Riri Williams
Riri Williams is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Riri Williams
Before she was born, her mother received a phone call that said the Demetrius Williams had been killed when he was at a gas station that got robbed. She was at first devastated and could not even go to his funeral. However, upon the birth of her daughter, she felt that he had come back to her and she decided to name her child after his nickname of Riri. (Ironheart v1 #11) When Riri was 5 years old, behavioral problems led her parents to consult a child psychologist, who certified Riri as a super genius after undergoing several tests. At the psychologist's recommendation, Riri's parents looked into special care to foster her abilities, while also giving her emotional support. (Invincible Iron Man v4 #1)
Riri's level of intelligence caused her to retreat inside her own mind and become an introvert. She met her only friend, Natalie Washington, when she was ten years old, after Riri caught Natalie's attention while working at her open garage on some inventions meant to hopefully help superheroes someday. Tragedy struck Riri when she was thirteen years old. While having a picnic at Marquette Park, Riri, her family, and Natalie were caught in the line of fire when a drive by shooting hit some bystanders. Even though Riri was unscathed, both Natalie and Riri's step-father were hit by stray bullets and died. (Invincible Iron Man v4 #1) Two years ago, her mother had received the call to the Chicago hospital where she heard her second husband had been shot and died from his injuries. Whilst there, she came to find that her best friend Natalie had also died in the incident. (Invincible Iron Man v4 #2)
At the Simon Hall of M.I.T., she began to work in the night in creating her own set of Iron Man Armor. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #7) It began as a dare made by herself in creating her own version of the suit where she made it from various components from across campus some of which belonged to other people as she contemplated being the new Iron Man when Tony Stark was reported missing. Her activities led to campus security investigating her lab with the staff stating that her activities threatened her academic career and her scholarship. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #9)
Ironheart
When Hydra launched a massive attack on the American government under the hand of a fascist doppelganger of Captain America, both Ironheart and the Tony Stark A.I. joined the Underground, a contingent of American heroes and civilians fighting against Hydra's regime. During this time, Riri came to grow closer to the Champions. (Secret Empire v1 #1) She came to join the team when they left the Underground to support Spider-Man and form the Red Room to formulate a plan to take down Captain America under the guidance of Black Widow. (Secret Empire v1 #2) When the Champions carried out their plans, the Black Widow came to be murdered by corrupt Captain America, and the young heroes were arrested. (Secret Empire v1 #7) Ironheart and the other teenage heroes were freed during the Underground's assault on Washington, D.C. which resulted in the defeat of Hydra and the return of the real Captain America. (Secret Empire v1 #9) As a reward for helping defeat Hydra, the sentient Cosmic Cube named Kobik transported a handful of heroes to different periods in time. Ironheart was taken to a distant future where she encountered the Sorcerer Supreme Tony Stark, who inspired her to continue working on her own future. (Generations: Iron Man & Ironheart v1 #1)
Champion
She later came to officially join the young superhero team known as the Champions. (Champions v2 #19) She was part of a mission to the North Pole to rescue Amka Aliyak and add her to the team. (Champions v2 #21)
After the Warbringer was defeated, Ironheart decided to target Thanos himself with the Mad Titan effortlessly defeating her and destroying her armour. Despite his victory, he allowed the Champions to depart as he was entertained by their fight against the Chitauri warlord. After the incident, Riri was heavily affected by her loss as she came to think that she was not useful in a fight considering how easily she lost but she was convinced of her worth by her comrade Viv Vision with her deciding to forge a new set of stronger armor. (Infinity Countdown: Champions v1 #2) Afterwards, Riri showed off her new Ironheart suit to her teammates before heading to Mbali, Tanzania to install water filters as a favor for a friend of Nadia's. Upon arrival, she ate with the locals at their behest while Amka and Viv investigated what turned out to be Man-Thing, who had taken up refuge in the forests that surrounded the village. He attacked them, but was defeated — at the cost of serious damage to Viv and the loss of Sam and Nadia to another dimension. (Champions v2 #23) As the search for them continued, Riri was present when Miles Morales received news that a shooting occurred in his school. The Champions all took this news poorly, with Riri in particular displaying a morbid resignation to the inevitability of gun violence, explaining to Amadeus Cho that it played at least some part in why she built the Ironheart armor. (Champions v2 #24)
Solo Adventures
Whilst operating from her MIT laboratory, she was forced to showcase some of her creations to a touring group of international delegates at the behest of the Dean. During this time, she learnt the delegates after they left were taken hostage by a supervillain named Clash who was attempting to use the event to attract the attention of the Ten Rings. Arriving as Ironheart, Riri managed to defuse the situation which led to the arrest of Clash. (Ironheart v1 #1) This troubled Riri greatly, until she was surprised by her friend Xavier King with a FaceTime call. After a long conversation, she was shocked to see that the AI that she had been developing from scanning and compositing her brainwaves and memories was complete, and had taken the form of an aged-up Natalie, her long-dead best friend. Christening her the Neuro-Autonomous Technical Assistant & Laboratory Intelligence Entity, Riri and her new AI returned home to Chicago to investigate the disappearance of her childhood friend Daija Hamilton with her mother and Xavier. (Ironheart v1 #3) Pursuing a lead led her to a Ten Rings ambush, and further investigation allowed her to finally confront Daija, who it turned out was being held hostage by a Ten Rings agent known as Midnight's Fire. He would later confront her in her garage, and explain that he sought the ancient Wellspring of Power, and envisioned Riri joining him on this journey. Riri refused him and was defeated in a short scuffle afterwards. (Ironheart v1 #4) After tracking Daija to the warehouse where she and numerous other children had been held captive by the corrupt politician Thomas Birch, she was able to rescue her and the children, as well as realize Midnight's Fire was using the politician as a pawn. Several days later, she dropped out of MIT to establish a new base of operations by purchasing a studio in Chicago with money she got as a reward for uncovering the Birch conspiracy, as well as from selling a patent for the device she used to track Daija. (Ironheart v1 #5)
Eventually, she was asked by Ms. Marvel to investigate the disappearance of Miles, who during her prolonged absence from the Champions had quit the team, breaking the promise he had made to her. She resolved to find him, and once again showed a proclivity to stalking by using his cellphone data to ascertain his last last known location, much to N.A.T.A.L.I.E.'s amusement. Once there, they discovered that he was the subject of a temporal experiment by the Tank. They were able to subdue him, before they finally reconciled over Miles' exit. (Ironheart v1 #6)
Overview
Personality and attributes
She had been given the name Riri after her biological father. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #12) It was said that it was a nickname that was given to Demetrius Williams. (Ironheart v1 #11)
It was noted that she had a sister by the name of Sharon Williams. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #10)
One of her best friends in her early childhood was Natalie who was a same age as her. (Invincible Iron Man v4 #2)
Powers and abilities
It was said that she had been tested by M.I.T. where she had been found to be a genius. Riri had applied herself to be a skilled and talented inventor. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #12) She was shown as being intelligent enough to create her own mechanical exoskeleton suit similar to that of Iron Man. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #9) In fact, she was able to reverse engineer the Mark-41 Iron Man Armor. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #12) She was capable of creating a virus and launching it as a trojan horse where it could infiltrate neural networks. (Invincible Iron Man v4 #2)
After Thanos destroyed her armor, she decided to rebuild it from the ground up with her building something lighter, faster and more powerful with this version being referred to as Ironheart 3.0. (Champions v2 #22)
Initially, she struggled in controlling the armor and needed an A.I. to help manage its systems. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #10)
The sophistication of the armor integration meant that she required an A.I. in order to more effectively operate it. Initially, this came in the form Tony who was a copy of Tony Stark who had downloaded his essence into a digital frame in case his body ever expired. Thus, this was an advanced artificial intelligence construct who agreed to help operate Riri's Iron Man armor. (Invincible Iron Man v4 #1) Sometime afterwards, she developed her own A.I. system designed to support her and her suit with this consisting of a composite of her memories. The artificial intelligence was known as Neuro-Autonomous Technical Assistant & Laboratory Intelligence Entity (N.A.T.A.L.I.E.) who took on a female guise as Riri's old friend. (Ironheart v1 #2)
Notes
- Riri Williams was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Stefano Caselli where she made her first appearance in Invincible Iron Man v2 #7 (May, 2016) and later debuted as Ironheart in Invincible Iron Man v3 #3 (March, 2017).
Alternate Versions
- In Spider-Man II v1 (2017), an alternate version of Riri Williams operating as Iron Man appeared in the newly recreated version of the Ultimate Marvel set on Earth-1610 in the Multiverse.
- In Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #304 (2018), an alternate timeline was created in an attempt to stop the Vedomi invasion of Earth. On this Earth, Norman Osborn came to rule the world as President with the planets superheroes either being killed, detained, in hiding or forced to work for him. Riri Williams used to work for Tony Stark until his public attack on the President where he was killed. She came to join the ranks of the resistance that sought to topple the Osborn regime where she used an Iron Man suit.
- In Spider-Man v3 #3 (2019), an alternate version of Riri Williams was shown to inhabit a reality designated as Earth-TRN759. This world was years in the future where an adult Riri became the CEO of Stark Industries when Tony Stark became a recluse drunk who operated mostly from his basement.
In other media
Television
- In Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron, Riri Williams as Ironheart appeared in the setting of the animated series where she was voiced by actress Sofia Wylie. It was revealed in flashbacks that a close family member had died and caused Riri to devote her time in creating a prototype Iron Man armour with this straining her friendship with a girl named Natalie. She was later responsible for creating an A.I. called A.M.I. who assisted her in the operations of her suit.
- In Spider-Man, Riri Williams as Ironheart appeared in the setting of the 2017 animated television series third season where she was voiced again by actress Sofia Wylie. A reference was made to her step-father having died and that she tended to sometimes be difficult to work with but she managed to enter the Avengers internship program where she developed her Ironheart armour and worked for Iron Man. She joined Amadeus Cho as the pair became young superheroes who were stationed at Avengers Tower where she was assisted by an artificial intelligence called N.O.T.T.O.N.Y.
Films
- In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Riri Williams appeared in the setting of the live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where she was portrayed by actress Dominique Thorne.
Video games
- In Marvel Puzzle Quest, Riri Williams appeared as a playable character in the mobile game.
- In Marvel Future Fight, Riri Williams appeared as a playable character in the mobile game.
- In Marvel Avengers Academy, Riri Williams as Ironheart appeared in the mobile game.
- In Marvel Strike Force, Riri Williams as Ironheart appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
Appearances
- Invincible Iron Man v3: (2017)
- Invincible Iron Man v4:
- Champions:
- Infinity Countdown: Champions v1:
- Ironheart v1: (2019)
- Spider-Man v3:
- Generations: Iron Man & Ironheart v1:
- 2020: Ironheart v1:
- Iron Man v6:
External Links
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