Marvel's Delay Of Iron Man's MCU Replacement Suddenly Feels A Lot Weirder

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for What If…? Season 3Ironheart’s multiple delays have just become even weirder for the MCU at the end of 2024. Originally debuting in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ahead of her solo series, Riri Williams’ Ironheart (Dominique Thorne) is a young and gifted engineer who creates her very own suit of armor, inspired by Tony Stark’s Iron Man. However, the delays of said solo series have created some brand-new strangeness for the MCU.

In 2022’s Wakanda Forever, Riri becomes the center of a major conflict between Wakanda and Namor’s underwater city of Talokan after she creates a device capable of detecting vibranium. Helping the Wakandans who protected her from Namor, Riri built an impressive suit of armor using Wakandan technology based on her original prototype suit, though she was unable to take it with her back to MIT at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While Wakanda Forever set up Riri’s upcoming show Ironheart, the show’s delays have made her role in a more recent MCU project pretty odd.

Ironheart Was Originally Supposed To Come Out In 2023

There Have Been Multiple Delays

Originally, Ironheart was announced with a planned release date in the Fall of 2023. This would have put it just one year ahead of Wakanda Forever, which makes sense given its status as a direct spin-off from the events of the movie. However, Marvel Studios then removed the project from the 2023 slate in favor of a 2024 release, only to then move it once more to its current slot of June of 2025.

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These multiple delays for Ironheart were due to a variety of factors, primarily Marvel Studios and Disney reevaluating their content output, desiring a stronger focus on quality over quantity. As such, it was explained by Marvel Studios’ Head of Television Brad Winderbaum that they wanted more time to work on the series to make sure it was the best project it could be. That said, the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes also played their part in the delays.

What If Season 3 Brings Back Riri Williams

The Last Hero On A Broken World

Despite Ironheart’s delays, Riri Williams still played a role in 2024’s animated What If…? Season 3. Voiced by Thorne, Riri had a starring role in “What If…The Emergence Destroyed The Earth?”, revealing an alternate reality where the world was broken apart by the Celestial Tiamut and Riri became one of the last heroes standing in the face of Mysterio who came to rule the planet’s remnants. By the end of What If…? Season 3, episode 5, Riri merges herself with White Vision’s body, becoming an incredibly powerful half-human, half-synthezoid hybrid to save the world and give hope to the world’s struggling survivors with Mysterio’s defeat.

What If…? Season 3, episode 5 is one of the better stories in What If…? Season 3, and Riri’s story is quite impressive. However, it’s admittedly pretty odd to see a variant in the MCU becoming so powerful before the original character has barely been featured in her own story beyond a single debut appearance. As such, the episode feels pretty indicative that Ironheart was originally meant to premiere well before this third and final season What If…?.

Marvel’s Twists On Ironheart & The Hood Feel Weird Thanks To Ironheart’s Delay

You Can Tell Ironheart Was Meant To Release First

Despite being set in alternate realities, it’s very weird to see Riri Williams becoming far more powerful than she will likely ever be in her debut MCU series, before said series is even released. Releasing after is clearly what was originally intended on Marvel Studios’ part, and it would have made more sense. The same goes for the following episode which subverts The Hood’s identity in What If…? Season 3, episode 6. Rather than the crime lord Parker Robbins who will be played by Anthony Ramos in 2025’s Ironheart, Robbins is killed off-screen and the new Hood is revealed to be Shang-Chi’s sister Xu Xialing.

Additionally, The Hood’s power to phase/teleport and the corruptive supernatural nature of the hood itself have now debuted in What If…?, rather than in Ironheart as they should have. While it’s not the most egregious or most confusing thing Marvel Studios has ever done, it certainly does make both shows weirder. Likewise, it arguably does a disservice to Ironheart, a show that hasn’t even been released…but What If…? has already riffed on.

All episodes of What If…? Season 3 are now streaming on Disney+. Ironheart is set to premiere on June 24th, 2025.

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Set after Dominique Thorne’s MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios’ Ironheart series follows Riri Williams as she follows in Iron Man’s steps as a high-tech superhero and crosses paths with Anthony Ramos’ Parker Robbins a.k.a. The Hood, a magic user with ties to the dark arts. The six-episode Disney+ series is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 5.
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What If… ? is an animated anthology series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which features fan-favorite characters, including Peggy Carter, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor, and more. The new series, directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley as head writer, features signature MCU action with a curious twist. The show sees Uatu the Watcher, an omnipotent being that observes the events of multiple universes from afar as they unfold, unable to interfere. However, things shift when an entity peers beyond the veil, jeopardizing the multiverse.