Invincible Iron Man: Riri Meets World

As Riri Williams grows into her role as Ironheart, we’ll see her meeting up with many of the heroes—and villains—of the Marvel Universe. She recently teamed up with Pepper Potts, and in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #5 on March 22, we’ll see her bumping into none other than the Merc with a Mouth—Deadpool!

What other heroes and villains would we like to see Riri encounter? A few exciting examples…

Nadia Pym/The Wasp
We’d love to see Riri meet up with Nadia Pym. While we don’t see Riri officially joining G.I.R.L., these two girl geniuses—and budding super heroes—would probably have a lot to learn from each other. Combine Nadia’s cheerful outlook with Riri’s can-do attitude and these two would be pretty unstoppable—see what we did there?

Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel
At this point in her story, we see Riri beginning to grow into her role as a super hero; not an easy thing to do, when you’ve also got to balance family and life as a teenager. Kamala definitely knows a thing or two about this, and would probably have some valuable advice for the intrepid Ironheart. And given her recent enthusiasm for helping young heroes fight for what’s right—a sentiment that contributed to the formation of the newest incarnation of the Champions—Ms. Khan would likely feel more than willing to give Riri a helping hand.

Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel
The line between right and wrong isn’t always completely clear, a lesson Riri will need to learn as she navigates the choppy waters of super-heroism. Given the recent events of Civil War II, Carol could give our hero a glimpse into some of the difficult ethical terrain she’ll have to traverse. And what’s more, despite the challenges she has faced recently, Cap has excellent leadership skills, and could pass on what she has learned on that front.

Medusa
We wouldn’t exactly describe Riri as a social butterfly. She had one close friend, who met her end in a tragic shooting. And her intelligence has always made her feel a little like an outsider. Of course, Medusa understands that feeling. As queen of the Inhumans, Medusa lives in the human world, but remains set apart from it. Yet she continues to try and approach conflicts with empathy and understanding as much as possible—even the trickiest situations, like the current battle between the Inhumans and the mutants. Medusa could serve as an example of someone who tries to become the best version of herself and taken the high road.

Steve Rogers/Captain America
Okay, so with all the crazy Hydra stuff going on, Cap’s in a bit of a weird place right now. Still, pretty much everyone sees him as a legend. The ultimate hero. Riri would probably consider meeting him, and fighting by his side, one of those landmark experiences. It would mean she had arrived as a super hero. And we want Riri to have that moment.

Loki
Like Tony Stark, Riri has the strength of the Iron Man suit at her disposal, but she also relies on her smarts when fighting baddies. Loki stands out as one of the cleverest villains out there—but he has a different kind of IQ. He knows how to read people and manipulate them. We’d like to see Ironheart’s sheer brain power go up against the God of Mischief’s quick mind. Plus, this would give us the opportunity for a Jane Foster cameo!

Red Skull
Many of the villains in the Marvel Universe have at least a couple redeeming qualities. We can relate to them on a certain level, and even empathize. Not so with Red Skull. For the most part, we see this guy as pretty much pure evil—basically, the classic super villain. For that reason, we’d definitely enjoy watching Riri kick his butt.

M.O.D.O.K.
Granted, this guy has been taking a bit of a break from the super villain business these days. But we’d really enjoy a comeback from him, just so he could go head to giant head with Riri. Like Ironheart, M.O.D.O.K. has used science to his benefit—except what benefits him usually doesn’t end well for anyone else. During his days at A.I.M., the villain became basically the quintessential evil scientist. We’d find it pretty interesting to see Riri face off with a bad guy who uses science in this way, since she conversely strives to employ it for the greater good.

Crimson Dynamo
We’ve seen quite a few versions of the Crimson Dynamo over the years, and multiple people have carried the mantle. Some of them have even switched sides and teamed up with Tony Stark. But essentially, we see the Crimson Dynamo as the “bizzaro” Iron Man. He often has lots of new tech to try out against our hero. So what better villain for Riri to test out her powers on?

Whitney Frost/Madame Masque
Masque and Tony have a complicated history, to say the least. They even had a bit of a romance at one point. So we wouldn’t be surprised to find some of Whitney’s entanglements with Stark spilling over into Riri’s new gig. We feel pretty certain Ironheart would handle conflicts with Madam Masque differently than Tony did. She’d drop the drama and just kick butt.

Find out who Riri will be teaming with next in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #5 on March 22!