Ironheart – Is It Still Good?

Release Year

2025

I still consider myself a Marvel fan, so this first (and maybe last?) viewing of Ironheart happened soon after the show came out. I used to be so excited for new Marvel offerings, but after some of their last offerings I was worried this one would be a chore. I was unfortunately correct, as even 6 episodes felt like a drag. The first episode started off silly in a bad way, and at no point did this show successfully manage comedy, drama, excitement or anything else that it aimed for.

Story

The basic story is that Riri is a genius who wants to build a super suit to protect her family, and struggles to stay on the straight and narrow to achieve her goal. The show does a pretty bad job of selling how smart Riri is, or even what her main goals are.

Spoilers

This show is all over the place. Half the time Riri is a genius, but whenever it is convenient she doesn't know how to make her technology work. Also, the entire premise of using her suit on criminal jobs makes it absurdly obvious that she's responsible. She never, ever questions whether she will get arrested for being an obvious participant in these heists. It's also not super clear that she learned a whole lot from this experience, so what are we doing here?

Characters / Acting / Dialogue

The advantage of a TV show is you can really flesh out the characters and get more invested in their triumphs and failures. Unfortunately, the people who made this show don't seem to understand the idea of character at all. The characters are all at best one dimensional, and it does not feel like the actors bother to have any sort of perspective. The criminal gang, in particular, could have the lines of any one character swapped for another without it making a difference.

Spoilers

The main character comes across as more annoying than anything in this show, as she is not given a chance to show her worth from start to finish. Her romantic interest throws a fit and abandons her at a time of need, which seems pretty unbelievable. Riri's criminal friends are happily willing to murder her on the drop of a dime, without really thinking about it. This show uses every side character as a plot development piece, instead of a person worth getting to know.

Drama / Fun

I spent most of the time complaining while watching this show, but that is its own sort of fun. There were good visuals, and there were tons of scenes that were so badly written that they were kind of fun in that way.

Audio / Visual / Other

The budget was clearly high for this show, and it only pays off here – the sound, visuals, and action scenes were all fine.

My Score

IMDB Score

4.4

RT Critics

RT Audience