The character Riri Williams made her comic book debut in 2016; she adopted the name “Ironheart” in 2017 and appeared in her first solo book a year later. Dominique Thorne made her debut as Riri Williams in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Alongside Thorne and Ramos, Ironheart’s cast includes Lyric Ross, Regan Aliyah, Anji White, Cree Summer, Matthew Elam, Alden Ehrenreich, Harper Anthony, Manny Montana and Shea Couleé.

One theme in Ironheart is grief, and Thorne talked about how it affects her character.

“[She’s] being forced to confront the truth of her internal life and to answer some of the questions that really only come up when we take the time to go back home,” Thorne told Deadline. “Riri is realizing that it’s only by answering those questions that she’s going to ever be able to get what she actually wants, which is to be who she knows she can be.”

The first three episodes of the six-episode miniseries are streaming now on Disney+.

“It’s about taking what was already established and making sure that we saw all of her as a three-dimensional character,” said Barnes. “ All facets of not just her, but all the other people that are in the show — we have a lot of Black and brown people here.”