Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Ironheart

  • ‘Good Girls’ Star Manny Montana Joins ‘Ironheart’ as Series Regular

    ‘Good Girls’ Star Manny Montana Joins ‘Ironheart’ as Series Regular

    The cast of Marvel Studios’ Ironheart continues to expand as Good Girls star Manny Montana boards the series. Montana’s role is being kept under wraps but the actor is slated to be a series regular in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series.

    Two of the characters rumored to appear in the series are crime boss The Hood and Iron Man baddie Obadiah Stane’s heir, Zeke Stane. Montana could very well be playing either of the two or someone unexpected. In addition to those rumored characters, one of the production’s casting calls hints at a “mystical role” to be played by a transgender actress. Whatever the role ends up being, Ironheart still continues to be a series shrouded in intense secrecy.

    Source: Deadline

  • Connecting Imaginary Dots: ‘Glow’ Actress Shakira Barrera and ‘Ironheart’

    Connecting Imaginary Dots: ‘Glow’ Actress Shakira Barrera and ‘Ironheart’

    As the calendar rolls over into Summer, production on another round of Marvel Studios projects will shortly be underway. Among those projects is the Disney Plus streaming series Ironheart, which was first announced by Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, during 2020’s Disney Investor Day presentation. Dominique Thorne will lead the project as Riri Williams, a genius inventor who will make her MCU debut this November in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

    Aside from Thorne, however, little news about the cast of Ironheart has made its way outside of Marvel Studios despite production set to kick off in June. In the Heights star Anthony Ramos has joined the series in an unannounced role, as have Harper Anthony and Lyric Ross. Rumors have circulated that Ramos might by portraying the villain of the project, Parker Robbins, better known in the comics as the Hood, and it’s known that Marvel Studios was looking to cast the son or daughter of Jeff Bridges‘ Obidiah Stane, the villain of 2008’s Iron Man. But as is almost always the case, Marvel Studios has stayed mum on any official announcements about the cast.

    And while fans debate if Ramos is the Hood and wonder who will be cast as “Ezekiel Stane” (while Obidiah had a son in the comics, the studio is open to casting a woman in the comedic role), there is certainty around the creatives behind the project. Marvel Studios brought in Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes to helm the project as co-directors, with Chinaka Hodge, Sev Ohanian, Zoie Nagelhout and Zinzi Coogler working as the team of executive producers. As it turns out, one actress who recently revealed she is prepping for a secret role happens to follow nearly the entire creative team on Instagram.

    GLOW and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress Shakira Barrera has recently connected with Bailey, Barnes, Hodge, Nagelhout and Ohanian (we were unable to find Zinzi Coogler on IG) and, just 6 days ago, posted the video seen below to her IG story.

    https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cd67M2NpVX5/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

    In the video, she thanks her fitness coach for helping her prepare for an “amazing role” that the actress can’t share, but promises will be “worth it.” Given the mounting evidence, it’s reasonable to suggest that Barrera could have joined Ironheart in yet another unannounced role. And while it might not be announced, the comics might provide a reasonable suggestion as to whom she might be playing, should we begin by entertaining that Ramos is playing Parker Robbins.

    Part of what makes Robbins such a fascinating and despicable villain in the comics is that his descent into villainy and dark magic cost him his family: his wife, Sara, and their daughter, Breanne. Robbins was always a poor husband, cheating on Sara whenever he could, but when he began trifling with magic, Robbins began to see Dormammu in everyone, including his daughter. After finding Parker shaking their daughter, Sara left Parker behind.

    Should Ramos be playing Robbins, casting Sara alongside him would go a long way for making fans of the MCU develop the same dislike for this version as they have for the character from the comics. The logistics work out, with Barrera currently prepping for a secret role (and no roles are more secretive than Marvel’s) and she and Ramos are very close in age (he’s 30 and she’s 32).

    Should you take this one to the bank? Absolutely not. While it seems pretty safe to conclude that Barrera has been cast in Ironheart, who she’s playing can only be taken as purely speculative, given that it’s based on a connections to a character who is only rumored to appear in the series in the first place. So while her casting might be confirmed sooner rather than later, it might be a year or so before we find out who she’s portraying in the series. As always, we’ll check back in then.

  • RUMOR: ‘Ironheart’ May Have Already Started Filming in Chicago

    RUMOR: ‘Ironheart’ May Have Already Started Filming in Chicago

    While all eyes have been on the recent Disney+ production of Marvel Studios, Echo, to start production, it seems that the upcoming Ironheart series has also already gotten things rolling. It must be noted, that this is seemingly not the actual production start but rather B roll and plate shots. Second units tend to prepare production and film elements ahead of the actual production, which is what is being referenced by @filming_chicago, but it does further add that Ironheart will start production in June.

    Riri Williams, played by Dominique Thorne, will make her MCU debut in the upcoming Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever. It’s unclear how her story will lead into her own Disney+ spinoff series, but visiting one of the most advanced nations in the world will definitely leave an impact on anyone. We don’t know if she’ll even have her Ironheart armor when we first see her, or if it is something she develops throughout her Disney+ seres. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler is also heavily involved with the series. So, we’ll see if she might have some familiar faces from her travels to Wakanda drop by in the Disney+ series as well.

    Either way, it’s great to get an update that they may have already started work for the production. It’s unclear if Chicago will also get used as a backdrop as she was a student of MIT. So, we’ll see how they potentially tie it together or simply use it as a backdrop for another location, which isn’t uncommon for most movies nowadays.

    Source: Twitter

  • Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes to Direct ‘Ironheart’

    Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes to Direct ‘Ironheart’

    It looks like Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series Ironheart has finally found its directing team, as Deadline has just reported that Brown Girl‘s Sam Bailey and One Day at a Time’s Angela Barnes. They also confirm a recent reveal by Anthony Ramos that the series is being produced under the banner of Ryan Coogler‘s Proximity, who are joining in a producing role.

    Marvel Studios has been expanding its approach to producing its films, such as also opening up to external production labels joining in. We’ve just recently learned that Deadpool will also be a co-production, a first for the studio outside of Sony-owned productions It’s also fitting that Coogler is involved with the project, as part of his overall deal with Disney. Plus, he is introducing the character of Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

    Sam Bailey made her name in the industry as the co-creator of the Emmy-nominated Brown Girls and also for her work on You’re So Talented. She also directed the final season of Netflix’s Dear White People. Angela Barnes has most notably made her name in television with projects like Mythic Quest, Blindspotting, and even worked on the fourth season of Atlanta. So, they’ve really got some talented directors to bring the series to life.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Ironheart’ Adds Young Actor Harper Anthony to Cast

    ‘Ironheart’ Adds Young Actor Harper Anthony to Cast

    As production on Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Ironheart draws near, the cast continues to grow. Hollywood newcomer Harper Anthony, a 9-year old who has appeared in Vulture City and Chicago Med, has signed on for an undisclosed role in the show.

    Ironheart will carry on the story of Riri Williams, a genius inventor who creates the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man. Williams will be introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where one of her inventions ultimately brings Wakanda into conflict with a hidden civilization led by Namor. Chinaka Hodge will serve as head writer on the series, which is set to be produced by Hodge, Sev Ohania and Zinzi Coogler.

    Anthony joins star Dominique Thorne and Anthony Ramos in the upcoming series. Thorne’s character is said to be inspired by the late Tony Stark to become an adventurer, crime fighter and humanitarian.

    Source: The Wrap

  • Recent ‘Ironheart’ Casting Call May Lend Credibility to Villain Rumors

    Recent ‘Ironheart’ Casting Call May Lend Credibility to Villain Rumors

    A recent casting call from POC Culture shed light on a new, supporting character to be featured in the as-yet-undated Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Ironheart. The report indicated that the production is searching for a Black, Latina or Afro-Latina transgender woman between the ages of 18 and 22 to portray a character described as “smart” and “confident” with a “unique sense of humor.”

    As the news made the rounds, one additional bit of information seemed to slip through the cracks just a bit and it’s information that might lend credibility to some previous rumors about the villain of the series. In early January, The Illuminerdi reported that a casting call for Ironheart might indicate that Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, could be villain of the project. That idea has been met with a heavy dose of skepticism by fans because it seems incongruous to have a mystically-enhanced villain going up against a tech-based hero. However, the recent casting call for the transgender woman included an additional description of the character that actually supports the idea of The Hood.

    POC Culture’s report included among the descriptors of the character that she also had a “mystical bent.” While this is EXTREMELY vague, it does indicate that Ironheart will include at least some sort of mystical elements. And while this in no way confirms the presence of a character so steeped in mysticism as The Hood, it does raise some interesting points for discussion, not the least of which being that by putting a magic user up against Riri’s powerful tech, Marvel Studios would be going against LONG-established pillars of their stories in which the power sets of the villains match the heroes. By pitting someone like The Hood against Ironheart, Marvel Studios would give Riri a chance to truly flex her genius muscle and separate herself from her armored predecessor. So while this is by no means some sort of confirmation of The Hood, it is interesting food for thought and something to follow over the next couple of months.

  • ‘Ironheart’ To Feature the MCU’s First Transgender Woman

    ‘Ironheart’ To Feature the MCU’s First Transgender Woman

    Marvel Studios Ironheart is set to go into production in just a few weeks and as the cast begins to fill out, a new report indicates that the streaming series will include a groundbreaking MCU character. According to a new report from POC Culture, Ironheart will introduce the MCU’s first transgender woman.

    The report details a casting call for a Black, Latina or Afro-Latina transgender woman, 18-22, who is “unapologetically nerdy” with a “mystical bent” and a “unique sense of humor.” Ironheart will star Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a genius and inventor whose technology plays a key role in the conflict between Wakanda and Tlalocon. The series will also star Anthony Ramos in an unknown role and an unknown actor/actress as the child of Iron Man villain Obadiah Stane (the studio was open to a female for the role as well).

    Updating…

    Source: POC Culture

  • ‘Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler Also Working on Disney+’s ‘Ironheart’

    ‘Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler Also Working on Disney+’s ‘Ironheart’

    There are quite a few Disney+ series on our horizon, and among them is the newcomer Ironheart. It surprised many that the young hero was going to get her own series. During the Disney’s Investors Day in 2019, Dominique Thorne was already cast in the role and we would later found out we’ll meet her for the first time in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. So, it immediately built up a curious connection between the franchises, but it turns out there is one more connection.

    During the Oscars, ExtraTV got a chance to interview Anthony Ramos, who just recently was announced as a new addition to the upcoming series with a potential larger role moving forward in the MCU. While talking about his upcoming Disney+ premiere, he also revealed that Ryan Coogler, the director of the Black Panther films, is involved with the project.

    Yeah that’s what we hope for. I feel blessed. It’s an amazing project. Incredible people, Chinaka Hodge and Ryan Coogler, and just like a dope squad, Dominique Thorne and I feel blessed and grateful.

    Anthony Ramos

    It’s quite a curious reveal. While he is busy working on the upcoming Wakanda-focused Disney+ series as part of his new deal with the studio. Well, it looks like that he’s also adding his talent to the project to keep it consistent going from her first introduction into her solo adventure. We don’t know how she might play into that film, and how it might inspire her to also build her own Iron Man armor..

    Source: Extra TV via The Direct

  • Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2023 Release Calendar, V3

    Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2023 Release Calendar, V3

    The future slate of Marvel Studios is more fluid now than it’s ever been. With the industry STILL being impacted by COVID to some degree, a backlog of projects that could be shuffled in and out of any date at any time, and the interesting lack of a 2022 press preview kit from Disney, fans are left frivolously hypothesize, predict and speculate when to expect their most anticipated MCU projects. And we’re here to help you with your favorite addiction. This isn’t our first attempt to pin down 2023’s projects; you can check out V1 here and V2 here to compare notes.

    As much as everybody wants to see the Samuel L. Jackson/Nicky Fury-led Secret Invasion, the 2022 schedule seems to be complete without it. While we still don’t know very much about the plot of either Secret Invasion or The Marvels, it does seem like the two could share some sort of narrative bridge that would be well-served by them debuting relatively close to one another.

    By the time The Marvels hits theaters, it will have been in the can for nearly a year and a half. That’s part of the backlog of projects created by the pandemic, which really changed the well-established production paradigm that Marvel Studios had followed for well over a decade. That means a lot of time to breathe for the characters in between appearances which creates a lot of anticipation…and you know Marvel Studios likes that.

    After a little bit of a delay to the start of its production, Echo looks like it’ll be up and running in Georgia in April of 2022 and permits have been filed around Atlanta for the month of May. Given the “grounded” nature of Maya and the types of characters being cast in supporting roles, it doesn’t sound like this one is going to be a VFX showcase, so it should be ready to stream on Disney Plus in March of 2023. Of course, the question on fans’ minds is how much will Daredevil and Kingpin be involved and how might this series dovetail into the Daredevil solo project in development at Marvel Studios. Here’s to hoping Maya remains the focus of this series as there’s plenty of room for Daredevil to explore on his own.

    At some point in the first half of 2023, Ahsoka, a highly-anticipated, live-action Star Wars streaming series, will hit Disney Plus. We now know that Disney Plus is not opposed to streaming live-action Star Wars and Marvel Studios’ projects simultaneously, but if Ahsoka rolls out sometime in early May, X-Men ’97, which is on track for a 2023 release, could stream concurrently with that and fill the Marvel Studios streaming void until June, leaving some live-action stuff for later in the year.

    James Gunn’s third Guardians’ film might well be his last Marvel Studios’ project. By the time this comes out, it’ll have been over a decade since Gunn started work on Guardians of the Galaxy and as we’ve seen through his recent work on The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, he’s really on top of his game. This one sounds like it’ll be something really special and emotional, with Gunn saying goodbye not only to Marvel but to some characters he’s really grown to love.

    With the production of Season 2 of Loki on track to begin in June of 2022, it should be ready to roll out in June of 2023. While it isn’t clear whether or not Secret Invasion provides a direct runway to the events of The Marvels, it seems VERY clear that Loki Season 2 and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania share a narrative canvas and that the former can easily hand off a storyline to the latter.

    2023 could end up being the Summer of Kang. Jonathan Majors thrilled audiences with a tease of what to expect when the character returns, and it looks like when he does it’ll be a much heavier dose. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will feature some version(s) of the character fresh off of what’s expected to be a major role in Season 2 of Loki. Of course, Kang’s not the only villain fans can look forward to, as M.O.D.O.K. is also reportedly making his live-action debut, played by Corey Stoll. Should the schedule fall this way, it would represent a great example of the type of synergy Marvel Studios can pull off thanks to a parent company that has its own streaming service and total control over the release schedule.

    While a lot of fans are expecting this to be tied into Armor Wars, all the early evidence suggests it is essentially a follow-up to Riri Williams adventures in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. That’s not to say that Riri might not show up in Armor Wars or that the events of Ironheart might not lead into the Don Cheadle-led streamer, in fact it would make a lot of sense if she did, but Riri will be busy enough on her own following her huge role in Wakanda Forever.

    When V2 of the 2023 Hypothetical Calendar was published, Agatha: House of Harkness had only just been revealed by the trades a few days before and the official Disney Plus Day announcement was about a week away. Now, it really does look like it could make the 2023 release slate given the tentative October 2022 start of production. It seems like the perfect Spooky Season release for Marvel Studios, so slotting it here seems a no-brainer.

    After a couple of production delays, Blade is looking at a Fall 2022 start of principal photography, which makes it the best candidate for the currently unfilled November 3, 2023 release date, especially with production on Captain America 4 officially delayed until 2023. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that it’ll come out right around Halloween and feature a vampire hunter, and it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see this date slide back a week earlier where nothing major is currently scheduled for any studio.

    Armor Wars, like Agatha: House of Harkness, is on track for a late-2022 start of production. While a 2023 debut is by no means set in stone for Armor Wars, there is a nice end-of-the-year window for it, should it be completed and ready to stream. We know very little about the project, but Kevin Feige seems to enjoy playing with the idea of having some streaming series thematically tied to the seasons in which they are released, so maybe, like Hawkeye, Armor Wars could be set during the holidays. After all, is there any better present than Stilt-Man?

  • ‘Ironheart’ Actress Dominique Thorne Wraps Filming On ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

    ‘Ironheart’ Actress Dominique Thorne Wraps Filming On ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

    The highly anticipated sequel to Black Panther will be bringing familiar faces back, but is also set to introduce new characters. One such character, Riri Williams, has a role in the film ahead of her solo series Ironheart. Now, the actress behind the character, Dominique Thorne has revealed that she recently finished production on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever via an Instagram story. Check it out below:

    Instagram

    The actress was spotted on set back in August, where it looked like she was playing a college student at MIT. While Riri Williams’ true role in the Black Panther sequel has yet to be officially revealed, it is almost a given that it will in some way lead into her Disney+ series where she takes on the titular mantle of Ironheart. 

    First officially announced at Disney’s 2020 Investor’s Day presentation, the live-action show will follow the life of a genius, teenage MIT student Riri Williams as she invents her own high-tech suit of armor and follows in Tony Stark’s footsteps. While a release date for the series is unknown, we do know that Anthony Ramos, frequent Lin-Manuel Miranda collaborator and star of both In the Heights and Hamilton, has joined the cast of Ironheart in an undisclosed role. While fans wait for the series, they can look forward to Riri’s introduction in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is scheduled to release on Nov. 11, 2022.

    Source: Instagram via The Direct