brainwaves, which could have recorded her memories, too, but this scene may also hark back to Tony Stark’s use of the BARF technology from 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing (BARF) was introduced in Civil War during Tony Stark’s presentation at MIT. The illusion-projection technology, originally designed by Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) for Stark Industries, allowed Stark to show a memory of his last time speaking to his parents before their deaths, and gave him the opportunity to say a proper goodbye, which he didn’t have the chance to do in reality. This technology was then integrated into the Stark drones in 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, which saw Beck, as Mysterio, cast great illusions to fool the world about the Elemental attacks.

Read Next

All 5 MCU Projects Set Up By Ironheart

It hasn’t been confirmed that the projection shown by NATALIE in Ironheart was using BARF, but it would make sense given Riri Williams’ legacy connection to Tony Stark. Riri was a student at MIT, so could have been given access to the BARF technology at school, where she also developed a high-tech and modern Ironheart suit, which ultimately proved useless after her expulsion. NATALIE’s projection, which saw Gary call the young Riri “Ironhead,” could have just been that – a projected memory, but it would be great to see the BARF technology still have a presence in the MCU.

Despite Gary’s lessons and the impact of this memory being projected, Riri Williams still entered into a nefarious and questionable deal with the manipulative supervillain Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen). This choice will surely come back to bite her, which will see Riri walk the same line that Stark did – that between a hero and a villain – as Stark often created his own demons. Downey Jr. is set to debut in 2026 as Doctor Doom, but it’s great to see Iron Man’s MCU legacy continuing in the story of Riri Williams’ Ironheart.

Did you enjoy seeing Riri Williams continue Tony Stark’s legacy in the MCU’s Ironheart series? Let us know in the comments!

The post The MCU Just Revived A Forgotten Part Of Iron Man’s Legacy appeared first on ComicBook.com.

One of the newest heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe just received an unimaginable power upgrade in the finale of Ironheart that would even put Iron Man to shame. The MCU has been without a significant armored hero akin to Tony Stark’s Iron Man since Robert Downey Jr.’s departure in Avengers: Endgame. While Downey Jr. will appear as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, Marvel Studios has also finally developed his legacy hero, as Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams just made her triumphant return as Ironheart.

Ironheart isn’t your typical armored superhero. While Tony Stark retrofitted his suits of armor with incredible weapons and unexpected skills, Riri Williams’ newest Ironheart suit has just received an upgrade even Stark couldn’t comprehend. After she made her deal with the demonic villain Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen) in Ironheart’s finale, “The Past Is the Past,” Riri reunited with her resurrected best friend, Natalie (Lyric Ross), in her stepfather’s garage. In the background of this scene, however, stands Riri’s Ironheart suit – which is now equipped with the mysterious Hood.

The Hood had formerly been worn by Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), who used it to commit low-level crimes and hostile takeovers to several of his father’s businesses in Chicago. Parker clearly wasn’t using the Hood to its full capabilities, but the garment was nevertheless corrupting him biologically and psychologically. During his battle with Ironheart at Desperito’s Pizzeria, Parker turned truly monstrous because of the Hood’s influence. Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah) revealed this was due to the Hood harboring energy from the Dark Dimension, where Doctor Strange’s Dormammu rules.

Read Next

All 5 MCU Projects Set Up By Ironheart

Despite the dangers, the Hood gives its user incredible power. Both Parker Robbins and Xu Xialing in What If…? season 3 displayed the ability to turn invisible and an increase in fighting skills, while tapping into some heavy and unpredictable magic. Drawing power from the Dark Dimension gave Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his zealots the power to warp reality at will in 2016’s Doctor Strange, so perhaps this power could now be gifted to Ironheart, setting her up for an incredibly powerful future, should Dominique Thorne return in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

It’s unclear whether Riri Williams herself has worn the Hood, but her new deal with Mephisto – who owned the Hood prior to gifting it to Parker Robbins – has been shown to be corrupting her anyway. It’s possible that Riri will have worn the Ironheart suit with the Hood, which might have caused the strange veins to emerge on her arm. Xu Xialing was also corrupted by the Hood in What If…?, which spells bad news for Riri Williams’ next appearance after Ironheart, even though the dark accessory makes her one of the MCU’s most powerful new heroes.

Are you excited to see Riri Williams’ Ironheart return in the Hood? Let us know in the comments!

The post 1 Of Doomsday’s New Avengers Got A Ridiculous Power Upgrade That Makes Iron Man Look Inferior appeared first on ComicBook.com.

With the release of Ironheart, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has officially escaped its initial era of TV shows. This program was the last (as of this writing) live-action production from Marvel Studios/Television to not have a showrunner. A staple of the earliest MCU streaming projects, future projects like Wonder Man, Vision Quest, and further Daredevil shows will have showrunners guiding these endeavors from start to finish. The MCU tried to upend how all television shows are made, only to face endless difficulties in the process.

It’s fair to say that, in general, the plan to hinge the franchise’s future on Disney+ streaming programming did not pan out nor did most of these shows end up functioning as successful artistic endeavors. However, that doesn’t mean the likes of Secret Invasion or Ironheart don’t have important lessons for both big and small screen MCU projects going forward.

1) What Works in MCU Movies Doesn’t Translate to TV

The biggest takeaway Disney and Marvel need to absorb from the follies of Phases 4 and 5 MCU shows is budgets. Spending $212 million on Secret Invasion, $225 million on WandaVision, and $200+ million on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (among others) is just unfeasible. Many of these shows cost more than recent MCU motion pictures like Shang-Chi or Thunderbolts*! The fact that these shows still often had laughable visual effects and drab backdrops befitting of low-budget B-movies just solidified what a waste it was burning money on these shows.

Put simply, it’s not as lucrative as spending movie-sized cash on a TV show. That dovetails into another lesson Marvel Television must heed: fans can’t keep up with all this material. Making Ms. Marvel required viewing for The Marvels, for instance, ruined the box office chances of a surefire financial slam-dunk like a Captain Marvel sequel.

2) Don’t Debut Major Superheroes on Television

Streaming programs blocked behind a paywall just aren’t as accessible or wide-reaching (save for the occasional Squid Game or Stranger Things) as something you watch in a movie theater. It’s important to remember that: don’t create programs that are prerequisites for enjoying a new motion picture. For that matter, characters like Kamala Khan or Moon Knight deserve to get their stories told in more compact feature film formats. If you’re not going to let these Marvel Comics fixtures inhabit television shows that lean into the novelties of episodic storytelling, then just give them straightforward movies.

Read Next

Marvel Television Banner Return Explained by Marvel Studios Exec (Exclusive)

3) Also, Don’t Debut Villains on Streaming

Speaking of character debuts, the bizarre decision by Marvel Studios/Television to debut so many major villains and characters (namely Kang and Mephisto) in the confines of streaming was a massive misstep. Back at the dawn of the 2020s, this was meant to suggest that all these shows were must-watches. You never know which Disney+ outing could debut the next Thanos. Instead, all it did was make the MCU feel too large and cumbersome to deal with. Premiere these new baddies and characters on the big screen, where they can have some impact.

4) Bring Back the Special Presentations and Embrace Multi-Season Shows

Then there are the kinds of stories that these TV shows should embrace going forward. For starters, multi-season productions need to be a mandate. Do not stretch out a two-hour origin movie into a six-hour miniseries. Lean into these being TV shows and create characters, worlds, and fun weekly plotlines that audiences would want to explore each week. Agatha All Along, WandaVision, and Loki got some of the best reviews of any MCU Disney+ show by leaning into episodic storytelling. Take some cues from these shows and not The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Similarly, those Special Presentations need to make a comeback pronto. 45-minute productions in the vein of Werewolf By Night could offer more breathing room to get to know new Marvel characters and allow filmmakers a chance to inject new sensibilities into this franchise. There’s so much potential in there that it’s bizarre that it’s been years since audiences were given one of these projects (which could also be made far more cost-efficiently than a six-hour TV show). Build upon Werewolf by Night’s legacy and give the world more cool Special Presentations!

5) Make Sure These Shows Are Ready to Roll Before Filming Begins

Perhaps most importantly, though, is that future Marvel shows have to be ready to go with fully fleshed-out scripts and coherent creative visions before cameras start rolling. In the realm of movies, Marvel Studios is always tinkering with its projects up until the last minute. Key scenes get added into reshoots, or critical post-credits scenes are filmed days before a movie’s debut. Leaning excessively into that concept has already hurt many Phase 4 or 5 MCU movies. However, going this route with television proved to be staggeringly miscaulculated.

For one thing, television shows are such bigger beasts than movies. WandaVision, for instance, was approximately 350 minutes long (nearly double Avengers: Endgame’s run time) and spanned nine episodes. Daredevil: Born Again started shooting with the ambition of delivering 18 episodes. Diving into these massive entities without finished scripts or constantly adjusting the tones of these shows led to countless problems. Programs like Born Again, Echo, Secret Invasion, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had infamous production problems that could’ve been avoided with steadier creative visions from the get-go.

Before any further Marvel Disney+ shows get green-lit, everybody needs to be on the same page regarding the project’s creative ambitions, the scripts, visual sensibilities, and more. Marvel Television’s divorcing itself from Marvel Studios and leaning more on showrunners already indicates that this outfit is learning from its past mistakes. Still, despite spending so much money and an endless deluge of publicity, the current track record of the MCU Disney+ shows is more discouraging than enthralling. Hopefully, that at least provides a template for improvement when further Marvel characters make their way to the small screen.

All episodes of Ironheart and Secret Invasion are now streaming on Disney+.

The post 5 Things Marvel Can Learn From the Failures of the MCU Disney+ Shows appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The stunning conclusion of Ironheart left Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) making a deal with the devil – at least Marvel’s devil, Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen) – in exchange for bringing her best friend Natalie (Lyric Ross) back to life. Meanwhile, at the end of The Marvels, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) seeks out Kate Bishop’s (Hailee Steinfeld) Hawkeye about putting together a team of “kid superheroes.” Marvel continues to claim that there are currently no plans for a Young Avengers movie, but even so, the studio has been slowly but steadily introducing Young Avengers members and planting seeds for the team‘s debut in the MCU. And now with Ironheart, Marvel appears to have given us the perfect antagonist for the Young Avengers to face off against and, ultimately, recruit to their ranks: a Mephisto-controlled Riri Williams.

The Young Avengers comic debuted in 2005, and the team of Marvel’s most promising young superheroes was created by writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung. Like in the MCU, Kate Bishop was an early recruit of the Young Avengers in the comics. Over the course of Phases 4 and 5, we’ve met even more potential on-screen members. The obvious ones are Kamala Khan (Iman Villani) and Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie Lang/Stature (Kathryn Newton), whom Khan mentions she’s “putting out feelers” to. We met America Chavez/Miss America (Xochitl Gomez) via Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Madness, Kid Loki in Season One of Loki, glimpsed Hulk’s son Skaar (Wil Deusner) during the finale of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and given where Agatha All Along ended, it’s likely both Billy Maximoff/Wiccan (Joe Locke) and his twin brother Tommy would also join the first incarnation of the Young Avengers. Who knows, could Miles Morales make his live-action debut in time to join the ranks, as well?

The Stage Has Already Been Set for Riri to Be an Antagonist

Riri as a Young Avenger is a no-brainer. However, we’d love to see Marvel continue her arc and her toxic relationship with Mephisto, before she officially gets her membership card. Ironheart demonstrated that Riri is open to existing in morally grey, if not wholly corrupt, areas in order to advance her tech. Her regular suit and smarts make her a formidable opponent, but add in Zelma’s (Regan Aliyah) magic-powered suit and Mephisto’s hand on the scales, Riri would be damn near unstoppable. Riri’s synthesis of magic and science would put both the Young Avengers’ magic users (Billy and Kid Loki) through their paces, along with the more scientifically inclined members like Stature or Miles Morales.

Furthermore, our familiarity with Riri makes her a much more compelling choice as an early antagonist for the Young Avengers. We’ve seen first-hand the incredible amount of strife she’s experienced over the course of both Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever and Ironheart… and we get the pain and resentment she’s feeling. At the tender age of twenty, Riri’s already been hunted down by the government; watched Queen Ramonda (Angela Basset) sacrifice her life to save her; battled the Talokanil, and lost several loved ones to gang violence. Being able to understand where an antagonist is coming from and their reasoning behind their actions (however wrong they may be) always makes for better and more entertaining drama.

Read Next

All 5 MCU Projects Set Up By Ironheart

It’s what made Iron Man (Robert Downey Junior) and Captain America’s (Chris Evans) conflict so heart-wrenching in Captain America: Civil War. We’d spent so much time with both Iron Man and Cap, and knew what was feeding their respective stances regarding the Sokovia Accords, that when their disagreement came to blows, we couldn’t take our eyes off the screen. Now that Riri, along with Kate and Kamala, have all had their MCU own solo series, bringing them together to duke it out would be just as engaging as their predecessors in Civil War.

There’s also the fact that with another appearance of Riri in the MCU, Mephisto likely wouldn’t be far off. The demon made a world-rocking debut in the final episode of Ironheart, displaying the mere tip of the iceberg of his vast power set. Having Mephisto as the true “villain,” watching the Young Avengers team up against him to free Riri from her deal or otherwise (like a deal with the resurrected Billy and/or Tommy), would be thrilling. It would also provide the perfect opportunity for Mephisto to showcase more of what he’s capable of, and for him to reveal his true form after that tease in Ironheart.

Lastly, a Young Avengers film with Riri facing off against the budding team could provide the perfect redemption arc for the character. Kate and Kamala convincing Riri to join them, despite her starting off as an enemy, would convey a powerful message about finding hope and resilience through community and chosen family. Not to mention, it would provide quite the boost to the already impressive team of young heroes.

Ironheart is now streaming on Disney+.

The post I Think Ironheart Sets Up Riri Williams to Be a Perfect Young Avengers Villain appeared first on ComicBook.com.

All six episodes of Marvel’s Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+, and there are plenty of great reasons to love the show. The Marvel Cinematic Universe newest TV series focuses on Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) around six months after her eventful spell in Wakanda and Talokan in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In Ironheart, Riri returns to her home in Chicago and finds herself embroiled in a criminal scheme with a mysterious individual known as Parker Robbins/The Hood (Anthony Ramos). Furthermore, Riri takes time to build new suits of armor with unique features as she fortifies herself for battle. Ironheart introduces an intriguing group of characters to the MCU and sets up its main character for an astonishing future storyline.

Now that Disney+ subscribers can watch Ironheart from start to finish, it’s a great time to look back at the best parts of the show.

1) The Return of Riri Williams

Riri was a standout element of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, so it’s a joy to see her back in the spotlight. In her MCU debut as a supporting character, Riri fit in well with Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Wakanda’s most prominent figures as she grew into her identity as a superhero under their mentorship. Almost three years have passed since Wakanda Forever, though, thus Riri’s return was in the works for a while before finally coming to fruition. This time in a lead role, Riri shines even brighter and further cements herself as one of the MCU’s most fascinating characters introduced after Avengers: Endgame. Riri’s heightened moral ambiguity related to her creation of an AI version of her dead best friend collaboration with The Hood’s crew, and deal with the devil sets up an interesting continuation of her arc in the future.

2) Ironheart‘s Outstanding Supporting Cast

Riri’s captivating story in Ironheart incorporates a number of excellent supporting characters portrayed by talented actors. Ramos stands out as the enigmatic Hood, whose layers the show slowly peels back to reveal a power-hungry and desperate persona. Riri’s AI friend N.A.T.A.L.I.E (Lyric Ross) offers some thought-provoking commentary on the ethics of generative AI while resurfacing a tragic aspect of Riri’s past. Parker’s associates John King (Manny Montana), Rampage (Eric Andre), Clown (Sonia Denis), Slug (She Coulée), Jeri Blood (Zoe Terakes), and Roz Blood (Shakira Barrera) all bring humor and riveting drama to Ironheart. Tech genius Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich) and magic-wielder Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah) are also superb additions to the show, as they represent superb connections to the broader MCU.

Read Next

Is Ironheart Season 2 Already Confirmed?

3) Riri’s New and Improved Suits

It was exhilarating to watch Riri take flight for the first time in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and viewers see a lot more of Ironheart’s armor in the Disney+ series. Riri wears three different suits in Ironheart following her pair of armors in Wakanda Forever. She soars in her black and white Mark III model before losing it to her expulsion from MIT. Riri returns to the workshop and creates the Mark IV, the conventional gray and red armor she sports while carrying out missions with The Hood’s gang.

Riri’s final suit, the Mark V, is the most unique iteration of her armor. Jet black with deep red accents, it features a heart-shaped reactor and has the ability to channel magic. Ironheart certainly does not disappoint when it comes to cool-looking and powerful suits of armor, and it’s exciting to see Riri build, fly, and fight in them. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) himself would be proud of Riri’s exquisite inventions in the show.

4) The Deep Cut Iron Man References

Ironheart successfully develops Riri as a unique MCU character while paying tribute to Tony Stark/Iron Man, who inspired Riri to build her own armor. Ezekiel’s presence as the son of Iron Man villain Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) calls back to the demise of Tony Stark’s former business partner who was bent on destroying him. Furthermore, the inclusion of N.A.T.A.L.I.E parallels Tony’s many AI assistants like J.A.R.V.I.S and F.R.I.D.A.Y. Thankfully, Ironheart doesn’t cling to the past, rather it honors the legacy of the MCU’s Iron Man lore while allowing Riri to follow her own path.

5) Magic and Mephisto

Ironheart differs from the MCU’s Iron Man projects by taking a gripping turn toward the magic corner of the franchise. Riri’s encounters with Zelma unearth details about The Hood’s magic cloak and lead to the magic-infused Ironheart suit. All of this culminates with the long-awaited MCU debut of Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen). The manipulative devil-like entity known for making pacts with vulnerable humans.

In Ironheart‘s finale, Riri meets Mephisto and takes his deal to bring back N.A.T.A.L.I.E. It’s not entirely certain where this development will lead, but Riri’s dark turn promises a greater presence of magic in the MCU’s future — which is impossible to not be excited about. The magic elements of Ironheart are a thrill for anyone who loves WandaVision, Agatha All Along, and the Doctor Strange movies.

What’s your favorite thing about Ironheart? Let us know in the comments!

The post 5 Things to Love About Marvel’s Ironheart Now That It’s Here appeared first on ComicBook.com.

WARNING: There are spoilers ahead for Ironheart! The Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally paid off its longest tease ever by introducing Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), and now that he’s here, there’s practically no limit to the storylines he could turn up in. Some fans are looking straight at Avengers: Doomsday and other big crossover events, but a new rumor from The Cosmic Circus suggests that Mephisto’s next scheme might start with Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac). Sources familiar with Marvel Studios’ plan told the outlet that they plan to bring the “Damnation” story to the MCU. If so, it would either need some tweaking to work with the current line-up, or a lot of characters would need to be introduced quickly beforehand.

“Damnation” is a four-issue series written by Donny Cates and Nick Spencer, with art by Rod Reis. It was a crossover event in other monthly titles as well. In it, Mephisto took over Las Vegas and did his best to transform it into a literal hell on earth. Opposing him were The Midnight Sons — a team consisting of Moon Knight, Blade, Ghost Rider, Elsa Bloodstone, Man-Thing, and Doctor Voodoo. They also had to contend with the Avengers, who were enthralled by Mephisto to fight on his side.

It’s a fun story, and it’s easy to imagine how it would thrive on the screen. Of course, the MCU is missing most of the characters it would need, but by now it’s clear that the franchise isn’t interested in direct adaptations of comic book storylines. The MCU always puts its own twist on these plots, and perhaps in this case, it could do so by using the characters it already has on hand.

Read Next

Every MCU Tease Of Mephisto (& All The Fake-Outs)

“Damnation” is all about breaking Mephisto’s spell and freeing heroes from his control, and after the finale of Ironheart, that might be very necessary for Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne). It would make sense for her to be an unwilling pawn of Mephisto for a time before helping to set herself free. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to break that spell for quite some time if the rumored timeline holds true.

Insiders claimed that Marvel plans to dive into this “Damnation” plotline after the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, and even then, it will need more set-up. First, the long-awaited Blade movie will introduce both him and the villain Lilith, then new seasons of Moon Knight and Werewolf by Night will start to bring The Midnight Sons team together. The magical aspects of the MCU will then be further explored in a “Strange Academy” adaptation starring Wong (Benedict Wong), America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), The Hood (Anthony Ramos), Zelma Stanton (Reagan Aliyah), and other magic-users. Ghost Rider may be introduced as well, along with more demons like Mephisto, before we finally get to this big crossover, which would likely take the form of a movie.

All of this is unconfirmed rumor so far, and even if it is Marvel’s plan for its next arc, it could change at any point in the process. After the stumbling start of the Multiverse Saga, it’s clearer than ever that these stories need to be flexible. Right now it’s unclear when we’ll see most of the characters mentioned here next, but the MCU returns to theaters later this month with The Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25th.

The post Moon Knight’s Season 2 Rumor Reveals Long-Awaited Future & Midnight Sons Story appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe finally introduced one of the most nefarious villains from Marvel Comics lore: Mephisto. As one of the lords of Hell, Mephisto (played by Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen) is a devilish cosmic entity that possesses nigh omnipotent powers. As such, like with most characters that get introduced to the MCU at this late stage, Mephisto’s introduction raises as many questions (and possible plot holes) as it does provide answers.

In fact, a lot of MCU fans now have the same big question after seeing Mephisto’s powers and personality at work during the finale of Ironheart. And that question is: what in the hell was Mephisto doing (or at least how did he feel) when Thanos snapped half the universe out of existence?

Thanos Severly Reduced Mephisto’s Clientle

The finale episode of Ironheart, “The Past Is the Past” made it clear (even without spelling it out) what Mephisto trade is: harvesting souls through temptation and deal-making. The silver-tongued devil talked both Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) into trading their very souls in exchange for impossible powers. The cost of those deals was quickly made apparent, as whatever lifeforce or energy Mephisto drains from his targets manifests as demonic branch-like scarring on their bodies. No one knows what Mephisto’s ultimate goal is, but he clearly seems to need the bodies to get there.

So how did Mephisto feel when Thanos suddenly took away half the souls in the entire universe via The Snap in Avengers: Inifnity War?

The MCU Needs to Address Mephisto’s Reaction to The Snap (And More)

If Doctor Strange villain Dormammu can get a shout-out within one of the first scenes Mephisto appears in, then Thanos probably deserves to get some reference, at some point. After all, we still have little idea about how various entities and factions of the cosmic MCU are connected – if they are at all. But even if Thanos was never aware that an entity like Mephisto exists, it’s nearly impossible to believe that Mephisto wouldn’t be aware of Thanos, and all of his machinations to obtain the Infinity Gauntlet. Mephisto would’ve definitely noticed it the moment half of the souls on Earth (and beyond) vanished in an instant. And it seems like he wouldn’t be happy about having his ranks of potential harvested souls cut in half.

Wherever Mephisto pops up next in the MCU, there needs to be some kind of scene or moment of dialogue where he addresses the Snap, the Blip, and all those souls being snatched and then in an instant. It must’ve caused a massive migrane for Mephisto, and he doesn’t seem like the type who would just hold those feelings inside. So let’s address it.

Read Next

7 MCU Heroes Powerful Enough To Face Mephisto

The Cosmic MCU Needs Much More Organization

The Loki TV series established that Thanos was just a minor player on the cosmic scale, and the Infinity Stones (from any reality) are mere trinkets compared to the multiversal power that the Time Variance Authority or Kang weild. In comics lore, Mephisto’s power allows him to rewrite entire realities (like erasing all memory of Spider-Man and Mary Jane’s marriage), or forge alliance across realities, like tempting the Howard Stark of Earth-4111 to kill his son Tony in exchange for eternal life.

Most importantly, it’s been established that Mephishto has the power to look across different realities of the multiverse and be aware of what transpires there. The comics have also seen the Mephisto of the main reality (616) team up with his own variants to form the “Council of Red,” a demonic counterpoint to Kang’s “Council of Kangs” cabal.

The MCU has now put all of the above powers (Inifnity Stones, Multiversal conquerors, demonic entities) on the playing field, alongside other cosmic powers like Eternity (from Thor: Love and Thunder), Dark Dimension lord Dormammu (from Doctor Strange), the Celestials (from Eternals), and Galactus (from Fantastic Four: First Steps). Fans are starting to get restless about getting clarification about how all powers stack in terms of hierarchy, and what their relationships are with one another (if any). If Mephisto is to be the MCU devil, keeping an edge on all the other players and schemes at work in the universe seems only fitting for his character.

Ironheart is streaming on Disney+.

The post I Really Need the MCU’s Mephisto to Address a Major Avengers Plot appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Ironheart has gotten an insufferable amount of criticism for the worst reasons. With audiences review-bombing the show before it even released, it was almost destined to be a flop, no matter what the quality was. What’s made it even worse is that the show is sadly one of the MCU’s weaker outings, in my opinion. The trolls may say that the show is bad for other reasons, but the horrific decision-making by the characters and the lackluster storyline are the reasons why, I feel, it doesn’t live up to previous Marvel television series. It may not be a true dumpster fire like other Marvel outings, but it falls much shorter than it should. From the mistreatment of characters to an ambiguous ending that likely won’t continue on afterward, Ironheart is a sad ending to Phase 5 of the MCU.

Riri Williams is Too Flawed of a Character

Dominique Thorne is compelling as Riri Williams, adding a Gen-Z charm that blends well with the rest of the cast, but the writing for her character makes it difficult to latch onto her. Williams is constantly making the worst decisions she can, which makes for a difficult viewing experience. The show attempts to justify this by giving her trauma she can’t look past, but her decision-making is so baffling that it is impossible to get past. The show’s ending also attempts to explain what her flawed decision-making means for the MCU, but by the time it got there, it was too little, too late.

Riri Williams is also incredibly selfish. Characters like her mother, Ronnie, and friend Xavier attempt to bring Riri back from being a shut-down, technology-obsessed engineer, but she views them as obstacles in her path rather than sources of love. Seeing these kind-hearted characters treated this poorly made it hard for me to care about anything that happened in the show. In most cases, having a flawed character makes the show infinitely more interesting, but Ironheart does it to a fault.

Riri is not the only character who makes bad decisions. The Hood, played by Anthony Ramos, is also a character who is extremely hard to root for. His heists involved getting rich CEOs to sign a contract that allows him a portion of their business earnings – a baffling choice that makes no sense whatsoever. His reasoning for being a villain is also idiotic, with a thrown-together backstory in the final episode that added very little to his character. Even though villains aren’t supposed to be characters you root for, the showrunners’ attempts at sympathy made the Hood a lackluster antagonist.

The Marvel TV Show Structure Has Never Worked

The structure of every MCU television show makes it clear they have no clue how to do TV. Other than some outliers like WandaVision and Loki, the low episode count does not fulfill what it means to be a television show. Most of the MCU shows feel like extended movies, with tons of filler and a rushed finale: Ironheart is one of them. The episodes feel like they are repeating the same themes without any progression; once the finale hits, it tries to rush into a variety of different story beats, whether it’s setting up what’s to come in the future or swiftly laying out the main takeaway of the show. Even though Ironheart ends on a wildly unexpected moment, it didn’t feel fulfilling at all.

The way the show handled Ezekiel Stane, played by Alden Ehrenreich, was extremely disappointing. What started as an interesting depiction of legacy quickly turned into a shameless CGI villain that added nothing to the overall narrative. The way they ended his character arc was poor as well, with his character turning from a redemptive genius to a petty, revenge-driven villain. Despite Ehrenreich delivering a strong and sometimes comical performance, the direction they took the character was very disheartening.

Read Next

Is Ironheart Season 2 Already Confirmed?

Despite many issues with the show, there are a couple of positive aspects to acknowledge. The directing in many episodes is surprisingly impressive; the show plays around with letters that are presented on the screen to emphasize a moment. From a “Gary’s” sign turning into “Ry’s” when Riri is working there, or the word “ouch” spelled out on a White Castle sign after Riri falls on it, there are a lot of fun tidbits included by the filmmakers that enhance the viewing experience.

Ironheart may not be the “woke garbage” that online trolls will tell you it is; however, its screenplay and overall execution made for a frustrating six episodes. Although the ending sets up an interesting future for the MCU, the journey there was hard for me to get through. Props to Marvel Studios for doing something different with how they portray their characters, but this was a misfire.

All episodes of Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+.

The post Why I Think Ironheart Is the Most Frustrating MCU Show appeared first on ComicBook.com.

With Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto making his live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe within Ironheart’s finale, a major new MCU character has once again been introduced through a Disney+ TV show. This has become a common phenomenon in the 2020s, though it hasn’t proved as impactful or creatively successful as the way new MCU characters were teased on the big screen in the 2010s. After all, few of these figures teased in new Disney+ shows have ever appeared again.

Mephisto is one of the most powerful villains in the entire Marvel Comics mythology. His entrance into live-action Marvel media should be a massive deal that gets people stoked for the future. Instead, the long-awaited appearance of this devilish figure encapsulates a problem the MCU has become entrenched in with its forays into streaming.

The Faulty Track Record of MCU Characters Debuting on Disney+

In Loki’s first season finale, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) was revealed as the protector of the entire MCU timeline (and its various alternate universes). This Variant of Kang the Conqueror was a surprise appearance for even ardent MCU fans, who expected Kang to first appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Before that big-screen MCU feature even began shooting, though, The Multiverse Saga’s equivalent to Thanos had debuted on the small screen rather than in a movie theater. That indicated to audiences that the future of the MCU was in streaming, and to pay attention to everything the company produced for the medium.

Since then, the MCU’s Disney+ shows have introduced various major characters supposedly integral to the franchise’s future. Secret Invasion was rife with such characters, namely the provocative news host Chris Stearns (Christopher McDonald), who was once reported to be a major MCU fixture in the future. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s final episode, meanwhile, introduced The Hulk’s son Skaar in an awkward moment. If this was meant to satirize the MCU’s penchant for character teases, it needed infinitely better execution. Hawkeye, meanwhile, revealed that its titular lead was actually married to Mockingbird.

Read Next

The MCU’s Latest Major Villain Reveal May Also Be One of Its Biggest Mistakes

And now there’s Mephisto in Ironheart, an echo of Kang debuting in Loki. Like all these other major characters (save for He Who Remains) that debuted in the MCU streaming shows, there’s no indicator of where Mephisto will appear next. His only function in Ironheart is to tease upcoming Marvel properties, yet there’s no telling when audiences will see him again. When The Collector showed up in Thor: The Dark World’s mid-credit scene, it was to tease a blockbuster movie that was only nine months away from release. Mephisto and the other MCU Disney+ characters of his ilk, meanwhile, are teeing up projects that don’t and may never exist.

A Trail of Unrealized Potential Within The MCU’s Streaming History

Compare The Collector to, say, Skaar. Three years after his She-Hulk debut, there’s no word on when Skaar will appear again. That makes his clumsy intrusion into the She-Hulk finale even more bizarre. All of the He Who Remains appearances in Loki, meanwhile, are incongruous to the nth degree now that all of Kang the Conqueror’s plans have been abandoned. Secret Invasion and all its plotlines (including legislation outlawing all aliens on Earth) built to propel new MCU projects are gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.

Mephisto, meanwhile, is unlikely to appear anytime soon in the MCU just because he doesn’t seem to immediately fit into imminent Marvel Studios and Marvel Television projects focusing on either superhero movie nostalgia or grounded, cheaper small-screen entertainment. It’s all so weird, this barrage of new MCU characters teasing out futures that will never be realized. It’s not a problem for MCU TV shows to introduce new figures, of course. However, they have to work as standalone entertainment. Werewolf By Night, for instance, was a total hoot and worked perfectly on its terms.

It’d be cool to see Man-Thing again, but a re-appearance isn’t necessary to infuse entertainment or purpose to his inaugural appearance. Compare that to Mephisto or Skaar. Every second of their screen time is about teasing out future MCU projects that don’t and likely never will exist. Premiering so many characters in this medium is a relic of Marvel Studios believing the MCU’s future was exclusively in the world of streaming. Even though Marvel is course-correcting on that front, committing to this poor idea for so many years has left a grisly trail of unrealized potential and awkward sequel teases.

All episodes of Ironheart are now streaming.

The post Marvel Has A Major Disney+ Problem With the MCU appeared first on ComicBook.com.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ironheart Episode 6, “The Past Is the Past.”] Mephisto is now officially in the MCU, and after such an intriguing introduction in Ironheart, we’re already hungry for more from Marvel’s head demon in charge. During his enthralling scenes with Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) in the Ironheart finale, Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen) mentions that he helps “people realize their wildest ambitions”, going on to share he’s made a deal with every member of the Forbes 100 Richest list, plus “fourteen kings, three popes, and a Beatle”. In the episode’s post-credit scene, Riri appears to join their ranks, bargaining with Mephisto to bring her friend Natalie Washington back — not as her A.I., but Natalie herself back from the dead. Not only do we need to see the full consequences of Riri’s deal with Mephisto either in a second season of Ironheart or another installment of the MCU, but with an actor as versatile as Cohen playing the demon, we’re now craving a solo Mephisto spinoff series.

Mephisto Has the History & Power Set to Sustain a Solo Series

First off, there’s plenty of material in the comics beyond MCU Mephisto’s relationships with Riri and Parker Robbins to support a solo series. The character first debuted in 1968 as an adversary of the Silver Surfer’s. Ever the tempter, he offered Norrin Radd a chance to reunite with his love Shalla-Bal on his home planet of Zenn-La. Unlike Riri, the Silver Surfer was able to resist making a deal with Mephisto, yet the demon would go on to torment a whole slew of other Marvel heroes. Mephisto is the reason we have Ghost Rider, since he bonded Johnny Blaze’s soul with the fire demon Zarathos, which imbued Blaze with his fiery powers. He’s also a notable thorn in Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s side, especially in the webslinger’s One More Day run published in 2007, where he destroys Peter and Mary Jane Watson’s marriage. We learn later that it’s because Peter’s daughter, Mayday Parker, is considered to be Mephisto’s archnemesis. There are countless other heroes and villains in the Marvel canon that Mephisto comes across, providing an embarrassment of story riches for a writer’s room to pull from for a Mephisto series.

Read Next

How Powerful Mephisto Is Compared To Thanos

Furthermore, Mephisto has a formidable power set that begs to be explored in full. The shapeshifting and magic we saw in Ironheart was the mere tip of the iceberg, and after that tease of Mephisto’s true form in the episode, we’re desperate to see him realize his full demonic potential. Mephisto has superhuman speed and stamina, along with a regenerative healing factor that helps power his immortality. As we saw in his scene with Riri, Mephisto can read minds, as well as utilize teleportation, telekinesis, and dream-walk to manipulate his targets. Along with his vast hellfire powers, Mephisto’s ability to manipulate time, warp reality through his devil’s bargains, and his cosmic awareness across timelines make him a truly daunting force to be reckoned with. Watching how an opponent of Mephisto would exploit the demon’s few weaknesses – such as needing a deal to influence others’ free will, or the strength of his powers being tied to his proximity and time spent in his home realm – could be one hell of an entertaining watch indeed.

SBC Has The Star Power to Sustain a Mephisto Spinoff Show

The popularity of Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness in WandaVision, and then subsequently Agatha All Along, has provided a blueprint for Marvel should they wish to devote a spinoff to Mephisto. Both aforementioned series, along with the Doctor Strange films, have established the foundations of the supernatural corner of the MCU that Mephisto would operate in. Also, like Hahn, Sacha Baron Cohen is an accomplished actor in both comedy and drama. While most of us know him for his iconoclastic, hilarious character Borat, Cohen earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2020 for his performance in the drama The Trial of the Chicago 7; he is more than capable of carrying a series as an complex and compelling antihero, who could balance the darkness and menace of the character with his masterful comedic chops.

Taking his history and power set into consideration, we can see a series that follows Mephisto making deals and collecting on others, which includes a cast of both existing characters in the MCU as well as the notable figures he rattled off to Riri in Ironheart. Ideally, we’d love for a Mephisto spinoff to feel like a cross between Loki, Agatha All Along, and Fox/Netflix’s Lucifer, which also puts a devil with powers of persuasion at its center. There’s no doubt that Mephisto will appear again in the MCU; however, his rich history and the lauded actor playing him merit a proper spinoff show to showcase it all.

All six episodes of Ironheart are streaming on Disney+.

The post Mephisto Needs His Own MCU TV Spinoff (Like Agatha) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Two of the most powerful magical villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been brought together in brilliant new fan art after Ironheart’s finale. Over the years, many formidable antagonists from Marvel Comics have been adapted to live-action in the MCU, but two stand out from the crowd as the strongest, most terrifying, and most exciting villains yet. Now, Agatha All Along’s Death and Ironheart’s Mephisto have been brought together in a twisted dance in brilliant new MCU fan art.

Shared by @70.6ix on Instagram, this fan art depicts Aubrey Plaza’s Death and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto dancing together in a parody of comic artist Alex Ross’ iconic Joker and Harley Quinn image from DC Comics. Death made her MCU debut in 2024’s Agatha All Along as Agatha Harkness’ (Kathryn Hahn) former lover and main adversary, while Mephisto, after years of teasing, finally appeared to influence both Parker Robbins’ Hood (Anthony Ramos) and Riri Williams’ Ironheart (Dominique Thorne) in 2025. It would be fantastic to see these villains partner up in the MCU’s future.

Neither Aubrey Plaza nor Sacha Baron Cohen have yet been confirmed to be reprising their villainous roles in the MCU, but both could have bright futures with Marvel Studios. In Marvel Comics, Death is connected to Thanos, Deadpool, and Loki, creating many opportunities for her to return. Mephisto is speculated to be the subject of a possible Special Presentation – perhaps releasing after the next special feature focused on Jon Bernthal’s Punisher. Mephisto is one of the most highly-anticipated villains ever to debut in the MCU, so we hope he returns.

Read Next

7 MCU Heroes Powerful Enough To Face Mephisto

Ironheart’s finale, “The Past Is the Past,” perfectly set up a second season by putting Riri Williams in league with Mephisto. Ironheart season 2 hasn’t yet been announced, but this could be the perfect place for Mephisto to return, while there’s also speculation he’ll face his notable Marvel Comics adversary, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), in 2026’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day. For Death, the future is less clear, though there are hopes Agatha Harkness will return in 2026’s Vision Quest series or future projects exploring Wanda Maximoff’s Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), which could also bring back Death.

Bringing Mephisto and Death together in the MCU would make for a pretty incredible partnership. They’re both remarkably powerful magic-users with access to energies far beyond normal human comprehension, so would form an almost unstoppable and unmatched duo for any number of MCU heroes. It’s unclear what future Marvel project could bring these two antagonists together – perhaps the Russo brothers’ upcoming crossovers, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars – but we’d love to see this unfold in live-action.

Do you want to see Mephisto and Death team up in the MCU? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel’s Biggest Magical Villains Finally Meet in New MCU Fan Art appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel Television’s Ironheart series might have just introduced the perfect new villain for the upcoming Young Avengers team in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and it’s not who you’d initially expect. Ever since she debuted in the MCU back in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams, the armored hero Ironheart, has been a popular candidate to become a Young Avenger. While the team hasn’t yet formed, she could join Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, Wiccan, Speed, Cassie Lang, and more as a team of young heroes, but Riri Williams might have a darker role in the team.

In the final moments of Ironheart episode 6, “The Past Is the Past,” Riri Williams strikes a deal with Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), who finally made his MCU debut in the Phase 5 series. While their deal might set up Mephisto as a villain for the Young Avengers, a new Reddit theory suggests it’ll be Riri Williams herself who opposes the team, perhaps with Mephisto working through her. The demonic villain’s influence over Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) turned him into a monstrous creature, and the same now seems to be happening to Riri Williams.

The same dark veins that covered most of the Hood’s body during his time working under the influence of Mephisto started to appear on Riri Williams’ arm when she hugged the resurrected Natalie (Lyric Ross) in Ironheart’s finale. This means that Riri’s next appearance as Ironheart in the MCU could easily feature her as a manipulated villain, and she could pose a significant problem for the Young Avengers team. This kind of hero-to-villain story is popular and has been done many times, but now that Mephisto’s in the mix, it would be given a new layer of complexity and poignancy.

Riri Williams debuted in the MCU as a hero, fighting as Ironheart alongside Shuri’s Black Panther (Letitia Wright) and the Wakandans to protect them from Namor (Tenoch Huerta-Mejía) and his Talokanil. However, she didn’t display many heroic tendencies in Ironheart, and was actually something of a wrongdoer. She joined Parker Robbins’ crew of low-level Chicago-based criminals to take control of TNNL and Heirlum, all the while manipulating and blackmailing Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich) to use his advanced black market technology and secret laboratory.

The fact she’s already proven herself to be corrupt, selfish, and something of a villain – especially now that she’s working beneath Mephisto – means Riri Williams’ Ironheart would be a fantastic villain for the Young Avengers. Of course, we want Riri to become a steadfast hero, continuing Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) in the best way, but her current position as Mephisto’s lackey means a villainous future may be on the cards first. The idea that Ironheart has taken another step towards the Young Avengers’ debut is very exciting, though we’re yet to see which villain this new team will face.

Do you want to see Riri Williams’ Ironheart become the Young Avengers’ first villain? Let us know in the comments!

The post This MCU Theory Claims Marvel Just Set Up the Perfect Villain for Marvel’s Next Avengers Replacement appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Disney+’s Ironheart may very well be a Marvel miniseries, but it sure does leave quite a few loose threads hanging. In spite of some mean-spirited review bombing, critics and those who have actually bothered to give it a chance have come to agree it’s actually a fairly solid entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon. And, as the end of Phase 5, it’s the closing chapter of the MCU’s most divisive period yet. Here’s hoping Phase 6, which begins with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, fares better. Honestly, it pretty much has to, both in terms of just how low Phase 5’s lows were and for the sake of keeping the MCU going at all.

Will a second season of Ironheart be snuck into this next phase? It remains to be seen. But whether it’s a Season 2 or a theatrical film, there’s more story to tell when it comes to Riri Williams and friends (and foes). Spoilers for Ironheart follow.

1) What’s Next for Parker Robbins?

Parker Robbins starts the show as a Robin Hood figure, leading his crew to steal from the rich who are planning to do harm or have done harm to society. But, as the series progresses, it’s revealed he’s not much better. He also has a red hood fueled by magic that was gifted to him by an elusive, mysterious figure. And, when his lifelong friend John dies, the figure connected to that magic-powered hood implicates Riri via a vision only Robbins sees. As one might expect, this turns Robbins into even more of a vengeful type than he was before.

The season (or series?) finale has Riri duke it out with Robbins, and she ultimately strips him of the hood. This leaves Robbins in a tremendous amount of pain, and the red and black veins that have been consuming his body now begin to consume his face. Riri leaves him in his hideous, but a mid-credits scene reveals that Robbins has found the shop owned by former Kamar-Taj trainee (and friend of Riri’s mom) Madeline Stanton and her daughter Zelma. He seems to know their history with magic, and asks for help. So, like Benjamin Bratt’s Jonathan Pangborn and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange, it seems he’s found a way to combat the pain that’s consuming him, and one guesses he’s not going to take his newfound health (or magical powers) and simply forgive Riri.

2) Will Zeke Come After Riri?

Parker Robbins definitely isn’t done with Riri, but what about Ezekiel “Zeke” Stane? When we first meet Zeke, he’s going by the name Joe McGillicuddy, black market arms dealer and new friend of Riri’s. He even helps her create her helpful, friendly AI in the shape of her deceased friend: N.A.T.A.L.I.E.

Zeke also gives Riri some biomesh skin, which Riri then takes on a (illegal of course) heist. This gets Zeke arrested, and the miniseries’ secondary villain is born. But Zeke’s also a nice guy overall, unlike his father. When Robbins breaks him from prison and plants a bunch of bionic enhancements in his body, he still hesitates in his fight with Riri. He could killer her but doesn’t. He also rejects Robbins when asked to join the crew. In the series finale, Riri and Zeke once more duke it out, but with the ultimate goal of Riri resetting the bionic control Robbins has over Zeke. She (or, rather, both she and the unwillingly fighting Zeke) accomplish that goal, but it’s clear Zeke is still bitter about having gotten arrested and his name dragged through the mud. He tells her it’s not over between them, but one has to wonder how long he’ll let anger consume him before ultimately forgiving Riri, who is doing her best to put her days with the thieving crew behind her.

3) Where’s the Hood?

Robbins is called “The Hood” in the show and comics. And, as covered in the first entry, we know where Robbins is. That’s not what we’re asking here. We mean where’s the literal red hood.

After Riri takes it from Robbins in the finale, she goes downstairs to the pizza place below Robbins’ hideout/condo and meets with the man Robbins has been chatting with this whole time (more on him in a bit). The man offers Riri the same kind of deal that he offered Robbins, which is the kind of deal that exacts a heavy toll on the signer. But we don’t really see the hood again. Did she give the hood back to this villainous mystery man? That doesn’t seem like something she would do. He’s a stranger to her and she knows it’s dangerous. Is she going to study it? Or, worse yet, is she going to wear it herself?

Read Next

13 Years Later, A Rejected Avengers Movie Idea Just Came Back To Life

4) Have We Seen the Last of Mephisto?

Now that Mephisto, a major Marvel villain fans have been clamoring for, has finally been introduced to the MCU, just how will he be utilized in future projects? He isn’t introduced until the final episode of Ironheart, so he hasn’t been given much room to make a name for himself in the universe at large.

Even if there isn’t a second season of Ironheart, it doesn’t seem like we’ve seen the last of Mephisto. Sacha Baron Cohen’s casting is essentially fan wish-fulfillment, and he really does knock his limited screentime out of the park. He’s someone worth keeping around, and the MCU is likely to do so. The question is, in which projects will he be utilized? Mephisto, like Doctor Doom, could be one of the MCU’s Thanos-esque big bads going forward.

5) How Will Riri’s Deal with Mephisto Change Her?

As mention, Riri makes a deal with Mephisto not all that dissimilar from the one Robbins made with him. Sure, his deal was all about power whereas hers was more kindhearted, but it’s the kind of deal that takes something from the signer (Mephisto calls it something they “won’t miss,” and he’s basically the devil, so it’s their soul).

Riri does make that deal, so we have an MCU hero who has sold her soul to the Devil. For a decent purpose? Sure. But whatever comes next for Riri, be it a project on the big screen or small, her character arc is absolutely going to boil down to “You can’t bring the dead back to life, and you need to find closure instead.” The question is, can this kind of deal be unmade? The last time we see Riri, the itchy-looking marks that consumed Robbins are starting to grow on her, too, so it’s happened. One wonders how she can make it unhappen, and if she’ll truly want to if given the option now that she has Natalie instead of the hologram N.A.T.A.L.I.E.

6) Can Riri and Xavier Patch Things Up?

Xavier Washington was the brother of Riri’s best friend, Natalie. Like Riri, he’s been devastated ever since she and Riri’s stepfather Gary were killed in a drive-by shooting. Starting with the first episode, “Take Me Home,” it’s clear that Riri and Xavier have a bond. Whether it be romantic or just comrades in grief is not quite clear at this point.

Riri and Xavier have a falling out in Episode 4, “Bad Magic.” Episode 1 closes with Riri’s brain-mapping of her AI taking the form of Natalie. Or, rather, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., which is to Riri what J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y. were to Tony Stark and E.D.I.T.H. was to Peter Parker. N.A.T.A.L.I.E., as the Ironheart suit, picks up Xavier and brings him to a junkyard to cheer up Riri. Once N.A.T.A.L.I.E. reveals Natalie’s visage, he freaks out, finding the recreation to be disrespectful. Now, Xavier does come around and helps Riri, her mom, and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. make a suit, but there still seems to be a bit of tension. The question is how he’s going to function now that Riri has made a deal to bring back his sister from the dead for real. Will he once again find it disrespectful to her memory? Seems likely.

7) Is Natalie Truly Back?

Does the show close with Riri making the deal with Mephisto? Yes. But what if it was all a vision of a could-be scenario? Having an MCU hero sign a deal with the devil is a big step, but it’s a step worth taking in terms of narrative power, considering the MCU has been notoriously bland and safe this past phase.

In short, it seems like Natalie is really back. But is she truly the Natalie that Riri knew? When you sign a pact where the price is your soul, you’re not signing a deal with someone who is honest or remotely straightforward. It doesn’t seem likely that Mephisto just fully kept to his word and brought back his newest victim’s friend. There must be a catch. The question is, just what is that catch?

All six episodes of Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+.

The post 7 Major Questions Marvel’s Ironheart Left Unanswered appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The early phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were defined by strength. The Avengers wouldn’t have survived the events of their first team-up movie if they didn’t have Hulk and Thor on their side, ready to punch their way out of trouble. However, things got trickier in Avengers: Infinity War, when Thanos collected the Infinity Stones, which allowed him to bend reality to his will. It took a lot more strategy to beat him, and having a Master of the Mystic Arts around that could see alternate futures and how they would work out for the good guys was a huge help. From that moment on, magic has been an integral part of the MCU’s DNA.

Young characters like America Chavez and Ned Leeds are discovering that they have magical potential, and more and more sorcerers and witches are coming out of the woodwork. However, not everyone who can operate a Sling Ring can run with the big dogs, as the MCU is home to some incredible magic users.

7) Loki

After learning about Asgardian magic from his mother Frigga, Loki becomes a major problem. He uses illusions to get himself out of various sticky situations, including after faking his death in Thor: The Dark World. The God of Mischief’s most impressive feat, though, is using his magic to restore the multiverse and hold it together in Season 2 of his solo series.

6) Agatha Harkness

Despite making her MCU debut in WandaVision, Agatha Harkness has been active for centuries. She spends the majority of her life stealing magic from other witches, and even after Wanda Maximoff takes her power, she manipulates her coven into getting it back for her. The betrayal puts Agatha back on Death’s radar, which forces the witch to battle her old flame. Battling Death is not a walk in the park, but Agatha holds her own.

5) Doctor Strange

There’s no doubt that Stephen Strange is a late bloomer, only embracing magic after getting into a serious car accident that impairs his ability to be a surgeon. However, magic is Strange’s real calling, as he tricks the ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu, after only studying for a short period. His abilities only grow after that, and by the time his second solo movie rolls around, there’s little he can’t do. Strange even dream walks into a dead version of himself and battles Scarlet Witch.

4) Ancient One

It’s impossible to have Doctor Strange on a list of powerful magic users that doesn’t include his mentor, the Ancient One. When Strange arrives in Kamar-Taj, she’s the Sorcerer Supreme, and for good reason. She’s able to keep Earth safe from all kinds of threats without breaking a sweat. Messing around with dark magic is her undoing, but making a mistake doesn’t take away from her raw power.

Read Next

The MCU Just Dropped Its Biggest Ghost Rider Tease Yet

3) Death

Rio Vidal joins Agatha’s coven as the Green Witch, and she seems harmless enough at first. However, as witches start dying, it becomes clear that there’s more to Rio than meets the eye. She reveals that she’s actually Death and is on Earth to collect Billy Maximoff’s soul. Agatha and Billy team up to fight the cosmic entity, but they’re outmatched, and Agatha has to give up her soul to save Billy’s. While Death doesn’t get to stretch her legs in Agatha All Along, it’s clear her magic is on another level.

2) Mephisto

Mephisto has yet to appear anywhere other than a pizza restaurant, but it’s clear he’s not someone to mess around with. He gives The Hood a magical cloak and brings Riri Williams’ dead friend, Natalie, back to life. Those two feats make it seem like Mephisto’s powers have no limits, so when it comes time for him to throw hands with someone, there’s no doubt that he will use magic the likes of which the MCU has never seen.

1) Scarlet Witch

Before Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda is nothing but a Sokovian resident who’s bitter about losing her parents. HYDRA awakens something in her using the Mind Stone that allows her to tap into her magical potential, which gets her closer to becoming the Scarlet Witch. It takes her until WandaVision to embrace her new role, but once she does, there’s nothing she can’t achieve. The only reason she stops her mission to reunite with her children is because she realizes she’s going too far.

Do you think these are the seven most powerful magic users in the MCU? How would you rank the characters on this list? Let us know in the comments below!

The post 7 Most Powerful Magic Users in the MCU (Including Mephisto) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Two of Iron Man’s most wasted villains from Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were finally redeemed thanks to the debut of a new live-action antagonist in Marvel Television’s recent Ironheart series. As well as pitting Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) against Parker Robbins’ Hood (Anthony Ramos), Ironheart also introduced other powerful villains for the MCU’s newest armored hero. One of these, Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich), called back to Iron Man’s original enemy, who was wasted in Phase 1, actually making his and another villain’s storyline even better.

Ezekiel Stane was first introduced to Ironheart as Joe McGillicuddy, a black market tech dealer who helps Riri Williams to complete her new Ironheart suit. He soon reveals that he is actually the son of Phase 1 villain Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), however, which is revealed to the world when Williams accidentally lands him in prison. Freed by Parker Robbins, Ezekiel enhances himself with bionics and technology, following in his father’s villainous footsteps, but also pays homage to another Iron Man villain by giving himself electrical abilities, just like Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) in Iron Man 2.

Obadiah Stane’s Iron Monger and Ivan Vanko’s Whiplash have gone down in Marvel Studios history as two of the franchise’s most wasted and underused villains – small-timers to ease viewers into the grand superhero adventures of the MCU. They posed minor threats to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in Phase 1, but their legacy has been picked up in Phase 5 thanks to Zeke Stane’s debut. Zeke’s upgrades give him the strength and power of his father, who sported the Iron Monger suit, while also giving him electrical powers like Whiplash, making him the perfect adversary for Ironheart.

In Marvel Comics, Ezekiel Stane becomes the Iron Monger using cybernetic enhancements to seek revenge on Tony Stark for his father’s death. Marvel Studios has changed this evolution, however, as Zeke only acted as a villain under the influence of Parker Robbins, and has otherwise proven to be an ally and friend to Riri Williams. Now that Williams herself is under the influence of none other than Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen finally making his MCU debut), it’s unclear exactly what their connection will be in the MCU’s future.

Read Next

Ironheart Team Reveal How Quickly They Cast THAT Marvel Villain (And Where They Might Appear Next)

Ezekiel Stane was a better representation of both Iron Monger and Whiplash than even the original villains could have been. He showed off his power by easily taking down Riri Williams’ Ironheart, while both Iron Monger and Whiplash failed to defeat Iron Man. The only reason Zeke wasn’t victorious is that he refused to actually land the final blow against Riri; otherwise, the innovative heroine was done for.

It was great to see these wasted Iron Man antagonists get paid homage in the MCU’s Phase 5. Now it’s exciting to imagine which wasted villains might get modern-day makeovers next.

What did you think of Ezekiel Stane’s debut in Ironheart? Let us know in the comments!

The post New MCU Villain Redeems Iron Man’s 2 Most Wasted Antagonists appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to get a rude awakening in the form of Doctor Doom. Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the franchise to bring the villain to life in Avengers: Doomsday, which will bring the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men together on the big screen for the first time. It’s going to take everything the heroes have to take down arguably the most ruthless villain in the history of Marvel Comics. While there’s next to nothing out there about Doom’s mission, the multiverse is sure to be at the center of it, as there’s no greater power than controlling everything and everyone.

The villains in Avengers movies don’t have the best track record, though. Loki and Ultron lose right away, and even Thanos, who wipes out half of existence for five years, dies twice at the hands of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Fortunately for Doom, the MCU just sent a character down a dark path that could lead to them following in the villain’s footsteps once the MCU is done with him.

Riri Williams’ Deal With Mephisto Is Even Worse Than Anyone Realized

Riri Williams finds herself between a rock and a hard place in Ironheart. She wants to continue to upgrade her armor, but MIT is tired of her antics and expels her. After returning home to Chicago, Riri is in need of money, so she joins a crew of criminals led by The Hood. They rip off a couple of people around the city, but it becomes too much for Riri, and she realizes she needs to take The Hood down before he hurts her or anyone she loves. With the help of Zelma Stanton, Riri imbues her suit with magic and heads off to face her enemy.

After some quick thinking and a sweet projection, Riri takes down The Hood and grabs his magical cloak, which she hopes can help her get her AI companion N.A.T.A.L.I.E. back. Before she can test it, though, Mephisto appears before her and offers to bring her friend back in exchange for something she won’t miss. Riri takes the deal, which is bad enough, but she also keeps Mephisto’s cloak and puts it on her armor. It seems that Ironheart is ready to embrace both magic and tech, a balance that Doctor Doom is all too familiar with.

Read Next

13 Years Later, A Rejected Avengers Movie Idea Just Came Back To Life

The MCU’s Doctor Doom Can Teach Riri Williams a Thing or Two

Victor von Doom compares himself to Reed Richards because they both have a passion for science. After losing his mother to Mephisto early in his life, Doom builds a machine that will help him communicate with her. Richards doesn’t support the plan, and after an explosion leaves Doom disfigured, the villain vows to get revenge on his former friend. Doom travels back to his home, Latveria, and begins to mess around with magic, even building a suit that houses all sorts of enchantments. After that, Doom takes the gloves off and starts terrorizing the Fantastic Four at every opportunity. He also causes problems for other Marvel heroes, who don’t appreciate that he’s constantly trying to take over the world.

The MCU is sure to follow in the source material’s footsteps, having Doom be just as proficient with a spell as he is with a laser. Riri is sure to take notice of this, as well as the fact that the villain looks a lot like her idol, Tony Stark. If Doom goes to her before anyone else, he can easily sway the young genius to his side and prepare her to take over his mission. That way, the next time she loses someone important, she’ll have all the tools she needs to get them back – or another version of them at least.

Teaming up with Doom isn’t going to end well for Riri. However, it’s possible that the MCU isn’t setting her up to be a hero but a villain. After all, despite having so many people who love her, she can’t move on from the ones she doesn’t have anymore. Like Doom, she would do anything to see them again, including making a couple of misguided deals.

Ironheart is streaming on Disney+.

Do you think Riri Williams could take over for Doctor Doom in the MCU? What do you think they could achieve together? Let us know in the comments below!

The post The MCU Might Have Just Revealed Doctor Doom’s Successor appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Now that Ironheart has finally debuted one of Marvel Comics’ most powerful supervillains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are many other notable characters that could make their live-action debuts. Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams not only fought Parker Robbins’ Hood in Ironheart, but also came face-to-face with a villain who has been teased to be coming to the MCU for several years. After an unexpected name-drop in 2024’s Agatha All Along, it was only a matter of time before this demonic antagonist made his first MCU appearance. Be warned: MAJOR SPOILERS for Ironheart are ahead.

Following years of speculation, Mephisto finally made his MCU debut in Ironheart’s finale, “The Past Is the Past.” Played by Sacha Baron Cohen, who delivers a captivating performance as the iconic Marvel Comics supervillain, Mephisto is revealed to be the Hood’s benefactor, and has now entered into a seedy deal with Riri Williams herself, setting him up for some exciting and intriguing stories in the MCU’s future. These new stories could include some of Mephisto’s best related characters from Marvel Comics, some of whom we’ve been waiting years to see in the MCU.

Ghost Rider

Introduced to Marvel Comics in 1972’s Marvel Spotlight #5, stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze became the antihero known as Ghost Rider when he was bonded to the Spirit of Vengeance, Zarathos, after making a deal with Mephisto in order to save his surrogate father, Crash Simpson, from life-threatening cancer. Blaze sold his soul to Mephisto, but Crash died nonetheless during a stunt, and while Blaze’s deal with Mephisto was broken by his love, Roxanne, it was already too late, as Zarathos remained, and the Spirit of Vengeance overwhelmed Blaze to carry out Mephisto’s commands, sending evil back to Hell.

RELATED: Ironheart’s Cliffhanger Ending Repeats The Same Mistake That Sunk The MCU’s Worst Show

Various iterations of Ghost Rider have previously been played in live-action by Nicolas Cage and Gabriel Luna, but the character hasn’t yet made his official MCU debut. The likes of Norman Reedus, Ryan Gosling, Keanu Reeves, and more have been speculated to be in talks to appear as Johnny Blaze’s Ghost Rider in the MCU, and, now that Mephisto’s in the mix, the Spirit of Vengeance’s debut might be closer than ever. Ghost Rider could become the leader of the MCU’s rumored Midnight Sons team, joining the likes of Moon Knight, Man-Thing, Blade, and more as the supernatural Avengers.

Blackheart

Rumored to debut in Agatha All Along before Aubrey Plaza was revealed to be Death, Blackheart is the manifested son of Mephisto, forged from the dark energy that accumulated in Christ’s Crown, New York, after centuries of murder. Following Blackheart’s debut in Marvel Comics’ Daredevil #270 in 1989, Mephisto tried to pass on his evil ways, but, after trying to tempt Daredevil, Spider-Man, and more, Blackheart became impressed with humanity’s free will. He spent years battling his father, as well as other heroes, so his debut in the MCU would create interesting conflict for the franchise’s best new antagonist.

The Kindred Twins

First introduced as the Stacy twins in 2004’s The Amazing Spider-Man #509, the Kindred Twins, or simply the Kindred, were initially thought to be the alleged children of Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy. During 2021’s Sinister War event, however, they were revealed to be the recreated clones of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy who were transformed into demonic revenants by Mephisto. Mephisto has long been an enemy to Spider-Man in Marvel Comics, so it would be great to see the supervillain battle Tom Holland’s wall-crawler alongside the Kindred Twins in 2026’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day or beyond.

Norrin Radd’s Silver Surfer

Julia Garner is about to make her debut as Shalla-Bal, the Silver Surfer of an alternate universe in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but audiences still want to see Norrin Radd’s Herald of Galactus in the MCU. Norrin Radd has a long history with Mephisto in Marvel Comics, as the demon repeatedly tries to claim the Silver Surfer’s soul and his power. It’s unclear what the future holds for the Silver Surfer and Galactus (Ralph Ineson) after First Steps, but it would be brilliant to see Norrin Radd appear in the MCU, setting up his long-running feud with Mephisto.

Phil Coulson & The Squadron Supreme of America

Clark Gregg appeared throughout the MCU’s Phase 1 as Phil Coulson, a dedicated agent of SHIELD who gave his life during the battle against Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in 2012’s The Avengers. While he returned in Marvel Television’s Agents of SHIELD, this series isn’t considered canon to the MCU, which means Coulson hasn’t yet come back to life in the franchise’s official timeline. In Marvel Comics, it was Deadpool who killed Phil Coulson during 2017’s Secret Empire event, but he returned in 2018 after making a deal with Mephisto to come back to life.

Phil Coulson returned in 2018’s Avengers (Vol. 8) #10 alongside simulcalcrums of the Squadron Supreme of America, who became the new sanctioned superheroes of the United States, though had a hatred of other heroes. After all these years, it would be incredible to see Phil Coulson come back as an agent of Mephisto, fulfilling the tease from Agatha All Along about Nicholas Scratch’s fate, and marking Clark Gregg’s triumphant return to the MCU. This could also mark the debuts of heroes such as Hyperion, Power Princess, and Nighthawk, who have been speculated to appear for some time.

Which Mephisto-related characters from Marvel Comics do you want to join the MCU? Let us know in the comments!

The post 5 Marvel Characters the MCU Can Introduce Now That SPOILER is Finally Here appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is never going to be the same after the final episode of Ironheart. After years of anticipation, Mephisto finally makes his franchise debut in Season 6 of the Disney+ series, revealing himself as the one behind The Hood’s powers. He realizes that Parker Robbins is in a tough spot, so he throws him a liferaft, and he does the same to Riri Williams when the opportunity arises. She’s upset about losing her AI friend N.A.T.A.L.I.E. and wants to get her back. Well, Mephisto does Riri one better, bringing the real Natalie back from the dead, and all he wants in return is something the young hero “won’t miss.”

Mephisto in the source material is a collector of souls, and the markings on Riri’s body after reuniting with Natalie tease that the MCU’s version is following suit. However, Riri probably won’t think twice about whatever is happening to her, as having her best friend back will keep her occupied. But Riri isn’t the only character in the MCU in need of a pick-me-up that Mephisto could provide.

1) Peter Parker

Peter Parker makes mistakes in the MCU, there’s no doubt about it. He trusts Mysterio far too quickly and tries to help villains that are beyond saving. That doesn’t mean he deserves to lose everyone he loves, though. Like in the “One More Day” comic, having Aunt May back in his life would be an offer that Peter couldn’t refuse, as it would give him at least one person in his corner as he begins a new chapter in his life.

2) Shuri

Like Peter, Shuri is essentially alone. She has friends like M’Baku and Nakia and a nephew, but her brother, mother, and father are all dead. Having at least one of them around could lift Shuri’s spirits and ensure that her head is on straight while she continues to operate as the Black Panther. There’s even a chance that Mephisto has the power to bring back all of Shuri’s loved ones.

3) John Walker

When the events of Thunderbolts* kick off, John Walker is in a bad place after his wife walked out on him and took their child with her. He learns to own up to his mistakes and embrace his heroic side by the end of the movie, but there’s no guarantee that turning over a new leaf will get things back to the way they were. Mephisto doesn’t have to play the guessing game, though, as he can make Walker’s family walk right through the front door without the Avenger needing to do any soul-searching.

4) Yelena Belova

Another member of the New Avengers who has a hole in their life is Yelena Belova, who has been unable to move past the death of her sister, Natasha Romanoff. Sure, Yelena is finding a new purpose with her teammates, but it would be even better if two Widows were active in the MCU. Mephisto can make that happen with the snap of his fingers.

Read Next

Is Ironheart Season 2 Already Confirmed?

5) James Rhodes

No matter the situation, James Rhodes always stood by his friend, Tony Stark, which is why it’s so tragic that War Machine wasn’t actually there when Iron Man died. Rhodey was replaced by a Skrull and left in a safehouse for years. While Mephisto has yet to manipulate time, there’s a chance he could make it so Rhodey never had a run-in with a shape-shifting alien that ruined his life.

6) Helmut Zemo

Helmut Zemo loses his entire family during the Battle of Sokovia. The pain pushes him to seek revenge on the Avengers and declare war on super soldiers. But Zemo’s grudge would head to the back burner if his family returned. Mephisto would also have to break the villain out of jail, as he’s currently serving time in the Raft, but that’s nothing for The Lord of Evil.

7) Thunderbolt Ross

After trying to take Washington, DC, off the map, Thunderbolts Ross also finds himself in the Raft. Mephisto wouldn’t have to bring someone back from the dead to get Ross on his roster, though, as all the villain wants is to be rid of the monster inside him. Having the Red Hulk gone would allow Ross to grow closer to his daughter, Betty, and get his life back on track.

Ironheart is streaming on Disney+.

Which of the characters on this list is most likely to make a deal with Mephisto in the MCU? Who else would be looking to have a sit-down with the villain? Let us know in the comments below!

The post 7 MCU Characters That Could Benefit From Making a Deal With Mephisto appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a long and frustrating history of setting up compelling narrative threads, only to abandon them for years. Or in some cases, forever. Post-credits scenes tease major promises: exciting new characters like Eros, Clea, and Skaar, or vows of revenge, or seeds for spin-offs (like the Blade/Black Knight team-up that seems destined to remain unrealized). And then, silence. Sometimes the long game pays off: after all, Avengers: Endgame made good on a decade of teases. But just as often, characters and arcs fall into a kind of narrative purgatory. And as much as Marvel has a thing for villains getting killed off too quickly, it’s the ones left alive and unresolved that frustrate more.. SPOILERS for Ironheart follow below.

Ironheart, Marvel’s most recent release, continues this trend – introducing new magical characters with big implications, while ignoring a major loose end from a decade ago that should have been considered. Ironheart‘s ending not only leaves room for a second season that may never happen (raising more concerns for unresolved cliffhangers), but also quietly drops two new (mostly amateur) sorcerers into the MCU: Madeline and Zelma Stanton. They run a candy shop in Chicago that doubles as a magical hub of sorts, and end up directly connected to the show’s central conflict via The Hood.

And yet somehow, despite being open magical practitioners operating outside of Kamar-Taj who are literally untrained and who fit exactly with established red flags, there’s no sign of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mordo. Logically, they should be challenged as part of his “too many sorcerers” mantra, but his absence compounds the issue that his threat began and ended with just one victim.

Ironheart Makes Mordo’s Disappearance Even Harder to Ignore

Back in Doctor Strange (2016), the post-credits sting was a tonal gut punch. Karl Mordo, disillusioned by how recklessly magic was being used, visits former kamar-Taj student (in other words, the exact same profile as Madeline Stanton) Jonathan Pangborn – who had used mystic arts for his own gain, simply to walk again – and steals his powers. Mordo’s chilling new creed, “no more sorcerers,” wasn’t a villain monologue, it was a mission statement: he believed the misuse of magic was corrupting the natural order, and he was going to fix it by force. 

That rather makes the Stantons in Ironheart a giant glowing target. Neither Madeline nor her daughter Zelma fully trained at Kamar-Taj: Madeline left when she found she was pregnant, and Zelma – more problematically – taught herself at least partly through TikTok. They seemingly use their magic for commercial gain, running a literal storefront – granted, one they try to keep discreet, but not that discreet. When confronted by The Hood in Ironheart‘s midcredits scene, a known magical threat, Zelma doesn’t retreat into secrecy or call in the Masters of the Mystic Arts – she seems engaged by him. In other words, in multiple ways, Madeline and Zelma are exactly the kind of perversions of the magical order Mordo should be looking to wipe out.

And yet, nothing. Not a whisper. Mordo – at least the mainline MCU version of him – hasn’t been seen since 2016. The Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness version was a variant, not the same man who betrayed his former allies to impose magical order. The fact that Marvel introduced characters exactly in Mordo’s crosshairs without so much as mentioning him is quietly damning. It doesn’t just highlight how long it’s been since they followed up on his arc, it turns his whole crusade into an abandoned subplot. With Ironheart, Marvel adds more unregulated magic into a world Mordo swore to cleanse, and they do it with a kind of narrative shrug. The result isn’t just another dropped thread – it’s a decision that makes one of the MCU’s most promising villain setups look completely toothless.

All 6 episodes of Ironheart are available to stream on Disney+ now.

The post Marvel Just Made The MCU’s Forgotten Villain Look Even Worse appeared first on ComicBook.com.

In its earlier phases, Marvel Studios operated like clockwork, stacking one confirmed project on top of another with a clear roadmap stretching years into the future and build-up easily mapped. But post-Endgame, the policy seems to have shifted: we’ve seen more delays, strategic recalibrations, and a growing pile of teases that have led nowhere. For the most part, MCU projects are now announced closer to release, and long-term commitments are hinted at more than promised. But there’s always still an eye on the future in the story-telling.

Individual MCU shows and films have always partly felt like backdoor pilots for what comes next. Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Eternals, and The Marvels – and, frankly, many more – all teased storylines that haven’t yet found a definitive continuation, but were way too specific to have been accidental. Ironheart, the latest Disney+ entry, joins that same club. On the surface, it’s a self-contained coming-of-age story for Riri Williams, but the confidence of Ironheart’s cliffhanger ending made it clear there’s more to come.

For a show that seemed like it was going to be a one-and-done detour, Ironheart leaves behind a surprising number of open doors and a major change to the MCU’s power hierarchy. Some of these threads could connect directly to announced projects, while others feel like they could be table-setting for stories we haven’t seen unveiled yet. Here are the five most likely MCU projects Ironheart quietly sets up – and one very specific long shot that can’t be ignored. 

Honorable Mention: Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Status: Confirmed

How Ironheart Sets It Up: Mephisto’s fingerprints in Ironheart naturally raise one specific question: could Marvel include him in their version of the infamous Brand New Day storyline? In the comics, Mephisto strikes a Faustian bargain with Peter Parker, erasing his marriage to save Aunt May’s life and Brand New Day deals with the aftermath. The MCU’s Peter hasn’t gone that far yet – but No Way Home already reset his life in an eerily similar fashion, erasing him from everyone’s memory.

Now that Mephisto is on the board, and if Peter is still grieving the loss of connection, there’s room for a new version of Brand New Day to emerge that still centers Mephisto. At this stage, it’s a reach, and Mephisto might have his hands full, but he did pointedly say he has more than one client, so maybe it’s not such an unreasonable one.

Read Next

Marvel Just Introduced The Perfect Villain For Spider-Man: Brand New Day

1. Strange Academy

Status: In development limbo

How Ironheart Sets It Up: Ironheart introduces Zelma Stanton, a deep-cut comics character closely linked to Doctor Strange and the wider magical side of Marvel. Her inclusion may have seemed throw-away at first,  but she’s the kind of character you don’t cast and forget – and her importance in Ironheart’s mid-credits scene confirms as much. With Strange off exploring incursions and Clea somewhere in the wings, Zelma could serve as the earthly anchor for a new generation of magic-users.

That’s the heart of Strange Academy, a comic series about young magic-wielders learning to balance their powers with moral responsibility. Riri’s accidental brush with mysticism might not place her on the class roster, but her interactions with Zelma suggest a future where tech and magic begin to cross-pollinate more regularly. If Marvel follows through on Strange Academy, which was thought to be in production until it was paused, Zelma’s presence here could be the earliest breadcrumb.

2. Young Avengers

Status: Long-rumored, still unconfirmed

How Ironheart Sets It Up: Riri Williams has always been a natural fit for the Young Avengers, or perhaps more precisely, a Champions-inspired team. The show doesn’t name-check any potential teammates, but it positions Riri as both independent and still searching for belonging – a textbook setup for eventual recruitment. More intriguingly, Ironheart’s Mephisto teases could dovetail with the important comics storyline in which Blackheart (Mephisto’s son) manipulates young heroes, leading to internal conflict and splintered loyalties.

A Young Avengers adaptation could easily swap in Mephisto himself as the manipulator, using magic and temptation to corrupt newer heroes. Riri’s brush with dark forces makes her an intriguing, unwitting pawn, and it feels too much to expect that to happen in the main Avengers movies. Given the MCU’s penchant for emotional stakes, watching a team of bright, idealistic heroes fracture under Mephisto’s influence would echo Civil War’s ideological split, but from a much younger, less cynical perspective.

3. Avengers: Doomsday

Status: Announced & Filming

How Ironheart Sets It Up: Ironheart may be small-scale, but Riri’s intellect puts her in league with the likes of Shuri, Bruce Banner, and Tony Stark. Rumors already suggest she’ll appear in Avengers: Doomsday, and her first season lays the groundwork for how she might fit into a larger ensemble. She’s battle-tested now, not just in engineering labs but in real-world conflicts, she has Wakandan allies, and the end of the season leaves her with a huge potential power upgrade. She’s fought a magical villain, outwitted an amoral tech bro, and come out the other side with a deeper understanding of what kind of hero she wants to be. She could easily step up.

Thematically, Ironheart establishes her as someone caught between worlds – technology and magic, legacy and innovation. That’s fertile ground for an Avengers storyline, and particularly one focused on Doctor Doom – who also straddles both worlds. She’s no longer the scrappy student from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: she’s a legitimate contender for Earth’s Mightiest.

4. Armor Wars

Status: Confirmed (But it’s gone very quiet)

How Ironheart Sets It Up:One of Ironheart’s most quietly impactful contributions is its depiction of Zeke Stane’s black-market tech ecosystem. His operation isn’t flashy, but it echoes a long-standing MCU concern: what happens when Stark tech ends up in the wrong hands? That’s Armor Wars‘ pitch in a nutshell, and the show’s emphasis on ill-gotten designs, underground buyers, and weaponized innovation feels like a thematic warm-up for what War Machine will face next.

It’s easy to imagine Rhodey catching wind of Zeke’s dealings and either pursuing him directly or pulling Riri into the fold to help clean up the mess. Her perspective on tech responsibility (still evolving) could clash compellingly with Rhodey’s more hardened, military-adjacent worldview. That generational tension could give Armor Wars a sharper edge than expected, and ground its conflict in character rather than just explosions. Plus, at the very least, Zeke needs something else to do now.

5. Ironheart Season 2

Status: Unannounced (so far)

How Ironheart Sets It Up: The most immediate continuation is, of course, more Ironheart. While Marvel hasn’t confirmed a second season, the finale doesn’t wrap things up as cleanly as it could have. Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, is defeated – but not gone. His last scenes drip with unfinished business, and his connection to dark magic (via Mephisto) feels unresolved by design. Likewise, Zeke Stane is still out there, nursing both a vendetta and a business model based on selling black-market Stark-inspired tech. Neither of these antagonists was given the kind of definitive sendoff you’d expect from a one-season villain.

And then there’s Riri’s own arc with Mephisto, and the show leaves Riri at a crossroads – her tech has brushed against forces it wasn’t designed to handle, and her final scenes pit her as an even more complex and compromised figure, at the mercy of a foe she’s welcomed in. That’s not an ending: it’s a beginning that happens to wear the costume of a finale. More should surely come.

All 6 episodes of Ironheart are available to stream on Disney+ now.

The post All 5 MCU Projects Set Up By Ironheart appeared first on ComicBook.com.

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!

The post All 5 Ironheart Armors Ranked appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Tony Stark’s legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a hot-button issue right now. After all, Robert Downey Jr., who played Iron Man for over a decade, is returning to the franchise in Avengers: Doomsday, but not as the hero he’s become synonymous with. No, he’s going to bring Victor von Doom to life and face off against the characters his doppleganger fought alongside for so many years. It’s going to be hard for people like Peter Parker, who idolized Tony before his death in Avengers: Endgame. However, it’s easy to forget that another MCU hero is looking to continue Tony’s legacy, and they have a solo project of their own.

Ironheart is streaming on Disney+, following the adventures of Riri Williams, who, like Tony, enjoys building suits of armor she can pilot. Despite just wanting to be a hero, though, Riri finds herself at the center of a controversy because she’s daring to call out Tony’s privilege. MCU fans aren’t happy, but it’s important to remember that, while Tony’s ability to innovate was second to none, he had plenty of help along the way.

Tony Stark Wouldn’t Have Been Able to Build Anything in a Cave Without His Dad

The first batch of Ironheart episodes reintroduces the world to Riri, who made her MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She’s back at MIT and working hard on giving her suit upgrades. However, the school isn’t seeing enough progress, and after an accident in the lab, it has no choice but to expel Riri. She’s not ready to give up, but she also knows that it’s an uphill battle for people like her, especially because she doesn’t have access to the money that the Stark family has.

It’s no secret that Howard Stark was an influential character in the MCU’s history. He helped Steve Rogers become Captain America, became a major part of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s growth, and built Stark Industries from the ground up. He also raised a son, Tony, who, while brilliant, was almost more trouble than he was worth. Tony’s mind was even more impressive than his father’s, which wasn’t helpful when it came time for hard truths. Tony grew to resent his father for never being around and became a loose cannon after losing his parents. However, because of who he was, everyone gave Tony a pass, letting him act wild as long as it benefited them.

Read Next

Tom Holland Wears Spider-Man’s Black Suit in Spider-Man: Brand New Day Fan Art

Tony eventually turned over a new leaf after being kidnapped by the Ten Rings. Of course, as fans love to point out, he built the Mark 1 armor and miniature Arc Reactor with only the scraps available to him in the cave in Afghanistan. He didn’t have a dollar to his name at the time. The only problem with that line of thinking is that Tony was given the keys to a technological kingdom at an early age and took advantage of it at every turn.

Riri Williams Has Every Right to Feel the Way She Does About Tony Stark

Tony attended MIT, just like Riri, and graduated at the top of his class. That’s not much of a surprise because he grew up in a world where his father invented five game-changing devices before breakfast. Even when Tony wasn’t at school, he was surrounded by more technology than he knew what to do with and learned as much as he could. Riri is not in the same boat, as she only got to spend a little bit of time in Wakanda and has to compete with whatever Shuri is cooking up. No longer is an Iron Man suit the best thing since sliced bread. MIT knows that, which is why Riri doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt. Despite her lofty goals, the powers that be think she’s yesterday’s news, and that’s something Tony never had to deal with.

Riri worships Tony, there’s no doubt about it. She wants to be everything he was and more. That’s why attacking her character for pointing out the obvious makes no sense. Tony knew that he benefited from his father and tried to do right by him by becoming a hero after years of messing around. If he were around to have a conversation with Riri, he would agree with everything she was saying and give her whatever she needed to succeed.

Ironheart is streaming on Disney+.

What do you make of Riri Williams’ comments about Tony Stark in Ironheart? Do you think she has a point? Let us know in the comments below!

The post MCU Fans Seem to Forget That Tony Stark Is a Nepo Baby appeared first on ComicBook.com.

On paper, Ironheart appears to be a low-key affair. Riri Williams returns home to Chicago after being away for years and has a run-in with a crew that uses some light magic. There aren’t any Avengers-level threats around, though, so it should be smooth sailing for a hero that’s coming off helping Wakanda stop Namor from killing countless innocent people. Unfortunately, Riri gets in over her head quickly when she agrees to work for The Hood in exchange for cash that will help her upgrade her suit. The jobs aren’t as cut and dry as he makes them seem, and Riri has to make her fair share of tough choices to escape the situation.

By the time the Ironheart finale rolls around and Riri is ready to fight The Hood, there are some major players on the board, including Obidiah Stane’s son, Zeke, who gives himself cybernetic upgrades, and Mephisto, arguably the most dangerous magic user in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite all of that, Riri finds herself on her own during the big battle in her solo show, which makes at least two major groups look pretty foolish.

Wakanda Should Always Have Riri’s Back

Riri’s AI companion, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., asks whether reaching out to Shuri about everything going on in Chicago is a good idea. Riri doesn’t think so because she doesn’t want it to seem like she can’t handle herself and needs help. However, it should really be the other way around because, after the vibranium-tracking machine incident, it’s clear that Riri is an important figure and needs to be protected. It’s surprising that Shuri doesn’t have the Dora Milaje watching out for her friend, especially since they always keep an eye on individuals with connections to Wakanda, such as Helmut Zemo and Ulysses Klaue.

The Dora Milaje could have made sure that The Hood and his friends ended up in the Raft long before they got the chance to strike back at Riri. Sure, there may have been more pressing matters in Wakanda, but that’s still no excuse. The leadership in Wakanda dropped the ball, just like another powerful organization in the MCU.

Read Next

Marvel Cut a Returning MCU Villain From the Ironheart Finale

The Masters of the Mystic Arts Leave Riri & Her Friends Fighting an Uphill Battle

After Riri grows suspicious of The Hood’s powers, she takes it to a magic shop that Zelma Stanton and her mom own. They both have experience with magic, with Zelma’s mother even spending time at Kamar-Taj, and think that an evil force is behind the cloak The Hood wears. Riri doesn’t take them seriously at first, continuing with her mission to protect her family by taking the fight to The Hood. Zelma learns about Riri’s plans, but instead of reaching out to someone more powerful, she enchants the Ironheart suit and sends her new friend on her way. Without knowing any better, Riri makes a deal with Mephisto to get N.A.T.A.L.I.E. back, which is sure to have major ramifications.

Mephisto may be able to hide his magic from the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj and walk around Earth freely, offering deals to anyone he thinks needs help. The Hood certainly isn’t keeping to the shadows, and not a single magic-user comes to confront him about his abilities. Wanda Maximoff is also able to fly under the radar prior to the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so it sure seems like Doctor Strange and Co. don’t care enough to keep watch over the realm they’re protecting. It’s a shame because the old Doctor Strange captured Loki and forced him to fall for 30 minutes just for showing his face on Midgard.

Ironheart is streaming on Disney+.

Do you think the Wakandans should have been watching over Riri Williams in Ironheart? Why didn’t Doctor Strange or Wong catch wind of Mephisto’s dealings? Let us know in the comments below!

The post The MCU Just Made 2 of Its Most Powerful Groups Look Bad At the Same Time appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Across her MCU appearances, and culminating in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda Maximoff’s journey has been one of grief, love, and growing cosmic horror. The traumatized introduced properly in Avengers: Age of Ultron became as a grieving lover, and a wannabe mother who just wants her dream life back. Unfortunately, that desire became so all-consuming it first reshaped reality, warped morality, and ended in a tragedy that threatened the fabric of existence. Her arc moved from hero to villain with a kind of grim inevitability, made all the more disturbing because she’s still mostly recognisably human. Her story remains one of the biggest tragedies of the MCU.

Intriguingly, Marvel chose to frame her turn as if there were no other, better way, the same way Tony Stark’s grim fate was inevitable. In The Multiverse of Madness, Wanda learned about the multiverse through the Darkhold, and was quickly positioned as the antagonist, hunting America Chavez to steal her powers, killing versions of herself and others across dimensions. The point – rather inelegantly expressed – was that she would have done anything to get what she wanted. And now, Ironheart, of all shows, has quietly and rather unintentionally cracked Wanda’s trauma open a little wider, and made her fall seem a lot more tragic. Obviously, SPOILERS for Ironheart‘s finale follow.

Read Next

All 12 MCU Movies Releasing After Ironheart

Mephisto’s Appearance Underlines MCU’s Scarlet Witch Cruelty

By the final episode of Ironheart, Mephisto finally arrives, fully formed, and played devilishly well by Sacha Baron Cohen. Having revealed himself as the architect of The Hood’s corruption, he offers Riri Williams a deal: her friend Natalie, dead since before the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, could be brought back to life in exchange for Riri’s soul. It’s a classic Faustian bargain, but the fact that it works is what matters here. Ironheart confirms that resurrection through supernatural means is not only possible but framed as a legitimate option, and in effect retroactively rewrites everything WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness said about Wanda’s limits.

Because if Mephisto is out there, why wasn’t he an option for Wanda? And that’s not just a casual omission: Wanda studies the Darkhold, for its deepest, darkest secrets – she’s willing to risk its power for the reward of its knowledge. The idea that Mephisto didn’t come up before she got to that point seems… illogical. Especially because Mephisto’s whole trickster deal would have fit Wanda’s story perfectly, and it’s not like he’s unknown to witches, as the namecheck in Agatha All Along proved. If he preys on those he believes can be manipulated because of their desires or ambitions, Wanda was the perfect client. No matter the cost, she would have paid it. She already sacrificed everything. If she was willing to tear the multiverse apart, why wouldn’t she offer her soul?

Read Next

Ironheart’s Credits Scene Missed A Dream Avengers Set-Up (So What Did It Actually Tease?)

In the comics, Mephisto is deeply tied to Wanda’s story. Her children, Billy and Tommy, were born from shards of his own soul, in a still-devastating twist. He eventually reabsorbs them, which shatters Wanda’s mind and sets the stage for House of M. So when WandaVision aired, fans expected him to show up. What felt like millions of words of theory and speculation spontaneously exploded into being. The Hex, the children’s strange creation, the illusions and disappearances… they all felt like a setup for Mephisto. But he never appeared. 

Now, in light of Ironheart‘s ending, it feels like she was denied the one narrative escape hatch that might have saved her from the villainy forced on her by the MCU’s creative teams. It would have been far greater a story had Wanda been allowed to choose damnation as her sacrifice. Rather than being pushed into it by bad writing or narrative oversight. And Mephisto’s appearance long after she needed his very specific set of skills just feels like cruel irony.

All episodes of Ironheart are available on Disney+ now.

The post The MCU Makes Scarlet Witch’s Story Even More Tragic 3 Years After Her Death appeared first on ComicBook.com.

It’s no secret that Marvel Studios struggles in the TV department. Its shows have trouble finding their footing, and successful Marvel Cinematic Universe finales are few and far between. It’s tough to remember what happens in Secret Invasion‘s final episode, outside of Rhodey coming out of the Skrull compound and G’iah becoming a Super Skrull. Meanwhile, WandaVision goes from a fascinating mystery box program to a CGI boxing match in its last moments. One of the few shows that defies the odds and stays on track from start to finish is Loki, which follows a variant of the Asgardian as he tries to escape from the Time Variance Authority.

Loki doesn’t play it safe, though, teasing that someone is pulling the TVA’s strings and sending people to the Void. The Disney+ show waits until the very last minute to peel back the curtain, and the move works out in its favor. Marvel Studios is well aware of that fact, which is why it has its latest series, Ironheart, use the same strategy.

Loki‘s Big Bad Waits to Make a Grand Entrance

When Loki uses the Tesseract to escape New York, he thinks he’s in the clear. Unfortunately, the TVA is ready to take him in because he’s not where he’s supposed to be in the timeline. The organization and its employees aren’t impressed by the God of Mischief’s antics, and the only reason he doesn’t get pruned is that Mobius sees potential in him. The TVA agent needs help hunting down another rogue Loki variant, who reveals there’s more to the organization than meets the eye. Going by the name Sylvie, she convinces the other Loki to meet with the beings in charge of the TVA. The meeting proves eventful because it comes to light that the TVA’s top brass are all robots who answer to someone else.

After learning the truth, Loki finds himself on the wrong end of a Time Stick and wakes up in the Void. He meets other variants of himself before reuniting with Sylvie. The two of them head to the Citadel at the End of Time and meet He Who Remains, a Kang variant who makes it his life’s mission to keep the multiverse together. He explains that he wants someone to take over for him because letting all the multiverse branches free would cause chaos. Loki thinks about the offer, but Sylvie kills He Who Remains before he can make a decision, letting the multiverse loose and unleashing countless Kang variants. While Riri Williams doesn’t think she has the fate of the multiverse in her hands at the end of Ironheart, she still has to mull over an offer.

Read Next

How Powerful Mephisto Is Compared To Thanos

Mephisto Makes His MCU Debut in Ironheart‘s Finale

Just like in Loki, it’s clear from the start that someone is working behind the scenes to manipulate events. The Hood possesses magical powers that he can’t explain, which he uses to rob people all over Chicago. He recruits Riri to his cause after his current tech specialist, Stewart, drops the ball on a job. She knows that The Hood’s crew is up to no good, but she needs the money and doesn’t care where it comes from. However, after two jobs, including one where she lets Cousin John die, she knows the criminal life isn’t for her. Riri still needs to take care of The Hood, though, so she builds a new suit and takes the fight to him.

Before Riri flies off for her final battle, she has Zelma Stanton imbue her suit with magic to give her a fighting chance. Sadly, in the process, the AI N.A.T.A.L.I.E. disappears, leaving Riri heartbroken. She thinks all hope is lost until a mysterious man appears before her after the fight with The Hood. He calls himself Mephisto and offers her a way to get her friend back if she agrees to work with him, which she can’t pass up. But Mephisto outdoes himself by bringing the real Natalie back from the dead and giving her a second chance at life. The shocking cliffhanger makes Ironheart go from a solid series to a must-watch one with massive implications for the MCU, just like Loki before it.

Ironheart is streaming on Disney+.

Do you see the connection between Loki‘s finale and Ironheart‘s last episode? Which Marvel Studios show do you think is better? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Marvel Just Recycled a Move From The MCU’s Most Successful TV Finale (& It Pays Off) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to a close after the release of Ironheart on Disney+, but there are several movies already confirmed for Phase 6 and beyond. Currently, there are 12 confirmed and speculated movies set to be developed by Marvel Studios, while there are just as many TV shows expected to hit Disney+ soon. On the big-screen, some of the most exciting and highly-anticipated movies in the MCU’s history are on the horizon, including The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the upcoming Avengers movies.

So far, Marvel Studios has released 36 MCU movies, comprising Phases 1 through 5 and spanning 17 years since 2008’s Iron Man. These have primarily been focused on the adventures of the Avengers, as well as their individual battles against some powerful and terrifying villains. Ironheart just introduced one of the next big antagonists of the MCU in the form of Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), while Marvel’s next upcoming movies are about to do the same with Galactus, Doctor Doom, and more about to make their debuts.

12) The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25, 2025)

Marvel Studios’ next movie will finally bring Marvel’s First Family into the MCU, as The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to introduce Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the titular Fantastic Four team. Directed by WandaVision’s Matt Shakman, First Steps is the first MCU movie to be set in an alternate reality – a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world that becomes targeted by the planet-eater Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his Herald, Shalla-Bal’s Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). The Fantastic Four: First Steps is one of Marvel’s most highly-anticipated projects yet.

20th Century Fox never quite managed to get the Fantastic Four right in live-action, so there is a lot of pressure on Marvel Studios to deliver a strong debut for the team. Trailers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps have given us a tease at just how brilliant this new iteration of Marvel’s First Family will be. First Steps is scheduled to release on July 25, 2025, kick-starting the MCU’s Phase 6 and expected to lead directly into the events of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

11) Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31, 2026)

Scheduled for release on July 31, 2026, Spider-Man: Brand New Day will catch up with Peter Parker’s Spider-Man (Tom Holland) for the first time since 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. The Phase 4 movie ended with everyone in the world forgetting Parker, setting up a darker story for Brand New Day. Destin Daniel Cretton is working on the sequel after delivering Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Wonder Man, with Sadie Sink, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, and Liza Colón-Zayas all confirmed, and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher also set to appear, hinting at a grounded and gritty narrative.

10) Avengers: Doomsday (December 18, 2026)

2024’s San Diego Comic-Con presentation saw Marvel confirm the return of directing duo the Russo brothers for Avengers: Doomsday and its sequel. Originally Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, Jonathan Majors’ conviction and firing from Marvel spurred the crossover movie’s adjustments to instead feature Doctor Doom, with Robert Downey Jr. returning after a seven-year break from the MCU. Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* lay the foundations for Doomsday by introducing new Avengers teams, though the movie’s primary antagonist is yet to make his MCU debut.

9) Avengers: Secret Wars (December 17, 2027)

Following Avengers: Doomsday’s release in December 2026, Avengers: Secret Wars will be delivered a year later, emulating the schedule for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame in Phase 3. Expected to adapt Marvel Comics’ Secret Wars events from 1984 and 2015, Avengers: Secret Wars could mark the destruction of the multiverse and Doctor Doom’s reign over Battleworld, and has been teased to feature a soft-reboot of the MCU. This could bring new characters, narratives, and refreshed versions of old fan-favorites into the franchise, establishing a whole new timeline that would make a good jumping-in point for new audiences.

8) Armor Wars (TBC)

Avengers: Secret Wars is the final MCU movie that has an official release date, but there are more that Marvel hasn’t yet scheduled, including Armor Wars. First announced as a Disney+ series in December 2020, Armor Wars was expected to see Don Cheadle’s James “Rhodey” Rhodes, War Machine, continuing Tony Stark’s legacy. Armor Wars was revealed to be a feature film in 2022, but development has slowed since then. After Secret Invasion, this would be the perfect place for Rhodey’s Skrull replacement to be explored in more detail, but it’s unclear when this project will come to fruition.

7) Black Panther 3 (TBC)

After Denzel Washington let slip that he was set to make his MCU debut in Ryan Coogler’s upcoming Black Panther 3, Marvel was forced to confirm the sequel’s development. Departed Marvel Studios producer extraordinaire Nate Moore will be returning to produce Black Panther 3, which is expected to feature Shuri (Letitia Wright) continuing as the Black Panther, and could even bring Namor (Tenoch Huerta-Mejía) back after his Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debut. It’s thought Black Panther 3 will release after Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, so Phase 6’s crossovers will surely have a huge impact on the sequel’s story.

6) Blade (TBC)

First teased when Mahershala Ali stepped out on-stage at 2019’s SDCC, Marvel Studios’ much-anticipated Blade reboot has had an extremely tumultuous production. It’s been through multiple directors and writers, with production being halted on several occasions as each one departed, leading to Blade being removed from the release schedule in October 2024, shortly after Wesley Snipes’ return in Deadpool & Wolverine. A recent update suggests Marvel might have finally cracked Blade’s story, so there could be good news about this much-wanted reboot very soon.

5) Shang-Chi 2 (TBC)

Phase 4 was one of the MCU’s most divisive chapters, but 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings became hugely popular in amongst lackluster movies and shows. Destin Daniel Cretton’s incredible performance on the movie led to him working on Wonder Man and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but he’s also planning a direct sequel to Shang-Chi for the MCU’s future. Simu Liu will return as Shang-Chi in Doomsday and Secret Wars, probably heading into a solo sequel after these appearances, bringing back one of the MCU’s most exciting and exhilarating new superheroes.

4) Scarlett Johansson’s MCU Movie (TBC)

Scarlett Johansson played Natasha Romanoff’s Black Widow for 11 years between 2010’s Iron Man 2 and 2021’s Black Widow, with the latter marking her solo debut in the MCU as well as her final appearance. Despite her lawsuit against Disney following Black Widow’s release, Marvel confirmed in November 2021 they’re working with Johansson on a secret project. During 2023’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Johansson confirmed work on this project was ongoing, possibly resuming after the strikes. We still don’t know what project this will be, though it seems Johansson will be directing after making her debut with Eleanor the Great.

3) Deadpool & X-Men (TBC)

After the immense success of Deadpool & Wolverine – which became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time – Ryan Reynolds stayed mum on whether an inevitable sequel would be produced. A May 2025 article by The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Reynolds is indeed working on a new Deadpool project for the MCU, one that is set to include “three or four X-Men characters” with Deadpool as a supporting fixture. This project will likely release after Phase 6, and may connect to the MCU’s X-Men reboot, giving Deadpool a more direct connection to mutants than he had in Fox’s X-Men franchise.

2) The Fantastic Four 2 (TBC)

During a report on Marvel Studios adding a release date for an as-yet-unconfirmed MCU movie on December 15, 2028, Variety suggested that this slot could be filled by a sequel to The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While Marvel Studios hasn’t yet announced the development of this sequel, Variety is a trusted source, and it’s inevitable that First Steps will lead to future movies starring Marvel’s First Family. The events of First Steps, Doomsday, and Secret Wars will bring the Fantastic Four into the MCU’s official timeline, so they’ll be massively changed by the time a possible ‘Second Steps‘ rolls around.

1) X-Men (TBC)

Perhaps the most highly-anticipated movie currently in the works at Marvel Studios is the MCU’s own X-Men reboot. 20th Century Fox owned the film rights to the X-Men until Disney’s acquisition of Fox was finalized in 2019, and Marvel immediately set to work on developing its revamped X-Men project. Deadpool & Wolverine, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars will bid farewell to Fox’s X-Men team, ready for Marvel Studios to introduce a younger roster that will bring some iconic mutants from Marvel Comics to life in the MCU and embark on adventures for years to come.

Jake Schreier, who recently worked on the brilliant Thunderbolts* movie, has recently been confirmed to direct the MCU’s X-Men reboot, with a script being penned by The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes writer Michael Lesslie. Young actors including Sadie Sink, Harris Dickinson, Margaret Qualley, and more have been speculated to be in talks to star as some notable mutants, recreated for the MCU and set to become prominent after Avengers: Secret Wars and Phase 6’s conclusion. MCU’s X-Men will be one of many anticipated mutant-centric movies developed in Marvel Studios’ future.

What upcoming MCU movies are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments!

The post All 12 MCU Movies Releasing After Ironheart appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Peter Parker can never seem to catch a break in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even before he joins the big leagues by agreeing to join Tony Stark on a mission to Germany to stop Captain America and Co., he loses his parents and his uncle, Ben. Peter keeps a good attitude, though, and does his best to make his mentor proud by keeping the streets clean. Unfortunately, there are some bumps in the road, including Mysterio outing Peter’s identity to the world and the hero losing Tony during the events of Avengers: Infinity War. All Peter wants to do in Spider-Man: No Way Home is get his life back on track, but even that’s asking too much.

After a botched spell brings several major villains to the Sacred Timeline, Spider-Man tries to make things right, and it costs him Aunt May and his friends, who forget everything they know about him. Peter will be alone when he makes his next appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and crosses paths with a deranged hero, Punisher, who isn’t going to lighten the mood. But the titular hero may have an out if he’s willing to make a deal with a certain villain.

Mephisto May Make Spider-Man an Offer He Can’t Refuse in Brand New Day

The first five episodes of Ironheart tease that Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, is getting advice from a dark entity. It takes until the final episode for the character to reveal themselves as Mephisto, who makes deals with wayward souls in need of help. He offers Riri Williams the chance to get her AI friend N.A.T.A.L.I.E. back after losing her before her battle against The Hood. It’s hard to turn Mephisto down because all he wants is something Riri “won’t miss,” so she shakes his hand. Not long after, the real Natalie, who died years prior, appears in Riri’s workshop as if nothing happened. If Mephisto can bring loved ones back from the dead, Peter is someone he wants to talk to.

Read Next

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Just Ended a Divisive Era After Two Years

While Peter will surely give being alone the old college try at the start of Brand New Day, having no family or friends is sure to bother the hero. Mephisto could make things right by offering to bring May back and restoring Ned and MJ’s memories. Peter has experience with magic users, after all, so he’s sure to trust Mephisto as long as the villain doesn’t peel back the curtain too much. A similar thing happens in the pages of Marvel Comics when Peter wants to bring May back to life after she gets shot in “One More Day.” He gives up his marriage to Mary Jane Watson, which proves to have its drawbacks. Mephisto is also sure to screw Peter over in the MCU, but, as luck would have it, there’s another hero who has experience in that department.

Mephisto Appearing in Brand New Day Would Open the Door for a Much-Needed MCU Meeting

Despite Ironheart ending on a major cliffhanger, a second season of the show has yet to be announced. That’s not a good sign for Riri’s future in the MCU, but her story could easily continue in Brand New Day. Once she learns that another major hero has a deal in place with Mephisto, she can run to Peter’s side, wanting to get rid of her arrangement and kill two birds with one stone. It would be an organic team-up because both characters hold Tony Stark in high regard. While Riri never got the chance to meet Iron Man, Peter did and probably has a lot of wisdom to offer her, as she’s still early in her hero career.

It’s hard to imagine Punisher and maybe even Hulk fitting into that story, but the MCU has pulled off crazier things. Spider-Man is in uncharted territory, and with no allies in his corner, he’s going to be open to anything and everything. If that means making a deal with the devil and fighting the strongest Avenger alongside Frank Castle, so be it.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters on July 31, 2026.

Would you like to see Mephisto appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Do you think Peter Parker would accept whatever deal the villain offers? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Marvel Just Introduced The Perfect Villain For Spider-Man: Brand New Day appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Ironheart is the latest armored hero to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Marvel Comics fans have known about her for years. Riri Williams made her debut in comics in 2016. She is a supergenius who, in kindergarten, decided she wanted to be a scientist and set out to prove she could be just as good as Tony Stark. She ended up deciding she wanted to be a hero after Riri’s stepdad and her best friend Natalie were killed in a drive-by shooting. This led to her building her first suit of armor when she was only 15, and then she received Tony Stark’s blessing after using her armor to help save lives.

While Ironheart and Iron Man became close allies in the comics, and he helped mentor her, she maintained her distance and proved to be a great hero without his assistance. She has even done several things that prove that she might be a better hero than Iron Man ever was in Marvel Comics.

1) She Made Her Armor With No Money Or Experience

Riri Williams said something in the Ironheart Disney+ series that angered many fans. She claimed that she was better than Iron Man because she built her armor without any money or wealth. While Iron Man built his armor in a cave without the use of his money or wealth, he knew what he was doing because he had the best education and training growing up as a Stark. He had an advantage that people like Riri Williams never had. On the other hand, Riri had to fight for everything she ever got. She couldn’t afford the tech that Tony had access to once he got back home to build all his advanced armor. Riri Williams in the comics had nothing and built everything from scratch. However, she did have to take some shortcuts by “borrowing” equipment to do so from M.I.T. Regardless, she built everything on her own and taught herself without a wealthy education.

2) Ironheart Fights For The People

Iron Man is an Avenger who has saved the world numerous times throughout his life. He fought in both Civil War and Civil War II for his beliefs, whether he was on the side of good or not. There is no discounting that he is a hero. However, Tony mostly fights for personal reasons, and most of the decisions he makes are thanks to his immense ego. Ironheart also has a major ego, but hers is very different than Tony’s. While both of them always believe they are right and will fight to prove it, the reasons they are heroes differ. Tony fights because he feels the world needs him as a hero. Riri fights because she wants to save people like her friend Natalie, who was killed in a drive-by shooting. Ironheart fights for the little people on the streets, while Tony has his eyes on bigger threats.

3) Ironheart Wants To Create Technology To Help Others

Tony Stark comes from a family of weapons developers. He was kidnapped, injured, and forced to become a superhero because he is obsessed with making weapons for a profit. Even now, as he wants to put that behind him and no longer be involved in that business, it was still how he lived his life for many years. Iron Man, at its core, was a living weapon, and that is all Tony wanted to create. Riri Williams has a much purer heart. She is Ironheart because she wants to help people. However, she wants to use her intellect and brilliance to create things to make the world a better place. She even wanted to use the Ten Rings to find a way they could be used to help humankind, rather than use them as the weapons they always were.

4) Ironheart Withstood The Temptation Of The Ten Rings

The Ten Rings in comics were Mandarin’s weapons. For many years, the rivalry between Iron Man and Mandarin was a battle between science and magic, with the Ten Rings equipped with magical powers. In Iron Man (Vol. 6) #24, Ironheart convinced Tony Stark to let her keep the Ten Rings because she wanted to figure out how they worked and use them for the good of humankind. Stark agreed because he trusted her, but he also knew that the Rings could corrupt, as they had corrupted him before. However, Ironheart has one up on Iron Man because she was able to withstand the ghostly force of the Ten Rings as it tried to control her. She also knew when it was time to get rid of them, and she did so in Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5) #14 with the assistance of the X-Men’s Forge.

Read Next

Daredevil’s Most Brutal Fights, Ranked

5) Ironheart Is More Loyal To Her Friends

If there is one thing that Iron Man has proven over the years, it is that no one can really trust him. In Civil War, he demanded that all heroes register with the government, or he arrested them and locked them away in a Negative Zone prison. In The Crossing, he betrayed the Avengers when he proved to be a pawn of Kang for years. He often lies to his friends and allies, which is why he remains one of the most disliked Marvel Comics heroes among many readers. Ironheart is socially awkward and struggles to communicate with others, but when it comes to her friends, she is completely loyal. During the Outlawed event, she quit to protect her family, but when the government came for her friends in The Champions, she suited up and fought to protect the people she loves.

6) Ironheart In No Way Wants Authority Power

If there is one thing that holds Iron Man down when it comes to him being a genuine hero, it is his thirst for power. This is one reason that he was so unlikable during Civil War, because he demanded that everyone follow him. It remained true when he became the head of SHIELD, and only the most powerful, like Thor, were able to cut him down to size. However, what makes Ironheart a better hero is the fact that she in no way wants to be in charge of anything but her own life. She wants to fight to save people’s lives and create technology that can make the world a better place to live. While Tony Stark wants to be in charge, Ironheart just wants to be a good hero, and that is what makes her better than Iron Man.

The post 6 Reasons Ironheart Is a Better Hero Than Iron Man appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel Television’s Ironheart series just introduced a new villain to the Marvel Cinematic Universe 13 years after he was originally planned to appear in Phase 1’s The Avengers. Ironheart brought Phase 5 to a close by pitting Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) against Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), who was gifted his powerful and mysterious cloak by one of Marvel’s most exciting new supervillains. However, it wasn’t just one or two villains that Marvel debuted in Ironheart, but there was another who has connections to Iron Man’s MCU history. Be warned: MAJOR SPOILERS for Ironheart are ahead.

Along with the Hood and Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), Ironheart also debuted Alden Ehrenreich as Joe McGillicuddy – an alias used by Ezekiel Stane, the son of original Iron Man villain Obadiah Stane. Surprisingly, Joss Whedon originally planned for Ezekiel Stane to show up during The Avengers. “I wrote a huge draft with Ezekiel Stane,” Whedon noted during a 2018 interview with Thrillist. “Kevin [Feige] looked at it and said, ‘Yeah, no.’ Louis D’Esposito actually at that point said, ‘Yeah, Kevin, it’s all wrong, but look how good it is. Like this is really good wrong.’ That was a nice boost.”

Had Ezekiel Stane appeared in The Avengers, it would have been only four years since his father’s death at the hands of Tony Stark in 2008’s Iron Man. Obadiah Stane became the Iron Monger in Iron Man, and was seemingly killed by Stark after their battle at Stark Industries HQ. Ezekiel “Zeke” Stane made his Marvel Comics debut in 2008’s The Order #8, and he sought revenge on Tony Stark for the death of his father. The Avengers’ original plan presumably would have followed this story, but it’s good that Marvel Studios waited to introduce Zeke until Ironheart.

Read Next

Marvel Cut a Returning MCU Villain From the Ironheart Finale

Instead of being an outright villain in Ironheart, Ezekiel was aware of his father’s twisted actions, and made conscious choices to try and avoid becoming like him or even seeking retribution. After Riri Williams’ mistake with Stane’s biomesh led to him being outed to the world, however, Stane fell under the control of Parker Robbins’ Hood, but Williams soon helped him break free from the Hood’s influence. Zeke Stane has been set up to be a powerful ally to Riri Williams in the MCU’s future, despite not yet being confirmed to return.

Ezekiel Stane’s debut in Ironheart stresses just how directly Riri Williams is continuing Tony Stark’s legacy in the MCU. Not only is she sporting an iron suit as Ironheart, but she’s also taking on the offspring of Stark’s own antagonists, harking back to the very early days of the MCU. It’s exciting to think about where Zeke Stane could be taken after Ironheart – he’s got incredible power thanks to his bionic enhancements, so he could easily become a formidable hero alongside Riri Williams and many more.

What did you make of Ezekiel Stane’s Ironheart debut? Would you have wanted to see him in The Avengers? Let us know in the comments!

The post 13 Years Later, A Rejected Avengers Movie Idea Just Came Back To Life appeared first on ComicBook.com.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ironheart Episode 6, “The Past Is the Past.”] After four and a half years of speculation, Mephisto has finally made it to the MCU via the series Ironheart. Casting the iconoclastic comedian and Oscar-nominated actor Sacha Baron Cohen was an inspired move by Marvel. The scene in the Ironheart finale where he meets Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), in Desperito’s Pizza of all places, had us on the edge of our seats as Mephisto offers the young hero an actual deal with the devil. Our only complaint? We didn’t get to see Mephisto’s demonic form. He appears to Riri deceptively casually, Cohen comes off more as a scruffy musician or artist than one of the powerful demons in the MCU. While there is a brief flash of Mephisto’s demonic form in his reflection in his spoon in the scene with Riri, we found ourselves wanting to see more of the devil’s true colors.

Thanks to popular Marvel fan art account @welove__marvel, we now have an idea of what exactly that could look like. Mohd Harris, the account’s creator, recently posted an Ironheart poster mockup of what Mephisto’s demon form could look like. In the quick flash we get during Episode 6, Mephisto sports his customary red skin and glowing yellow eyes. Harris’s art takes it a step further, giving us a full-body rendering of Mephisto in dark red leather robes, his hair flowing free, clawed hands, and in one poster, towering horns.

Is Mephisto’s Introduction a Tease for His Character’s Future in the MCU?

Mephisto first debuted in 1968 in Silver Surfer comics. Created by Stan Lee himself and artist John Buscema, Mephisto has surprisingly literary roots in the Faust legend, drawing his name from Mephistopheles, the devil’s representative in the folktale. Though Mephisto was first a recurring villain for the Silver Surfer and later Ghost Rider, he’s gone on to torment nearly every hero in the Marvel canon since he arrived on the scene in the late ’60s. He’s a particularly painful thorn in Spider-Man’s side, as Mephisto is the one responsible for both Norman and Harry Osborn’s villainous transformations and caused the demise of Peter’s marriage to Mary Jane Watson in the comics.

Read Next

Ironheart Teased SPOILER’S True Form (Did You Catch It?)

While we’re not exactly sure where or how Mephisto will pop up again, refusing to show him in his full demonic form is a deliberate way to keep us wanting more of him. It’s still unclear if Ironheart will get a Season 2, as well as if we’ll see the full consequences of Riri’s apparent bargain with Mephisto to bring N.A.T.A.L.I.E. back. However, there are rumblings that he’ll appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Cohen’s comedic chops would place him right at home in the franchise’s quick-witted humor, after all. It also seems to be a foregone conclusion that from here on out, Mephisto will factor heavily into the supernatural side of the MCU, and we would absolutely love to see a demon Mephisto clash with Doctor Strange or a member of Agatha Harkness’s coven. With an actor as dynamic and multi-faceted as Cohen, the character’s possibilities are endless, no matter what face Mephisto chooses to wear.

All six episodes of Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+.

Read Next

Every MCU Tease Of Mephisto (& All The Fake-Outs)

The post Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto Gets a Demonic New Look in MCU Fan Art appeared first on ComicBook.com.

With Ironheart‘s final episode, years of speculation were finally laid to rest in a virtual coffin. Mephisto, once thought of as a surefire WandaVision villain, finally appeared in live-action media for the first time. Revealed to be the puppeteer controlling the strings on Parker Robbins/The Hood (Anthony Ramos), this character is a schemer played by none other than Sacha Baron Cohen. Speaking in a British accent, wielding all kinds of powers, and even appearing briefly (via a spoon reflection) in his comics-accurate red-skinned form, Mephisto is now entrenched into the MCU’s greater lore.

Given that Ironheart ends with Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) making a deal with Mephisto to bring back her deceased best friend, it’s clear Mephisto is not a one-off MCU baddie like Obadiah Stane or Dar-benn. However, Ironheart’s debut of a long-anticipated villain may also be a massive mistake for the MCU at large.

Mephisto’s Debut Continues Weird Marvel TV Structure Problems

The big Disney+ Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe shows keep their true villains off-screen for entire seasons of storytelling until their respective finales. In theory, this is done so that these shows (released in a classical weekly format) can reach maximum fan chatter and excitement for their last episodes. He Who Remains only debuted in the last episode of Loki Season 1; Wilson Fisk/Kingpin didn’t appear onscreen in Hawkeye until its finale, and Cad Bane didn’t become a principal Book of Boba Fett player until the show’s final 45 minutes.

Mephisto, unfortunately, continues this trend. What works for generating peak social media chatter weeks into a show’s run isn’t very good for episodic storytelling. TV is all about letting characters simmer with audiences and letting tension brew over multiple installments. Keeping a primary source of tension off-screen until the final episode just hurts TV shows like Ironheart tremendously. Supposedly big villains don’t have the impact they should, while finale episodes have to spend time with exposition rather than providing audiences with entertainment.

Read Next

Ironheart Has Me Convinced That (Most of) Marvel’s Disney+ Shows Should’ve Been Movies

Meanwhile, it’s bizarre to drop a character as big as Mephisto in live-action for the first time via a Disney+ show finale. Like Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel or Moon Knight, Mephisto deserved a theatrical film launchpad, not debuting on a format where many people will discover him for the first time on their phones. It’s also peculiar to have the first major Marvel hero that encounters him be Riri Williams/Ironheart and not Doctor Strange or Scarlet Witch. The randomness of this superhero/villain pairing underscores the biggest problem with Mephisto’s debut: the MCU is trying too hard once again to give fans what they (think they) want.

The MCU Keeps Trying To Placate Fans Rather Than Deliver Good Stories

The randomness of Mephisto showing up in Ironheart, not to mention this big villain’s debut distracting from the show’s titular hero, suggests that the character is only here to placate folks still mad that their theories of Mephisto being WandaVision’s big baddie never panned out. Marvel Studios once gave audiences characters and adventures they never dreamed they’d want, like the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie or the thematic complexities of the initial Black Panther installment. Now, elements like Mephisto in Ironheart simply seem tailor-made to appease Reddit obsessives.

The result is creative decisions like this Ironheart villain reveal that just don’t work well. Simply giving people what they expect isn’t a recipe for ultimately satisfying artistry; heck, even die-hard Mephisto fans may be understandably miffed with this reveal, simply because there’s no room in the MCU’s near-future for it to get expanded upon. Mephisto is teased in Ironheart’s final moments as a Thanos-level threat who cackles at the comparatively meager might of Dormammu. Despite his Ironheart appearance being all set up, though, there’s no immediate impending MCU production where he could naturally show up again. Not unless Wonder Man is going in really unexpected directions.

Perhaps some viewers would be more forgiving of Mephisto’s clumsy Ironheart presence if there were an exceedingly tantalizing MCU role for him coming down the pipeline in 2026. Instead, this character is yet another Phase Four and Phase Five MCU character (like Starfox, Hercules, or Hulk’s son) destined to sit on a shelf for an eternity. Any way you look at it, dropping Mephisto in the Ironheart finale was a major mistake, particularly for how it gobbled up all the narrative breathing room in an episode that should’ve focused more on Riri Williams. Mephisto isn’t the only example of these problems materializing in new MCU media, but he is one of the most frustrating.

All episodes of Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+.

The post The MCU’s Latest Major Villain Reveal May Also Be One of Its Biggest Mistakes appeared first on ComicBook.com.

WARNING: There are spoilers ahead for the Ironheart finale! The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest series ended on a grim cliffhanger this week, and not even the producers know when it will be resolved. Ironheart Episode 6, “The Past is the Past,” left Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) in a pretty dark place, and executive producer Ryan Coogler seems like the right person to pick up her tale since he is writing and directing Black Panther 3. However, in a new interview with Variety, Coogler insisted that he doesn’t know when we’ll see Riri next, implying that it might well be in another season of Ironheart.

“I don’t know jack s—,” Coogler said candidly, when asked if Riri might appear in Black Panther 3. He seemed to imply that he’s focused on other projects right now, saying, “I just did an all-nighter writing X-Files.” Coogler deferred to showrunner Chinaka Hodges, as well as MCU mastermind producer Kevin Feige.

“I’m here for whatever Chinaka’s got coming at us next; whatever Kevin’s got coming at us next, you know what I’m saying,” he said. “I think the audience is going to take to that ending and I can’t wait to see those characters again.”

Read Next

7 Essential Ironheart Comics You Need to Read

Coogler introduced Riri in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever back in 2022, setting her up as a foil to Shuri (Letitia Wright), but not a permanent part of Wakanda’s setting or story. Ironheart took Riri back home to Chicago, and at one point, she even considered reaching out to Shuri for help, but decided not to impose on their burgeoning friendship. The door is clearly open for these characters to interact again, but Riri’s stubbornness and independent streak are a stumbling block, and by the end of the series, she was willing to face some serious danger just to handle things on her own.

As for Black Panther 3, we have no hint yet of what that movie will be about, or even what the MCU will look like when it comes out. The project does not have a scheduled release date, and it seems safe to say it will not be a part of Phase Six, or the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga. That finale may change Earth-616 quite a bit — likely introducing mutants so that the X-Men can join the fray, for one thing. In the meantime, we know that Shuri will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, and many fans are assuming Riri will turn up at some point before this story is over as well.

We can only speculate for now, and according to Coogler, he has the same questions as the rest of us. Ironheart is streaming now on Disney+, and the MCU will be back later this month when The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25th.

The post Major MCU Character’s Future Unclear as Producer Says “I Don’t Know Jack S***” appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The ending of Marvel Television’s Ironheart featured a surprising cliffhanger that make the development of one currently-paused Marvel Cinematic Universe series much more likely. Ironheart rounded off Phase 5 by introducing a whole host of new characters to the MCU, including Parker Robbins’ Hood (Anthony Ramos), his crew of low-level Chicago-based criminals, Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich), and Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah). The latter’s appearance and magic-use in Ironheart perfectly sets the stage for Marvel Studios to finally make the Doctor Strange spin-off that previously looked dead.

So could we be about to see the Strange Academy brought to life in the MCU?A Marvel Television series exploring the Strange Academy from Marvel Comics, a school founded by Doctor Strange to train young individuals from a variety of worlds in the Mystic Arts, had been rumored for some time. While the project was never officially confirmed, Deadline reported in February 2025 that a Strange Academy series was one of three – along with Nova and Terror, Inc. – that has been put on indefinite hold at Marvel Studios. Even so, Zelma Stanton’s debut in Ironheart makes a live-action Strange Academy project much more likely, given her prominent role in the Marvel Comics series.

Introduced in Marvel Comics’ Strange Academy #1 in 2020, the titular school was founded by Doctor Strange and Zelma Stanton. After Strange had previously saved Stanton from mind maggots – which made an appearance in Ironheart, she became the librarian of his Sanctum Sanctorum and was a consistent supporting character of his before helping him open and operate the Strange Academy. She served as the school’s librarian and recruited new students, though Stanton was transferred to the Doom Academy in Latveria after Victor Von Doom became the Sorcerer Supreme.

Read Next

Ironheart’s Cliffhanger Ending Repeats The Same Mistake That Sunk The MCU’s Worst Show

In Ironheart, Zelma Stanton already showed off some impressive magical abilities, based on knowledge passed down from her mother (Cree Summer), who trained at Kamar-Taj but left the community to raise Zelma. Stanton provided the powerful spell that infused Riri Williams’ newest Ironheart suit with magic – an unlimited power source. She also proved her ability to transport herself and others to an alternate dimension, where she had constructed a safe space to experiment and train. The fact that Kamar-Taj is her “reach school” suggests she could easily cross paths with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in the MCU.

Zelma Stanton’s debut in Ironheart, and her new partnership with fellow magic-user Parker Robbins in the series’ post-credits scene, hints at her return in a possible Strange Academy series. Marvel Studios is yet to confirm the development of Strange Academy, but Echo’s Amy Rardin was working on the show prior to Marvel putting it on hold, so it’s possible it could quickly get picked up again. Ironheart might have set this up perfectly, but only time will tell.

Do you want to see Zelma Stanton return in a Strange Academy MCU series? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel Just Made Another Unannounced Release Much More Likely appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is chock-full of impressive villains. The first ones that come to mind are the mental threats that can get under a hero’s skin with just a few words, such as Helmut Zemo, who successfully tears the Avengers apart in Captain America: Civil War. Killmonger also does plenty of damage despite only having a couple of fight scenes, changing Wakanda forever by destroying the Heart-Shaped Herbs. However, there’s only one villain that remains a sore subject for every MCU resident: Thanos. The Mad Titan wipes out half of existence in Avengers: Infinity War, and everyone remains gone for five years. No other bad guy has had that kind of impact, but one that just got introduced certainly has the potential to.

The final episode of Ironheart reveals the mastermind behind The Hood, Mephisto. The villain offers Parker Robbins more money than he knows what to do with in exchange for his soul and turns his sights on Riri Williams at the end of the episode. She takes his deal, and it becomes clear that Mephisto is every bit as powerful as Thanos and doesn’t need the Infinity Stones to achieve his goals.

Thanos Can’t Do It Alone in the MCU

In terms of brute strength, Thanos may be the most powerful character the MCU has ever seen. He takes down the Hulk with ease, even toying with the Avenger for a moment before unleashing his full power. The Mad Titan shows off again in Avengers: Endgame when he takes on Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America at the same time and knocks them on their butts. It takes Cap lifting Mjolnir to do any damage, and even then, Thanos gets right back up and summons his army. However, Thanos doesn’t want to beat everyone to a pulp. In fact, the version that appears in Infinity War only fights when provoked, choosing to let the Infinity Stones do the talking instead.

The Black Order helps their father track down all six of the gems, filling up all the slots in the Infinity Gauntlet. Along the way, Thanos proves that he’s capable of wielding the shiny objects during battles with the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers. That’s an impressive feat, no doubt, but it speaks more to his durability than anything else. Meanwhile, the villain that Riri runs into in the pizza shop is in a whole other league.

Read Next

Ironheart’s Credits Scene Missed A Dream Avengers Set-Up (So What Did It Actually Tease?)

Mephisto Can Do What Thanos Can Do & More

When Mephisto first introduces himself to Parker, he transports him to the pizza restaurant with ease. They get to talking, and while things are going well, Parker becomes distracted by a nearby family. With a wave of his hand, Mephisto locks them in place and explains that he could do the same to the entire city. Those are neat tricks that any Master of the Mystic Arts could pull off, so it takes wearing Mephisto’s hood to convince Parker that he’s actually going to get what he wants. The money starts flowing, and The Hood gains magical abilities that make him a problem for Riri’s technology and security guards all over Chicago.

Mephito doesn’t stop there, though, because once Parker loses control of the hood, he attempts to replace him with Riri. He knows what her brain is capable of and wants to use it for his own again. The only way he can gain access to her knowledge is by offering to bring her AI friend N.A.T.A.L.I.E. back. She agrees but doesn’t believe he will come through. Riri continues working on a solution when Natalie appears in front of her. However, it’s not the AI version; it’s the real deal. Using his incredible power, Mephito brings Natale back from the dead, and while there are sure to be drawbacks in the future, Thanos was only able to do that on his best day. And in reality, the MCU only shows a fraction of Mephisto’s power in Ironheart, which means it’s only going to get more impressive from here.

Ironheart is streaming now on Disney+.

Do you think the MCU’s Mephisto is more powerful than Thanos? Where else would you like to see the Ironheart villain pop up? Let us know in the comments below!

The post How Powerful Mephisto Is Compared To Thanos appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel Studios rounded off Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Ironheart series on Disney+, and we’d love to see a season 2 of Riri Williams’ first solo MCU project. Dominique Thorne made her Marvel debut as Riri Williams in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a prodigy from Chicago who found herself caught in the middle of a war between Wakanda and Talokan. After being expelled from MIT in Ironheart’s premiere, Williams returned home to Chicago to finally realize her superhero destiny. Be warned: MAJOR SPOILERS for Ironheart are ahead.

Ironheart released in two batches of three episodes on June 24th and July 1st, respectively. Riri Williams became involved with a team of small-time criminals in Chicago led by Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), who exhibited remarkable gifts by harnessing the power of a mysterious Hood. Ironheart saw Williams deal with an intense personal trauma, explore new corners of the MCU’s magical world, and continue Iron Man’s legacy by partnering with his archenemy’s son, Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich). After her first adventure, the stage has been set for Riri Williams to return in Ironheart season 2.

Ironheart’s Ending Sets Up Another Season

In the final moments of Ironheart’s finale, “The Past Is the Past,” after relinquishing Parker Robbins of the Hood and breaking his control over Zeke Stane, Riri Williams met with none other than Mephisto. Sacha Baron Cohen delivers a captivating performance as the demonic supervillain from Marvel Comics, who has been teased and rumored relentlessly for the MCU for many years. Mephisto made good on his deal with Williams by resurrecting Natalie (Lyric Ross) – not as an artificial intelligence – but this had an adverse effect on Williams, the extent of which is yet to be seen.

While Riri is working with Mephisto, Parker’s alliances have shifted, as he now seeks the help of Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah), who harbors magical abilities passed down from her mother, who trained at Kamar-Taj. The open-ended nature of these storylines in Ironheart’s finale leave us wanting more, perfectly setting the stage for a possible season 2. Mephisto’s deal with Riri Williams needs to be examined in more detail, the capabilities of Riri’s new magically-empowered Ironheart suit can be explored more, too, while Parker’s partnership with Stanton and the fate of his former crew are all also a mystery.

What Has Marvel Said About Ironheart Season 2

Marvel Studios hasn’t yet confirmed plans for Ironheart season 2. However, during a 2024 interview with Brazilian news outlet Omelete, Marvel boss Kevin Feige teased more second seasons for the MCU’s future TV shows. “We’re going to have more renewals,” Feige mentioned before the premiere of Daredevil: Born Again’s first season in March. “That starts with Daredevil: Born Again. We’re really excited to premiere the first season… It shows that we like the idea of ​​developing shows over multiple seasons — after all, that’s one of the most cool things on television.”

Read Next

Ironheart’s Credits Scene Missed A Dream Avengers Set-Up (So What Did It Actually Tease?)

At Disney’s upfront presentation earlier this year, Marvel Studios doubled down on the shift into producing multi-season shows, rather than miniseries. This has already occurred with the likes of Loki, What If…?, and, now, Daredevil: Born Again, but, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel is “taking a wait-and-see approach” on whether Ironheart season 2 will be developed. Despite early review-bombing, Ironheart has been very positively-received, which suggests that Marvel Studios may be open to continuing the series on the small-screen.

How Else Ironheart’s Cliffhanger Ending Could Be Resolved

Of course, Ironheart season 2 would present the perfect opportunity for all of the first season’s loose ends and cliffhangers to be addressed. However, there are other possible routes that Marvel Studios could take when continuing Riri Williams’ story. Most notably, Deadline recently reported that a Strange Academy series has been put on indefinite hold at Marvel. Reviving plans for this series could bring back Parker Robbins and Zelma Stanton, who has a major role in Marvel Comics’ Strange Academy stories, and could now feature Riri Williams given her magical enhancements.

There has been speculation that a Special Presentation focused on Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto is also in development, which could reveal more about the demonic villain’s history, his various other dealings in the MCU, and his current partnership with Ironheart. Dominique Thorne hasn’t yet been confirmed to be appearing in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, and her deal with the devil might make it hard to imagine her as an Avenger, but her appearance in the Russo brothers’ upcoming crossover movies would mark a fantastic evolution for Iron Man’s latest legacy hero.

Do you want to see Ironheart return for a second season? Let us know in the comments!

The post Is Ironheart Season 2 Already Confirmed? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been searching for a Big Bad to replace Thanos since the Mad Titan’s death in Avengers: Endgame. Kang got first crack at it, tormenting Loki and Ant-Man on his quest to dominate the multiverse. He’s no longer in the plans, though, with Doctor Doom set to take his place. Robert Downey Jr. will bring the villain to life in Avengers: Doomsday, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll be around for the long haul. Marvel Studios will have to go back to the drawing board sooner rather than later, but a new candidate just emerged in the unlikeliest of places.

Ironheart pits the titular hero against Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, a small-time criminal who wants to take from the rich. He gets ahead in life by using magic, which comes from a mysterious entity that offers to fulfill all his wishes. The strange man later explains that he’s Mephisto and offers Riri Williams a sweet deal. She’s hesitant to accept, but Mephisto explains that he has a Rolodex full of clients ready to vouch for him.

The Hood Has Trouble Getting in Contact With Mephisto in Ironheart

Robbins is on top of the world at the start of Ironheart. His crew is hitting all the major players in Chicago, shaking them down to get on the payroll and influence decisions. Robbins’ current tech specialist, Stewart, isn’t working out, though, so he recruits Riri, who needs money to upgrade her suit. She’s onboard at first, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that Robbins is brushing shoulders with evil forces. A quick trip to a magic store reveals that Riri’s boss is drawing his power from somewhere like the Dark Dimension, which doesn’t sound good.

Read Next

New MCU Character Immediately Makes Doctor Strange Look Weak

Meanwhile, after Cousin John’s death, Robbins starts to unravel. He doesn’t trust anyone and wants answers from the man behind the curtain. After demanding an audience, Mephisto appears and scolds his lackey for talking down to him. He also explains that Robbins isn’t his only client, with there being bigger fish to fry across the multiverse. Mephitso brings up his portfolio again to Riri while the two are talking at the pizza restaurant. He doesn’t name any names, but he mentions helping a lot of influential people, including CEOs. However, there’s also sure to be a former stuntman on his contact list who has a bone to pick with The Lord of Evil.

Ghost Rider Owes His Cure to Mephisto

Like Robbins, Johnny Blaze finds himself in a tough spot in Marvel Comics. His father figure, Crash, is staring death in the face, and he’s willing to do anything to save him. Mephisto smells the desperation and offers Blaze a deal to save Crash. Everything seems great until Crash dies while trying to pull off a stunt, leaving Blaze devastated. There isn’t much time to mourn, though, because Blaze soon learns that he has the Spirit of Vengeance within him, which turns him into the terrifying Ghost Rider. With his new abilities, Blaze sets his sights on Mephisto and makes life difficult for the ruler of Hell.

The story is a familiar one because Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider movies cover the story of Blaze’s transformation. They’re not part of the Sacred Timeline, of course, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at least has some connections to the universe, and it features a version of Blaze. He passes the Spirit of Vengeance to Robbie Reyes, who helps Phil Coulson and Co. fight their enemies. Neither version of Ghost Rider has appeared in the MCU proper, but it seems like the powers that be are about to right that wrong.

Mephisto is finally in the fold, and his comments about having other clients are nothing to scoff at. It’s entirely possible that he has already reached out to Blaze and has the performer working for him. If that’s the case, Riri would be smart to reach out to Ghost Rider, especially since Mephisto is bound to screw her over sooner rather than later.

Ironheart is streaming now on Disney+.

Were you surprised to see Mephisto in the final episode of Ironheart? Do you think his comments mean that Ghost Rider is already part of the MCU? Let us know in the comments below!

The post The MCU Just Dropped Its Biggest Ghost Rider Tease Yet appeared first on ComicBook.com.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ironheart episode 6, “The Past Is the Past.”] Marvel Studios came to bargain with Sacha Baron Cohen. The Oscar nominee made a surprise appearance in Tuesday’s Ironheart finale, which revealed that Cohen’s Mephisto made a deal with Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) to grant the low-level hood his greatest desires: power, respect, and to be “stupid, disgusting, greasy rich.” While Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) sought the source of the Hood’s magic cloak that made him an invisible, bullet-bending baddie, she learned the fabric originated in “one of the darkest dimensions known and probably unknown.”

Madeline Stanton (Cree Summer) — a family friend who trained in magic arts and sciences at Kamar-Taj in Nepal but left to raise her daughter, Zelma (Regan Aliyah) — advised Riri against meddling with the “bad magic” surrounding the Hood. Teen witchling-in-training Zelma speculated that the source of Hood’s power was the dread Dormammu, one of the most powerful dimensional beings in the universe who dwells in the Dark Dimension.

Read Next

The MCU Just Confirmed One of Its Biggest Castings After Years of Rumors

Zelma referenced the events of 2016’s Doctor Strange when she told Riri about the rogue sorcerer Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), a Dormammu zealot who drew power from the Dark Dimension, bringing him into conflict with Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). Like Parker, Kaecilius’ body was covered in magic scars, so Zelma was “a solid 50%” sure that Dormammu’s Dark magic gave the Hood his other-worldly powers.

But when Riri came face-to-face with the mystery man who supplied Parker with a cursed cloak, he scoffed at being mistaken for Dormammu. “I go by a lot of names. You can call me Mephisto,” the human-looking devil told Riri, his true red-skinned form only glimpsed in the reflection of a tea spoon.

While Strange bargained with Dormammu by trapping him in an endless time loop in order to get the Dread One to banish himself and his Zealots from Earth, Riri made her own deal with the devil when she accepted Mephisto’s offer to bring best friend Natalie (Lyric Ross) back to life. Ironheart ended with Riri under Mephisto’s corrupting influence, as evidenced by the magic scars on her arm, and Parker — in withdrawals without his hood — seeking help from Zelma.

In an interview with Variety, Ironheart executive producer Zoie Nagelhout revealed that the Mephisto twist wasn’t the “initial idea.” Instead, the Hood’s origin would be tied to Doctor Strange villain Dormmamu like his comic counterpart. It’s only in the sixth episode that the viewers learn Dormmamu was a misdirect and it was Mephisto pulling the strings.

“If you look to publishing, Parker’s power is drawn back to Dormammu, who is also a very epic character in the MCU and who would have been very exciting to play with,” she said. “But as we developed it, we realized Mephisto was a better thematic fit for what the show is about.”

“Diving into these scenes of ambition and cost and what you’re willing to give up for the things you want, he offered a sort of interesting and heightened way to tie together the characters’ journeys — and in particular, Riri’s — so it became almost like a no-brainer to have him,” Nagelhout continued of Mephisto, who, in the comics, has made deals with the likes of the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider; Doctor Doom’s mother, Cynthia von Doom; and the Spider-Man villain Norman Osborn, a.k.a. Green Goblin.

Cumberbatch pulled double duty by voicing the CGI cosmic conqueror and destroyer of worlds in Doctor Strange. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in the pages of Strange Tales, Dr. Strange’s arch-nemesis has, so far, appeared just the one time in the MCU. As for Mephisto, speculated to be the secret villain of WandaVision and Agatha All Along before finally debuting in Ironheart, there’s no word yet on when or where Cohen might next appear in the MCU. But you know what they say: Speak of the devil…

All six episodes of Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+.

Read Next

Ironheart Team Reveal How Quickly They Cast THAT Marvel Villain (And Where They Might Appear Next)

The post Marvel Cut a Returning MCU Villain From the Ironheart Finale appeared first on ComicBook.com.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ironheart episode 6, “The Past Is the Past.”] Speak of the devil and he doth appear. There has been much talk of Mephisto in the MCU, with the oft-rumored Marvel villain widely speculated to be the big bad behind Disney+ series WandaVision and Agatha All Along — which name-dropped the Lord of Lies — because of his history with witches Wanda Maximoff and Agatha Harkness in the comics. (Marvel’s Faustian supervillain bedeviled the Silver Surfer, tormented the Scarlet Witch, damned multiple Ghost Riders, put Spider-Man through hell, and made deals with everyone from Doctor Doom’s mother to pre-Green Goblin Norman Osborn.) But it wasn’t until Tuesday’s three-episode Ironheart season finale that Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen) finally appeared.

“The Past is the Past” saw Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) forge a magic-powered suit of armor to steal the demonic cloak that gave Parker Robbins, a.k.a. Hood (Anthony Ramos), powers like the ability to turn invisible and bend bullets to his will. Consulting the magical mother-daughter duo of Madeline Stanton (Cree Summer), a Kamar-Taj-trained Master of the Mystic Arts and her “witchling” Zelma (Regan Aliyah), Riri was warned she was dealing with “one of the most powerful beings in the universe.”

Read Next

The MCU Finally Reveals One Of The Most Powerful Villains Of All Time

Zelma suspected the source of the Hood’s dark magic was the entity called Dormammu — Cosmic Conqueror and Destroyer of Worlds who dwells in the Dark Dimension in the 2016 Doctor Strange movie — only to learn that Robbins bargained with Mephisto when he appeared before Riri in a pizza parlor. After fighting magic with magic — and doing so without the N.A.T.A.L.I.E. AI (a holographic manifestation of Riri’s dead best friend, Lyric Ross’ Nat) — Riri made a deal with the devil when she accepted Mephisto’s offer to bring Natalie back from the dead.

In a cliffhanger ending, we saw Nat and Ri reunited, with Riri’s arms covered in black veins — the same symptom of Mephisto’s corrupting influence over the Hood, who had become a black-eyed, fang-toothed demon by the time he battled Ironheart 2.0.

“I just absolutely love that we’re not meeting him in WandaVision or Agatha,” Ironheart executive producer Ryan Coogler told Variety about bringing Mephisto into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “You’re meeting him through this stressed-out, young Black genius. When you watch the show, it’s like, ‘Oh, that was how you always were gonna meet him.’ It wasn’t gonna be in Loki. That’s the trickster; that’s how he works. That’s where he’s gonna be: in a pizza shop in Chicago, like, where you would absolutely never expect him.”

Indeed, fans have been expecting Mephisto as far back as 2021, when WandaVision star Paul Bettany acknowledged fan theories that Mephisto was behind magically-made twins Billy and Tommy Maximoff (as he was in the comics). Bettany’s comments even sparked speculation that the actor cast as Mephisto might be Al Pacino, who played Satan in the 1997 film The Devil’s Advocate.

When Sasheer Zamata’s potions witch Jennifer Kale said the words “agent of Mephisto” in Agatha All Along, some took it as a sign that Mephisto would be waiting at the end of the Witches’ Road. (Aubrey Plaza’s “Green Witch,” a.k.a. Death, ended up being the twist character.) Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that, in the comics, Kale is a descendant of the 17th-Century Ghost Rider Noble Kale who — like daredevil Johnny Blaze — was empowered by Mephisto.

“I hope this doesn’t upset anyone, but Mephisto has never interested me,” WandaVision and Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer revealed last year, dispelling rumors that Mephisto was planned as the villain all along. “We have an early, early document that included him in a potential antagonist, but I don’t remember ever really taking that seriously.”

Schaeffer continued, “And also, within the MCU, logistically, it wasn’t right for our show. I will say, it was not my intention to toy with anyone with the Mephisto stuff… I think I just continue to underestimate the appetite for Mephisto among the fan base.”

It also came out last year that Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy, the co-writers of Deadpool & Wolverine, “flirted with” the idea of Mephisto as the main villain of the first R-rated Marvel Studios movie. The filmmakers “went through a lot of ‘almost’ versions of this story” before landing on Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova as the villain, Levy said. Concept art also revealed plans for a Nic Cage cameo from 2007’s Ghost Rider, where Easy Rider icon Peter Fonda portrayed Mephistopheles.

When word of Cohen’s casting in Ironheart leaked in 2022, rumors swirled that he was, in fact, playing Mephisto. The series spinning out of 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever wrapped filming later that year, but underwent a round of additional photography in 2024; the six-episode first season of Ironheart premiered in June 2025. Official copyright filings later leaked online and described the Borat actor’s character as “Mystery Man.”

Following Tuesday’s finale, Ironheart series creator and head writer Chinaka Hodge told Variety that tying Mephisto into the Hood’s origin story — rather than Dormammu, as is the case in the comics — was a “collaborative” process.

“I could tell the story about process, and you would know how benevolent Kevin Feige is,” Hodge said of the series executive producer and president of Marvel Studios. “But I will say that it was a collaborative effort, where we all landed on Mephisto together, but there was one of us in the room who led us there, and I’m eternally grateful for him leading us that direction.”

Executive producer Zoie Nagelhout revealed that Mephisto wasn’t the “initial idea,” and that Doctor Strange villain Dormmamu was originally considered to be behind the Hood’s rise to power.

“If you look to publishing, Parker’s power is drawn back to Dormammu, who is also a very epic character in the MCU and who would have been very exciting to play with,” she said. “But as we developed it, we realized Mephisto was a better thematic fit for what the show is about. Diving into these scenes of ambition and cost and what you’re willing to give up for the things you want, he offered a sort of interesting and heightened way to tie together the characters’ journeys — and in particular, Riri’s — so it became almost like a no-brainer to have him.”

Episode director Angela Barnes pitched Cohen as Mephisto and “we couldn’t unsee it,” Nagelhout added. “And we’re just so lucky he said, ‘Yes,’ because at that point, I don’t think we could’ve gotten out of our heads that he was Mephisto.”

All six episodes of Marvel’s Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+.

Read Next

Agatha Harkness’ History With Mephisto, Explained

The post The MCU Just Confirmed One of Its Biggest Castings After Years of Rumors appeared first on ComicBook.com.

WARNING: There are major spoilers ahead for Ironheart! The Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally introduced a villain fans have been expecting for a long time, and it still managed to surprise viewers with how and when he came onto the scene. Ironheart Episode 6, “The Past Is the Past,” called forth the demon Mephisto, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. In an interview with ComicBook, series creator Chinaka Hodge and director Angela Barnes explained why they chose Cohen for the role and how quickly he accepted. For once in Hollywood, everything went pretty smoothly here, and the results speak for themselves.

“In terms of casting, they were like ‘Who do you think that you would want for Mephisto?’ And the only name I could think of was Sacha Baron Cohen,” Barnes said simply. “Like there’s nobody else that I could think of that I thought would have the balance of both the comedy that you need in order to do it, but also being able to be scary if he needs to be scary, and that you know if you make a deal with him it’s serious.”

Thankfully, Cohen agreed readily, according to Barnes. “I think we got incredibly lucky, it moved really fast in terms of me saying ‘I think Sacha Baron Cohen would be great, if you can get him,’ and next thing you know, two days later they’re like ‘yeah, Sacha said yes,’” she recalled. Meanwhile, Hodge had her own take on why Cohen was perfect for this role — not just in this show, but perhaps in the MCU in general.

Read Next

Every MCU Tease Of Mephisto (& All The Fake-Outs)

“I will say that in publishing, Mephisto’s a shapeshifter,” she pointed out. “So I think we were looking for people who are great at lots of different characters and lots of different shapeshifting, because I think in another project he could present differently and still be that same cool character. So I would look out to see if he makes any appearances anywhere else.”

Mephisto is one of the most powerful villains in Marvel Comics, and perhaps even more importantly, one of the most entangled with the lives of its heroes. Fans have been anticipating his introduction into the MCU for years now, and many strong entry points have come and gone, dashing credible fan theories along the way. Predicting an appearance from Mephisto has become a bit of a joke in some fandom circles, but few were expecting to see him crop up in Ironheart.

Now that he’s been unleashed, there are a lot of plot threads Mephisto could pick up, especially as we head into the climactic finale of the Multiverse Saga. Ironheart is streaming now on Disney+, and next up for the MCU is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, hitting theaters on July 25th.

The post Ironheart Team Reveal How Quickly They Cast THAT Marvel Villain (And Where They Might Appear Next) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The intense finale of Marvel Television’s Ironheart finally brought a much-anticipated villain into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and teased an even bigger rivalry that could be explored in the future. Ironheart picked up after Dominique Thorne’s debut as Riri Williams in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, bringing her back to her hometown of Chicago, where she became embroiled in the criminal activities of Parker Robbins’ Hood (Anthony Ramos) and his crew. The Hood wasn’t the only antagonist introduced in Ironheart, however, as an even bigger foe also made his first MCU appearance. Be warned: MAJOR SPOILERS for Ironheart are ahead.

Throughout Ironheart’s early episodes, the debut of one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic and powerful supervillains was teased. Many references to hell, Satan, and the Devil, as well as Parker Robbins’ vivid hallucinations and the disembodied voices he hears, all point to one villain finally being brought into the MCU after years of Marvel Studios teasing us. However, now that he’s made his first physical appearance, it seems even Mephisto has anotherworldly enemy that could set up a major battle in the MCU’s future.

Ironheart Finally Debuted Mephisto in the MCU

Marvel Studios has teased Mephisto’s existence in the MCU for many years, and finally gave him a mention by name in 2024’s Agatha All Along. It was Ironheart that marked Sacha Baron Cohen’s debut as the demonic supervillain, however, with the series revealing it was Mephisto who provided Parker Robbins with his mysterious Hood, promising him the tools to make himself great – which Parker utlimately failed to do. After Parker failed him, Mephisto turned his attention to someone new, namely Riri Williams, and Ironheart ended with the pair striking a new deal.

This was a surprising turn of events for Riri Williams, who seems to have become something of an antihero-come-villain in the MCU. In exchange for the resurrection of Natalie (Lyric Ross), Williams’ formerly deceased best friend and basis for her suit’s artificial intelligence, Riri is now in Mephisto’s debt, which is already having a clear physical effect on her. It’s unclear exactly what Mephisto wants with Ironheart, but it’s not just the heroes of the MCU that the supervillain will oppose, as he also hilariously teased a long-standing rivalry with another iconic MCU villain.

Mephisto Teases an Epic MCU Rivalry With Dormammu

In Ironheart episode 5, “Karma’s a Glitch,” Riri Williams sits down with Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah) to better discuss the origins of Parker Robbins’ Hood and what power it might possess. Stanton, a budding sorcerer, reveals that the Hood was made with energy from Dormammu, the ruler of the Dark Dimension, who first appeared in the MCU in 2016’s Doctor Strange. This leads to a misunderstanding wherein Riri sits down with Mephisto in episode 6, “The Past Is the Past,” and mistakes him for Dormammu, spurring the former to burst out in laughter.

Read Next

Ironheart Has Me Convinced That (Most of) Marvel’s Disney+ Shows Should’ve Been Movies

“Dormammu? That ugly pillock isn’t fit to clean my glorious a******,” laughs Mephisto after Riri Williams names him “Mr. Dormammu man.” Before this hilarious comment, Dormammu was considered one of the most powerful and threatening antagonists in the MCU – the source of immense power harnessed by Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). Mephisto’s outburst seems to suggest that he and Dormammu have beef, which could lead to an epic fight between the two formidable supervillains.

Who Would Win in a Fight Between Mephisto & Dormammu?

Mephisto seems to think that he would easily best Dormammu during a fight between the two rulers of their respective dimensions. He suggests that Dormammu isn’t even fit to polish his shoes, so to speak, but since we don’t have a clear understanding of exactly what powers Mephisto harbors in the live-action MCU, it’s hard to say who would win in this battle. Both Mephisto and Dormammu are kings, the former ruling over Hell, and the latter ruling over the Dark Dimension, but, in Marvel Comics, it’s actually Dormammu who is considerably stronger.

Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) only defeated Dormammu in Doctor Strange by trapping him in a time loop and bargaining with him to take his zealots from the Earth. Strange knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to actually fight Dormammu, but perhaps this wouldn’t be the case for Mephisto. Mephisto is a powerful demonic lord, but Dormammu’s power is cosmic, capable of consuming entire dimensions, while Mephisto works to influence and manipulate individuals. Even so, it would be incredible to see these villains battle it out in live-action, and Ironheart might have created the perfect opportunity.

Who do you think would win in a battle between Mephisto and Dormammu? Let us know in the comments!

The post Ironheart Just Revealed One of the MCU’s Biggest Villain Rivalries appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel’s Ironheart has wrapped up its run, and the finale, Episode 6 “The Past Is the Past”, proved to be a major milestone moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As many fans theorized, Parker Robbins/The Hood (Anthony Ramos) turned out to have the supernatural backing of none other than Mephisto, one of the demon lords of the underworld. There’s been a multi-year rumor that Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen was joining the MCU in the role of Mephisto, and now (much to the delight of a lot of fans) that’s turned out to be the case. However, while Ironheart‘s finale made the most of Cohen’s physical presence and performance to depict a devil at work, there was one moment that gave ode to Mephisto true (and comic accurate) form. Did you catch it?

Ironheart Confirms A Comic-Accurate Look For MCU Mephisto

In the climatic battle of Ironheart, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) levels-up her armor design and infuses it with some dark magic in order to defeat The Hood. Riri strips Parker of his mystical hooded cloak and tries to leave his hideout. However, when Riri gets downstairs she finds herself in locked into a mystical meet-and-greet with Mephisto. The demon lord comes looking to recruit Riri as his human disciple and a replacement for Parker. While Mephisto stages the conversation as a nonchalant chat over pizza, there’s one moment that betrays the demonic figure’s true form.

If you looks closely, there’s one moment where Mephisto is stirring his coffee in that slow, hypnotic way Jordan Peele made famous in Get Out; Mephisto’s reflection appears in the spoon during its rotation, and we clearly see that his true form. It’s pretty comic-accurate: red skin, scraggly hair, yellow eyes and fangs. The brief glimpse is likely all we could get on a TV miniseries budget; however, one has to think that Cohen will go into the makeup chair for the necessary hours if/when it’s tie for Mephisto to make his presence felt on the big screen.

Where Will Mephisto Show Up Next in The MCU?

Right now there’s a lot of excited theorizing and speculation about why Marvel Studios revealed Mephisto in this way (the Ironheart miniseries) and where we could see him next. One unexpected-but-exciting place would seeing Mephisto pop up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The final events of No Way Home (Doctor Strange’s spell to erase knowledge of Peter Parker/Spider-Man from the MCU) were a play on the comic storyline “One More Day,” in which Peter Parkre and Mary Jane brokered a deal with Mephisto to bring back the late Aunt May in exchange for having all memory of their romance and marriage erased. Well, Brand New Day could offer Peter a slightly tweaked Faustian bargain to restore his Aunt’s life, and the memories of those close to him. That would be an exciting arc to see play out, especially if Riri Williams shows up with some cautionary guidance for Peter, and/or competitive concerns about Mephisto replacing her.

Read Next

7 Essential Ironheart Comics You Need to Read

The Wonder Man MCU miniseries is also on deck; that show will introduce Simon Williams/Wonder Man (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a hero whose story includes death and resurrection, as does the arc of his brother, Eric (Demetrius Grosse), who becomes the death-themed villain, Grim Reaper. There’s a lot of wiggle room for Marvel Studios to once again create actual franchise continuity by having Mephisto there to affect the path of Simon and/or Eric’s transformation.

Then there’s the larger question of whether or not Mephisto’s debut means much at all in the face of the impending universe-alterating events that are Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Secret Wars. It would be a major franchise misstep if this big twist in Ironheart doesn’t lead to something more substantial; in fact, we’d go so far as to say that Cohen (in true Mephisto form) should be the big bad who’s lurking in the shadows of the rebooted MCU that’s established at the end of Secret Wars.

Ironheart is now streaming on Disney+.

The post Ironheart Teased SPOILER’S True Form (Did You Catch It?) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The final episode of Marvel Television’s Ironheart brings to a close one of the most polarizing eras of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the franchise began. Ironheart released in two batches of three episodes on June 24 and July 1, 2025, respectively, bringing Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) back to the MCU and pitting her against Parker Robbin’s Hood (Anthony Ramos). Ironheart hit Disney+ as the final project in the MCU’s Phase 5, which has been one of the franchise’s most divisive chapters since 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The MCU’s Phase 5 has been an era of ups and downs for Marvel Studios, delivering some well-received projects such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Loki season 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, Agatha All Along, and, most recently, Thunderbolts*. However, Phase 5 also produced some lackluster and low-rated instalments, notably Quantumania, The Marvels, and Secret Invasion. Even so, part-way through Phase 5, there was a noticeable shift in the quality of Marvel’s projects, which spells good news for the MCU in years to come.

Following 2023’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Marvel Studios went through significant behind the scenes changes that altered the production of its TV shows, while also putting more focus on the quality of its theatrical releases. These alterations were clear in Agatha All Along, Thunderbolts*, Daredevil: Born Again, and more releases in the latter half of Phase 5, including Ironheart itself, which has achieved an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, despite early review bombing. The quality of these movies and shows was much-improved compared to the Phase’s earlier half, and it seems this will continue.

The MCU’s Phase 6 will be kicking off very soon with the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25, 2025. Beyond First Steps, Eyes of Wakanda, Wonder Man, Marvel Zombies, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the Russo brothers’ upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are all highly-anticipated and expected to excel. A second season of Daredevil: Born Again, the next WandaVision spinoff, Vision Quest, and a Special Presentation starring Jon Bernthal as the Punisher will all also flesh out Phase 6, setting up one of the MCU’s most exciting chapters yet.

It’s been great to see Marvel Studios adapt to criticism and evolve in recent years. In the wake of Avengers: Endgame and the Infinity Saga’s conclusion, Phases 4 and 5 produced some of the MCU’s most-hated and lowest-rated instalments, but this has been turned into a positive learning curve for the studio, rather than a reputation-destroyer. Ironheart marked a strong end to the MCU’s Phase 5, so, now, our eyes can turn to the much-anticipated projects of Phase 6 and the mutant-centric storylines beyond that.

What did you think of the MCU’s Phase 5? Let us know in the comments!

The post The Marvel Cinematic Universe Just Ended a Divisive Era After Two Years appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The final batch of Ironheart episodes dropped on Tuesday night, which means the show’s critical reception is taking its final form. As of Wednesday morning, the show is certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a score of 86%. The aggregator has gathered 90 reviews of the season from trusted critics, and 70 of them are considered positive overall. That’s still far ahead of the user-submitted Popcornmeter score, which is 53% positive at the time of this writing — though many still assume this was the result of disingenuous review-bombing. Overall, Ironheart seems to have found plenty of fans, and to have pleased fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe overall, even if it didn’t have anything too surprising in store.

Ironheart‘s Rotten Tomatoes score has jumped considerably in its second week, from 70% to 86%. The critical consensus has improved as well — last week, critics felt hat the show was fun and intriguing, but awkward in a few places, and even a bit scattered at times. Now that all six episodes are out, fans and critics can look at the whole picture and give a more informed review. The second-week reviews highlight Dominique Thorne’s performance in particular, and praise the show overall for being a fun addition to the MCU in spite of its familiar presence.

Digging a bit deeper, Ironheart has likely suffered a bit from the general declining interest in MCU series and “franchise fatigue.” The show was ordered and filmed back in 2022, and since then, Marvel Studios has changed its tune on producing many titles per year, balancing series and movies much more evenly. Fans and critics have suggested that Ironheart would have worked just as well as a movie, which might have helped it get more attention from a wider audience.

Read Next

Ironheart’s New MCU Armor Is A Major Upgrade, And It Keeps Her Unique

The show’s delay likely also hurt interest and expectations in its impact on the MCU’s broader story arc. Fans hoping for surprise Easter eggs relating to the New Avengers or the Fantastic Four were likely disappointed, while others may have skipped the show because they weren’t anticipating any tie-ins. Those fans may yet tune in when they hear about the major character introduced in the series finale, and that could belatedly impact the show’s overall scores.

Overall, Ironheart has definitely fared better than some other MCU shows, and it doesn’t seem to have dampened enthusiasm for Riri Williams in the MCU. The series is streaming now on Disney+.

The post Ironheart’s Rotten Tomato Score Makes It One of Marvel’s Best (but Fans Don’t Agree) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel’s Ironheart might have flown somewhat under the radar compared to the MCU’s bigger shows, but its second half packed in major new character reveals and a genuinely world-changing twist. 3 years after it was filmed, the 6 episode event was released in two sections, with the first focusing on character development for Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams as she fell to a life of crime. The second dialed things up impressively, with ties to Iron Man, the supernatural side of Marvel, and Doctor Strange. And episode 4 quietly introduced two characters who could reshape the way we think about magic in the MCU. Naturally, SPOILERS for Ironheart follow. 

Riri’s mothers’ friend Madeline and her daughter Zelma Stanton appear in that episode not just as new faces, but as surprisingly powerful sorcerers. And one of their magical abilities subtly throws shade on even the sometimes Sorcerer Supreme himself, Doctor Strange. When Riri asks for help to take down Anthony Ramos’ Hood, her mother takes her to see her friend Madeline, who, it turns out, once trained at Kamar-Taj. Though she left before finishing her studies – opting to raise her daughter instead because “Kamar-Taj is no place for a child” – she retained some of her magical talent. More importantly, she passed much of that knowledge on to Zelma, who is now something of a magical autodidact, through a mix of her mother’s teachings, deep reading, and even TikTok witchcraft tutorials.

What’s most striking is how quickly the show establishes Zelma’s raw power without really focusing on it. As she opts to help Riri, Zelma effortlessly transports all four characters to a parallel realm known as “the Western Cortex Of Neverish” – a deep pull from Marvel Comics lore. And she does it all without a sling ring, explaining it as a “transportation spell.” And with a couple of hand gestures, Zelma subtly shifts the magical hierarchy in the MCU.

Read Next

Ironheart’s Cliffhanger Ending Repeats The Same Mistake That Sunk The MCU’s Worst Show

Doctor Strange’s Power Just Got Undermined in a Big Way

In the early days of the MCU, Doctor Strange’s slow, painful climb to magical competency was a major plot point. His training at Kamar-Taj, his struggle to master spells, and his eventual rise to the top of the magical hierarchy felt earned: he paid for it in blood and sacrifice and personal growth. But now, it’s hard not to feel like that entire arc was just slightly undermined by how easily Zelma Stanton performs high-level magic without formal training or the typically necessary equipment.

Zelma not only accesses a parallel dimension with ease (akin to Strange and the Ancient One’s access of the Mirror Dimension), she does it without a sling ring – something Strange and every other sorcerer-in-training needed to learn early on. This detail isn’t just cosmetic: sling rings are treated as essential magical tools throughout Doctor Strange and Multiverse of Madness, and Mordo explains in the first movie that they’re designed to take the strain sorcerers cannot. In fact, their absence creates a barrier to movement or survival, and it’s an established rule that the Mirror Dimension cannot typically be escaped without one. 

Read Next

The MCU Finally Reveals One Of The Most Powerful Villains Of All Time

There’s inconsistency in how Strange’s powers are presented, admittedly, but Multiverse of Madness’ entire plot centers around how atypical America Chavez is thanks to her ability to travel the multiverse. That Zelma bypasses the need for a sling ring, having learned at least some of her magic from TikTok suggests either a radical new understanding of how magic works – or a narrative inconsistency that makes Strange’s laborious origin look embarrassingly overcomplicated.

Zelma Stanton Could Be the Key to Strange Academy

Fans of Marvel Comics will recognize Zelma Stanton as more than just a magical prodigy. On the page, she starts as a skeptical librarian who gradually becomes Doctor Strange’s assistant and confidant. Her deepening connection to the magical world eventually leads her to a key role in Marvel Comics’ Strange Academy, Marvel’s answer to Hogwarts, where young sorcerers are trained under the guidance of some of the universe’s most powerful mystics. That property has been rumored to be in consideration for an MCU adaptation too, and was put on ice some time ago.

With her debut in Ironheart, and her importance in Ironheart’s mid-credits scene, Zelma could now be involved in a Strange Academy spinoff. And she’d be a good prospect for an expanded role: she’s not just powerful, she’s relatable, charming, and funny. It’s still early days, but the seeds are there. And even if there’s no Strange Academy, Parker Robbins’ reappearance in the final moments of Ironheart at the Stantons’ store suggests we’ll be seeing more of her. As long as Marvel delivers on the tease, that is.

All 6 episodes of Ironheart are available to stream on Disney+ now.

The post New MCU Character Immediately Makes Doctor Strange Look Weak appeared first on ComicBook.com.