Ironheart's New Wakanda Forever Origin Story Might Change Her Future Armor's AI
Warning: Contains spoilers for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
While we might have been introduced to Riri Williams, aka Ironheart (Dominique Thorne) in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," much like Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in "Captain America: Civil War," it wasn't her origin story, but a portion of it. In the latest "Black Panther" sequel, Williams is the same young super genius as in the comics, but her live-action iteration finds a very different mentor than the one in the source material.
So far, Shuri (Letitia Wright) has played an enormous part in constructing the Ironheart suit, letting Williams work in Wakanda to create it. Doing so establishes a strong bond forged between these two geniuses, so much so that Riri doesn't object to Shuri keeping the armor behind the walls of Wakanda and away from neighboring countries. Naturally, this puts Riri back on the workbench to set up a new model for her solo adventures in the upcoming "Ironheart" Disney+ show. Besides establishing what the future holds for Williams' TV outing, it also sets the blueprint for "Ironheart" to be uploaded with a core element fans of the comics will have been thinking about ever since Riri was confirmed to join the MCU — her AI.
Ironheart had Tony Stark as an AI in the comics
In the comics, Riri's origin story is similar to many who answer the hero's call after her stepfather and best friend are killed in a drive-by shooting. Her inventing and tech know-how to build a suit catch the eye of Tony Stark, who takes the young genius under his wing, only for another Civil War to break out and the billionaire philanthropist to end up in a coma. In a somewhat E.D.I.T.H.-like approach (Even Dead I'm The Hero), Stark provides Riri with an AI model of himself to help Riri in her adventures while he's out of commission as part of a contingency plan.
Of course, given that the two never met in the MCU and that Tony is, as far as we're led to believe, well and truly dead, the chances of Riri chewing the technological fat with the founding father of the MCU seem pretty slim. Thankfully, given current events, Shuri could be stepping in to take his place as a part-time teacher to the young metal-bound day-saver. If that's the case, a notable AI is heard repeatedly in "Wakanda Forever," which might end up making its way out of the Black Panther's kingdom and into Riri's garage.
Trevor Noah's Griot could get uploaded to Ironheart
Just like Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) provided Peter Parker (Tom Holland) with an AI for "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (voiced by Jennifer Connelly), Shuri could be just as generous with any future developments Riri makes in "Ironheart." In the comics, Tony being uploaded ally helped her develop as a hero, so it'd be good to have someone else for her to talk to besides speaking to herself. If that's the case, what are the odds that Griot could get shipped over to help our young hero on her new adventures?
Voiced both in "Black Panther" and "Wakanda Forever" by the host of "The Daily Show," Trevor Noah is the often yelled-at artificial intelligence, Griot who is there through a lot of the trials and tribulations for the remaining Panther tribe family and its allies. Factoring this in, it would be nice for Shuri to send Griot over to Riri to help keep an eye on her in the future. Let's be honest; as much as we'd love to see a jaw-dropping appearance from another holographic Tony Stark like in "Avengers: Endgame," it's not going to happen. Well, maybe not until "Secret Wars," right? Right?!