Iron Heart, The Temptation of Greatness.(Spoilers!!!)

Now, Iron Heart as a show has had a lot going against it from it's very conception, keeping the obvious racism related things aside, the biggest of these things is the fact that she is essentially a Legacy Character for the Legacy of Iron Man.

And those are some big shoes to fill not just because Iron Man is played in the MCU brilliantly by Robert Downey Jr., not just because Iron Man died saving the entirety of the MCU, but because for those who forgot, Iron Man is what started the MCU in 2008 almost 18 years ago... Guys the MCU is almost old enough to Vote...

Damn, makes me feel old.

Regardless, like all the things standing against Iron Heart the Show, there seems to be a lot going against Iron Heart the Character.

For one, we learn through flashbacks in the very beginning that she lost her best friend sometime ago, and besides, after having to leave the first Iron Heart suit in Wakanda after her time in Wakanda, she has been trying once again to make her own Iron Man like suit, and in order to do that, her research grant is not enough so she gives out pre-made papers and other pet projects, to her co students in exchange for her money, so that they can succeed on the basis of her Genius.

But even after going so far, due to her receiving repeated disciplinary action taken against her and her causing a massive failure in her latest project, which costed MIT dearly, she has been expelled from the institute.

Regardless of all of that, she tries her best to salvage what she can to make the best of her situation, by quietly stealing her armor and flying away, technically not stealing though, because she paid for this armor herself.

Unfortunately for both us and Riri, the AI attached to her Armor is TRVOR, who is the property of MIT, and so needs her student ID in order to activate.

He is also depicted as a small pencil on the side of her HUD, which seems to be inspired by the annoying advice Paperclip that earlier versions of Windows XP had that was supposed to be a helpful guide through using this operating system.

Now if you have been following this whole time then you would realize that in order to run the suit she needs the AI, and in order to access the AI she needs her student ID because it is technically a property of MIT, but she just got expelled.

So it is only to be expected that her Student ID will soon be revoked, and it is, just as she makes her way back to her home, causing her armor to fall apart and her to plummet to the Ground.

Now, I would like to mention here that Riri's armor seems to be based very closely on her previous armor as well as the Iron Man 3's Mark 42 Armor.

At least going by the suit up process that is.

But thankfully it is not as painful either because Riri's version has since improved on the suit up process or because Riri lacks the part that made it super painful for Tony to put on the Mark 42 Armor.

OOFFF, That must have been painful on a level I don't even want to imagine.

And somehow during a later suit up, the face is what bothers Tony... Sure...

Speaking of Iron Man 3, I would also like to bring up the fact here that many online (including perhaps me) believe that as opposed to Riri, the Kid from Iron Man 3, called Harley would have been a better successor to Tony Stark's Legacy than Riri could ever hope to be.

And there is also the fact that we now in canon have a "Rescue" armor that Tony made specifically for Pepper as an Anniversary gift for her in the five years after the first snap.

But I would Imagine as the CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper would have her own troubles preventing her from doing any Superheroing, not to mention being a single mom to a very young kid who also was once thought to be a successor to the Iron Man Mantle, but then again, she is quite young in the current timeline, and I seriously doubt her mother would let her go anywhere near a suit after it took her Husband just when they were beginning to finally settle down.

Come to think of it, that's probably another reason pepper isn't doing any "Rescuing".

But regardless, coming back to the topic at hand, Riri, like Stark has a Darker side to her, a side that is more than simply Teenage rebellion, because let me remind you, she is very much a teen in this show, not just in her actions, but in her actual canonical age which is 19.

She got into college at MIT at the age of fifteen.

But speaking of this Darker side, this side makes her compare herself to Tony, and lament the fact that she personally does not have a billion dollars, now granted the Mark 1 Iron Man suit was built in a cave...

Thank you Obidiah, And Speaking of Obidiah Stane, there is something interesting in this show in relation to him, and we will get back to it don't you worry.

But the thing is, while the first Suit was built in a Cave..

The subsequent suits, even the Mark 2, required substantial work from Tony and obviously his substantial resources, and of course his mind.

Now that Riri's current Suit is on the Level of the Mark 42 I think you can put two and two together.

But I do know everyone online is going to gang up on Riri for daring to utter this line, not realizing that the Character is meant to be somewhat selfish and arrogant, Like Tony...

Regardless, another thing that people are sure to question is how did she amass enough money simply selling to students at MIT enough to build an entire Iron Man suit, and to that I will say, she is at MIT, and a less powerful version of this suit was built in a Cave...

God I love that photo(this is the last time I'll put it in though I promise.)

And So Riri is left with a half broken Iron suit and not College Grant and a dream which she needs to fund, and in order to do that, her Darker side makes her turn to crime and the Hood.

And this is where the main Themes of this show start to kick in where it starts to explore how the need and pursuit to be great while should be a right for everyone with a brilliant mind, it can very easily lead to one justifying some very Dark Choices especially if one were to believe themselves to be underprivileged in comparison to a similar genius in some way.

And the thing About Greatness is, once you have a taste you simply want more, and this is how most people, including Riri are lured into a life of crime, justifying their actions by telling themselves that this isn't that bad, and it will lead to something good, so the ends justify the means... right?

Well if the ending of Episode 3 is anything to go by, then this Dark path almost always leads to a very Dark conclusion even if a later conclusion might lead to something good.

But let's back up a bit, why does Riri want to build this suit so bad anyways?

Well, she says that this suit will help first responders and law enforcers and will "change the world"

Well remember how she lost her best friend?

Well she lost her step Dad that same day as well, and all of this, because of a Drive by shooting.

So she believes, if she can be the best at building these Iron Suits, then she will be able to stop such things from occurring, and somewhat retro actively therefore "correcting" a past mistake, because she very much blames herself for what happens, as people often do.

Well she does "correct" this mistake, but not in the way that she wanted, she tries to recreate an AI from Wakanda called Griot, but because she falls asleep in the process and was previously retraumatized by a mix tape that a childhood friend gave it to here where he included the last voice mail he received from his sister, who also happens to be Riri's best friend, Natalie... so the AI she creates... is Natalie...

And then for the rest of the episodes she is Riri's guiding voice.

Riri is initially uncomfortable with this, because obviously She is, but her mother Ronnie, when she finds out in spite of Riri's numerous attempts to the contrary, is completely fine with it and is having a hearty conversation with this AI recreation of her dead "almost-daughter" when Riri walks in and finds out.

Now, this is a slight change from the comics where Riri takes on the Iron man Mantle post Iron Man's "death" (because he came back, it's the comics guys, come on.) and is trained by an AI recreation of Tony Stark after she already worked with him for a bit while he was still Alive.

However an AI representation of her best friend Natalie known as Neuro Autonomous Technical Assistant and Laboratory Intelligence Entity or N.A.T.A.L.I.E. which is definitely a Backronym(an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words, either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful explanation of a word's origin) if I ever heard one.

But Regardless, this AI exists in the comics, it just serves a slightly different function in the show, I guess mostly to deal with Contractual issues when it comes to bringing back Tony Stark.

But that does not mean that this show has no connections to the ol'Iron Dude.

Remember Obadiah Stane?

Yes That one.

Remember how in Iron Man one he tragically died in a plane crash?

Wait whaaattt?

That was a Cover Story?

Oh and he was the villain Iron Monger?

Whaaatt???

Oh well, too bad he is dead and never coming back.

But Riri does want parts to fix her Suit, I mean she gets the Money from the Hood, but that's not enough, you don't just get parts Anywhere you know.

It's not like Any random Joe can get them.

The only person with these Parts is Joe McGillicuddy.

The Son of Obadiah Stane.

WTF?

Ah yes, the wayward son of the Original Villain from the very first movie is back baby, and I mean we should have had a hint of it when he said that stealing Weapons made him closer to his Dad, but hey we all have our Quirks now don't we.

And it seems he is at least in the moment here to warn Riri against being so dead-set on building a suit that she is ready to bypass any rules, because that is what his Dad did, and look what happened.

And look what happens with Riri.

She and Natalie do not trust The Hood, and so want to steal a piece of the actual Hood itself so that they can analyze it, too bad they chose to do it while inside a Facility of Greenhouses that has a security system of suffocating those inside, this is triggered when anything foreign gets inside.

So Riri isn't allowed her suit, she chooses to go there with a Bionic enhancement from Ezekiel(which if you have played the Iron Man 3 game or read the comics must get you very excited.) and gets a Laser inside to cut off a piece of the Hood, but this combined with the fact that the rest of the crew decided to burn the Green Houses, the security systems are triggered.

The Hood Holds his breath to go invisible and his cousin John finds out Riri's deception, and without her Armor, she is vulnerable.

Well thankfully for her, the defenses are on so John will probably die before he kills her...

Problem is, so will she...

And the rest of the crew, they are all saved by Parker though, these two however, they are off to a part he cannot reach...

And so it is up to the Armor piloted by Natalie to save them, but why would she save a person who isa trying to kill her best friend?

You see even if she did, he is just gonna rat her out to Parker.

He is a loose end, and we don't like Loose ends around here...

Damn, that went dark pretty quick...

Now let's be clear, we have seen Marvel Heroes kill before, even Iron Man for that matter, but in some sense many of them deserved it, or were a nameless army with a Hivemind like the Chitauri, but here...

John is someone we got to know, he is the one who initially helped Riri with her money troubles, he recruits her, he cares for his Cousin Parker, and while yes, he was about to kill Riri... Riri could still in some sense have tried to save and negotiate with him...

Maybe wouldn't have worked but...

She left him to die...

Loose ends gone though... or is it....?

Now while over all I liked this show so far, it does take some time to build up, which is why I like the choice of dropping it three at a time, and while the main characters like Natalie, Parker, John and Riri are great, the rest, like the crew for example, aren't.

Except for maybe Slug who is played by a real life Drag Queen and therefore They have all the amazingness and swagger of one.

Now while this character looks and is nothing like the comic book Slug, there is a theory online( I got this from New Rockstars) that this Slug could actually be the character Darkveil, a mutant and Drag queen who pulls their powers from the Dark Dimension, and ykw? I am here for it if that happens, I mean they are bringing more and more mutants into the MCU, anyone remember Namor?

Who coincidentally also appeared in Wakanda Forever where Riri first appeared?

But apart from this one character, no other member of the Gang caught my eye, and I get that, that is kind of the point, these are all inexperienced kids who don't know any better, the kind who would easily get tricked by someone like the Hood, the kind who would dance around in money....

And randomly put on Parker's hood, without his permission...

The point is, Parker isn't doing this just for the Cash, that is just an incentive to lure his unsuspecting crew in, unaware of the fact that the moment they become a loose end, they will be killed, just like Rampage was....

Parker has something Darker going on underneath all of this, Parker made a deal with something sinister, something Darker.... one might almost say, he made a deal with the devil...

The targets he chooses are very specific, and it is clear that there is some personal vendetta there...

You see Parker Robins in the comics is a lowlife criminal who gains his powers from the hood which is powered by the Dark Dimension, ruled by non other than...

Now, it seems in this version, given where the story is going, things will be different and it will not be Dormammu, but will actually be the Devil that Parker made a deal with...

None other than Mephisto....

Yes guys we are back at it again....

But maybe this time us Wandavision fans will be Vindicated because they did name drop him in the Sequel series to Wandavision, Agatha All Along, and they won't do that for nothing right?

I mean this show is all about Magic vs Technology, and that is what Iron Man has dealt with the Longest, you know with the Mandarine, who got his power from these magical ten rings made by the Macluans

Well, we'll see when we'll see I guess....