Even though Riri Williams is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s quasi-replacement for Iron Man, she never actually met with the founding Avenger. The only major superhero that Riri has a personal relationship with is the current Black Panther, Shuri. However, specific Avengers are still on the minds of the characters in Ironheart. Riri has high aspirations as a genius who lacks certain societal advantages unlike Iron Man and Ant-Man, yet she declares her desire to be bigger than Hank Pym and Tony Stark. Thor also gets a nod, but for a “different” reason since Riri’s friend Natalie is apparently attracted to him.
And of course, Riri’s time in Wakanda is mentioned in the series opener; Riri labels her Black Panther: Wakanda Forever session as an “internship”, similar to Peter Parker's clandestine work for Mr. Stark in Spider-Man: Homecoming. She utilizes Shuri’s AI programming from those movies and follows in Tony’s iron footsteps by continuing to operate the super suits with advanced technological applications. In a later chapter, Riri explains that she got herself into her detrimental situation and can’t simply call Black Panther to bail her out.
Almost everyone seen in Ironheart is a fresh face for the MCU, save for the professor from MIT, played by Community star Jim Rash. The professor interacted with Tony Stark during the Avenger’s visit to the campus in Captain America: Civil War. Riri even confirms that she was a recipient of some of that Stark Fellowship grant money that Tony generously awarded to all MIT students early on in that movie.
After Riri crash lands in Chicago, neighborhood residents call out to her with different monikers, such as Iron Girl. This can be compared to Kamala Khan earning the nickname Night Light before coming up with Ms. Marvel, in her titular show. In contrast, Sam Wilson is incorrectly identified as “Black Falcon” in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – unlike Riri and Kamala, his superhero name was already established as Falcon.
Even though prevailing franchise characters are not prevalent in Ironheart, pointed lines are drawn to important MCU individuals. It is revealed that Alden Ehrenheich’s mystery "Joe" persona is actually Zeke Stane – son of Obadiah Stane. Obadiah was the first villain of the franchise, played by Jeff Bridges, in Iron Man. This gives Ironheart an even more special attachment with the MCU launching vehicle, with both the hero’s successor and the adversary’s offspring facing off in the latest series.
Zeke explains that he must personally accompany Riri to his secret vault because it opens with his retinal scan. He even jokes that he doesn’t want to detach his eye. This is a vicious reminder of Loki’s more villainous behavior. Back in the original Avengers epic, the God of Mischief resorted to disfiguring an agent’s eye to gain access to a lab that stored an element which could stabilize the Tesseract.
In Zeke’s scenes, it is exposed that his father was reportedly killed in a plane crash. Not only was the true story of his defeat and death after dueling Iron Man covered up, his villainous turn to Iron Monger is also not likely to be public knowledge. It is surprising to have details clarified about events that took place in the 17-year-old movie. That is not even the first time something like this has happened this year – the fate of Leader from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk was finally capitalized on in Captain America: Brave New World.
Aside from the Stane family drama, more mystical connections are explored in the back half of the show, due to Riri choosing to fight fire with fire, or in this case, magic with magic. Zelma Stanton’s witchcraft and potion concocting will certainly remind viewers of Agatha All Along, but the most direct link in the Stanton household is to Doctor Strange.
Zelma’s mother was a sorceress-in-training at Kamar-Taj. And Zelma suspects that the Hood’s puppet master is Dormammu, the frightening Dark Dimension overlord from the visually striking Doctor Strange feature. If that were the case, she compares the Hood to Kaecilius; the primary antagonist from that narrative.
When Riri asks Zelma what Dormammu’s grand plan would be in this situation, she wonders if he wants to eat the planet. This is a fun reference to Galactus, the world consuming cosmic entity that will soon make his MCU debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In the Ironheart finale, the one pulling the strings turns out to be Mephisto, not Dormammu.
The show also incorporates some less substantial MCU tie-ins. Riri’s friend Xavier makes a Star Wars reference before she reminds him that they are fans of Star Trek. But another young MCU hero famously cites Star Wars – Spider-Man. In Captain America: Civil War, he borrows the idea of wrapping up Giant-Man’s legs from The Empire Strikes Back and then builds a Death Star Lego set with Ned in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Natalie also happens to make a Death Star related joke when questioning what Hood’s ultimate goals are with his heists.
With Ironheart being the unofficial Iron Man substitute, there are several callbacks to the Iron Man movies. The automatic burger flipper at White Castle resembles the hydraulic arms in Tony’s shop in the first Iron Man. A bad guy getting smuggled out of prison happens in both Iron Man 2 and Ironheart. And Riri’s anxiety attacks, specifically when recalling her best friend's murder, parallel Tony’s PTSD in Iron Man 3, brought on by the destruction in The Avengers. Even Stark’s holographic memory projection from Captain America: Civil War is borrowed in the mini-series.
The shocking ending suggests that Riri Williams has much more story to be told in the MCU. And all three villains are still out in the world with a wide variety of plans between the trio. The biggest hint of what is to come stems from the Hood’s post-credit stinger, reaching out to Zelma for “supreme-like” help. This suggests he may cross paths with one of the Sorcerer Supremes, Wong or Doctor Strange.