Yet, Riri isn’t afforded the same charisma, playfulness, or charm that Stark possesses, which strengthen and balance the audience’s investment in a more three-dimensional character. It’s hard to root for a character who shows no signs of remorse for abusing her skills to “lie, cheat, and manipulate” people, as Zeke Stane (Alden Ehrenreich) says, for her own personal gain.
Even by the end of Iron Man, Stark has a significant redemption arc as he toes the line between good and evil and finally takes a definitive stance as a force for good, imploding his own billion-dollar business in the process. While Riri is billed as a wannabe superhero without billion-dollar backing, she consistently acts only for her own self-interest with little to no signs of hero material, even in the brief CGI battles.
There’s a constant element of comparison that isn’t as prevalent in other comparable passing-of-the-torch Marvel series such as Hawkeye or Ms. Marvel, to the extent that Stark becomes a looming presence and notable absence to the series that leaves the audience waiting for his arrival – which never comes.
If the focus had been on Riri’s journey out of the self-destructive elements of her grief, to finding more passion, joy and purpose through her revolutionary suit, she would have made more of an impact in her own right.
In the comics, Riri has a similar backstory to the miniseries as before she reverse engineers her own spin on Stark’s iron amor. Once the prototype is up and running, she takes flight testing her suits capabilities and stops any criminals that cross her path. Riri becomes a hero in her own right and catches the attention of Stark to team up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
In Ironheart, Riri loses all sense of curiosity in her abilities and the impact they could have, alongside the empathy and heroism she demonstrates in Wakanda Forever. Even in the MCU’s heavier series such as WandaVision, there are moments of light relief and self-reflection to break through the red-rage-hex that Wanda has produced in her grief.
