Marvel’s “Ironheart” Casts Lyric Ross In Key Role

While the Iron Man franchise might be on ice for the time being, following Robert Downey Jr. retiring from the role after more than a decade playing everyone’s favorite billionaire playboy philanthropist, but that doesn’t mean the ancillary characters are going away anytime soon. Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan has been a consistent presence in the MCU, while Don Cheadle is set to headline Armor Wars, but the most surprising addition has been Ironheart, a new series for Disney+.

Dominique Thorne will star as Riri Williams, who, in the comics, is a genius teenage inventor who idolizes Tony stark and actually builds her own version of the Iron Man suit from within her dorm room at MIT.

And while there hasn’t been much reported movement on the project, with its scheduled production kicking off this coming June in Atlanta, news is starting to come out and it was just announced that Lyric Ross (This Is Us) has joined the cast. She will be taking on the role of Williams’ best friend and roommate. How large her role will be remains undisclosed, but from the description it seems to be similar to the Ned/Peter relationship from the Spider-Man films.

The specific story is still under wraps, though, but much like the aforementioned Armor Wars, the film is expected to examine the Legacy of Iron Man/Tony Stark as the world continues to try and fill the void left behind by the hero.

Anthony Ramos was also previously announced to have a part in Ironheart, with him rumored to be the villain of the project, though that rumor is mere speculation at this point. With the Disney+ series kicking off filming on the MCU series this summer, it’s likely that it could be debuting around the same time next year. Chinaka Hodge (Snowpiercer) serves as head writer on.