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Comic Book / Ironheart

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Riri Williams —also known by her codename Ironheart— is a Marvel Comics character created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato, first appearing in Invincible Iron Man #7 (dated March 2016).

Born shortly after the death of her father, Riri Williams grew up in Chicago with her mother and sister, soon discovering a pretty surprising truth about herself: a genius intellect with special aptitude for engineering. By the age of fifteen, Riri was already attending M.I.T. on a free scholarship offered to her because of it.

It was during this time that Riri reverse-engineer the Iron Man Mark 41 suit in her dorm room, using (stolen) materials from the M.I.T. campus. After testing out her suit's capabilities a few times, Riri had her first taste of crimefighting by stopping a truck carrying a group of prison escapees in New Mexico, which came at the cost of her suit's armor integrity.

While rebuilding her suit from the ground up, Tony Stark learned of her accomplishment, fully endorsing her potential as a hero by offering to take her under his wing.

Comic Books
  • Invincible Iron Man vol. 2 (2016)
  • Invincible Iron Man vol. 3 (2016)

Video Games

Ironheart provides examples of the following tropes:

  • Affirmative Action Legacy: She's an African-American girl who ends up replacing Tony Stark in Invincible Iron Man, albeit with a different codename.
  • Dead Guy Junior: Riri is named for her late father, who died shortly before her birth.
  • Determinator: Tony recognizing this quality in her is part of the reason he offers to take her in.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Was able to reverse engineer one of Tony's old Iron Man armors to make her own suit.
  • Generation Xerox: While not related to Tony, she shows many of the traits associated with him. It's part of the reason he decided to take her under his wing.
  • Good Parents: After learning of her incredible intellect, her mother and stepfather made a deliberate effort to raise her as altruistically as possible, fearing any social disconnect that woul make her a Mad Scientist. She's fully aware of why they're doing it but has accepted it.
  • Legacy Character: Subverted. She's more of a diminutive character branching off from an established one with a similar name (example: Batman and Batwoman, Batgirl, etc.), but she's effectively one of these.
  • Shout-Out: Riri's armor has some design elements that are reminiscent of Optimus Prime.
  • Spirit Advisor: A Virtual Ghost of Tony Stark (who is currently in a coma) serves as onboard AI and mentor of her next armor model.

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