Dominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos Talk ‘Ironheart’ and Robert Downey Jr.’s Support

Riri Williams and Parker Robbins are suiting up.

Marvel Television’s Ironheart premieres June 24 on Disney+, reintroducing Dominique Thorne’s bright, scrappy young inventor Riri Williams. The series follows Riri as she leaves her prestigious studies at MIT to return to her hometown of Chicago, where she falls in with the charming but dangerous Parker (Anthony Ramos), aka the Hood.

Ahead of Ironheart’s debut, Marvel.com sat down with Thorne and Ramos for a peek behind the scenes. Here, the two actors open up about the show’s Chicago roots and the support they’ve received from another major Marvel star.

MARVEL.COM: Dominique, you made your debut as Riri in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. What felt different about returning to her world with Ironheart?

DOMINIQUE THORNE: So much. I think the city of Chicago definitely helps to make Riri feel a bit more comfortable, which works for and against her a bit in the series. She probably has her guard down a bit more than she did when she was dealing with the folks in Wakanda or Talokan. But I think going back home causes her to have to confront a lot about her past and the things that have made her who she is, things that maybe she just wasn’t giving as much attention to before she was forced to go home.

MARVEL.COM: Anthony, tell me a little bit about the first time you tried on the hood. What was your reaction, seeing yourself in the mirror?  

ANTHONY RAMOS: I remember the exact moment. It was incredible. I always wanted to be a Super Hero, and I never thought I would play a villain — which is even better, honestly. I remember when I put it on, the feeling of it changed my whole vibe, my whole demeanor. I was like, “Oh.” It felt amazing. The prototype I tried on, it was just like a cloth. Then I put on the real thing, and it felt expensive. [Laughs]

MARVEL.COM: Parker’s tattoos and scars also shift throughout the show. Was that CGI, or did they apply those tattoos in real life?

RAMOS: No, they put those tattoos on me every day. There were levels one through seven, so depending on what you could see and what episode we were [filming], that was how long it would take. If I was doing level seven, it was four hours, and it could take 30 minutes to do level one.

But every tattoo, we thought about it. I wanted his heritage to be a part of it: His mom grew up in Humboldt Park, which is a very Puerto Rican neighborhood. We wanted this backstory about his family having ties to the Young Lords, which was a revolutionary group of Puerto Ricans. They’re basically like the Black Panthers for Puerto Rican people, especially in Chicago. So, it was just wanting that to be a big part of his heritage and his tattoos.

And as those scars increased on his body, it’s like that metaphor for life: We like to cover our scars up with other things. For him, it was his tattoos, his clothes, and his persona. The more the scars increased, the more he had that need for power.

MARVEL.COM: I know Robert Downey Jr. has been showing his love for Ironheart, and he recently crashed your Good Morning America interview to praise the show. What was your reaction to hearing that from Tony Stark himself?

THORNE: Oh man, it’s so sweet. He’s so genuine.

RAMOS: He’s been so gracious in talking to us and hitting us up. He’s been really supportive and excited. And he’s the GOAT. That’s Mr. Marvel right there! So it’s nice to get the stamp [of approval] from him.

MARVEL.COM: On the surface, Riri and Tony have a lot in common, but they also come from very different backgrounds, and Riri is very clear that she wants to build her own legacy. Dominique, why was it important to you to tell this story where Riri learns to stand on her own?

THORNE: Well, I think there is absolutely nothing left for anyone to offer the MCU that Tony Stark didn’t already accomplish himself. His impact is so clear, and it’s having an effect to this day. I don’t think there was ever a world where Riri or anyone could infringe upon that.

To your point, by nature of them being different people with different backgrounds, it just creates a different set of needs or obligations. The driving force behind these things that they’re each fighting for are coming from a different place. Even if in the end, it brings the impact together.

MARVEL.COM: There’s an incredible fight scene in the back half of the series, which takes place at a White Castle. I understand the crew built a fake White Castle from the ground up on set in Atlanta?

THORNE: Yes! It was on the Atlanta news for the longest time!

RAMOS: It was there for a while, that White Castle! People would come in thinking it was a White Castle, and [the crew] were like, “Yo, this is not real.”  

THORNE: They were there for the Riri meal!

Marvel Television’s Ironheart launches with a 3-episode premiere June 24 at 6 p.m. PT/ 9 p.m. ET, only on Disney+.