Ironheart Just Joined An Elite Group of MCU Heroes (& You Totally Missed It)

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Episode 5 of Riri Williams’ debut solo series opened with her being attacked by the Hood’s gang at a White Castle, including Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich), who destroyed Riri’s Ironheart suit. After seeking help from her mother (Anji White) and the NATALIE artificial intelligence (Lyric Ross), Riri builds a new suit from the car she had worked on with her step-father. A montage spotlights her and her friends building the suit while Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah) prepares her magic, and this montage ends with Riri staring straight down the camera lens, breaking the fourth wall.

In the MCU’s history, only a handful of characters have shown the capability of breaking the fourth wall, and Riri Williams just joined this exclusive group. The most prevalent fourth wall-breaking heroes are Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany). It’s unclear why these two heroes are able to break the fourth wall, but perhaps is something to do with their superpowers, as neither speak to the audience prior to receiving their gifts. This could mean that Ironheart is hinting at Riri Williams gaining some superpowers of her own, perhaps thanks to her deal with Mephisto.

A number of other characters in the MCU have also made sure we know they’re aware of the camera, even though they have seldom actually spoken to the audience. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pizza Poppa (Bruce Campbell) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in Loki season 1, and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) in Agatha All Along have all stared straight into our souls. Riri Williams is just the latest, and we hope this gets more exploration in the MCU’s future.

Dominique Thorne hasn’t yet been confirmed to be returning as Riri Williams, but several teases in Ironheart’s series finale hint at future stories involving the armored hero. Her new deal with Mephisto may see her become a villain, perhaps fighting the MCU’s upcoming Young Avengers team, while Zelma Stanton, Parker Robbins, Natalie Washington, Ezekiel Stane, and Mephisto all deserve more attention, too. Whether future appearances see her breaking the fourth wall or not is another question, but a possible Ironheart season 2 could address this mystery.

What do you make of Riri Williams’ fourth wall break in Ironheart? Let us know in the comments!