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Heck, anyone remember the black and white marvel comic line where Rhodey leads a bunch of mass produced Iron Man suits (U.S. Warmachines)?
Nope? How bout when Frank Castle had to put on the War Machine suit and go fight mass produced Iron Man suits in a 3rd world country for Nick Fury, Jr.?
I can think of at least 3 more storylines (Detroit Steel) where Stark suits are sold and mass produced.
That was the plan at some point with Armor Wars. Not sure why it was cancelled but they definitely had that plan at some point.
Heck, anyone remember the black and white marvel comic line where Rhodey leads a bunch of mass produced Iron Man suits (U.S. Warmachines)?
Nope? How bout when Frank Castle had to put on the War Machine suit and go fight mass produced Iron Man suits in a 3rd world country for Nick Fury, Jr.?
I can think of at least 3 more storylines (Detroit Steel) where Stark suits are sold and mass produced.
That was the plan at some point with Armor Wars. Not sure why it was cancelled but they definitely had that plan at some point.
Yep.
In Marvel Land, everyone who wants power armor can try and build it (See Justin Hammer), and there are buyers galore for it.
The idea that no one wants to buy any ignores MCU and regular comics.
Oh and to quote Columbo, "Just one more thing."
If I have to hear that this show is unique to Marvel Comics because it mixes technology and Magic, I'm going to have to start carrying around a copy of the issues where Tony Stark was Sorcerer Supreme.
BorderCountess wrote: Just because you're doing something right doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're doing...
"Vulkan: There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age." "Ferrus: Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?" "Vulkan: I do not understand the question."
– A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs
Gitzbitah wrote:4 years of Harvard, actively selling and completing homework for other students
On the one hand, Riri is that sort of arrogant genius who thinks that being very smart and capable entitles her to whatever she wants, which is a very believable mentality though it makes it extremely hard to sympathize with her plight since it makes it all seem completely self-inflicted by her own ego. This is usually the kind of characterization that goes into a supervillain I'd not, not a superhero.
On the other hand, I can totally believe she doesn't have a degree because she seems arrogant and entitled enough to have completely blown off the parts of college that involve actual work. It sounded in the opening like she never formally entered university (they say she didn't metriculate, which meant she was just there blowing grant money on her personal pet projects and not making any use of her time at MIT to actually get a degree). At least on the degree front, it sounds like Riri's just a entitled brat.
Like, having a day to sit on it, I think I hate her. This girl is profoundly unlikable and her PTSD issues don't really do a lot to earn sympathy from me. It really undercuts the story's underdogs message, because to me Riri was given every opportunity to stand out and make a name for herself and blew it completely on her own. No one is screwing Riri out of a billion dollars but Riri.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/06/27 00:04:51
Rewatched the first episode with my GF today. Some things to note.
Riri is 19 years old. They specifically say she started college at 15 and she had been going for 4 years with no actual degree plan.
As a teenager, even a genius one, she is an idiot doing idiot teen things where she thinks she is immune to consequences. She wants what she wants, now, and without strings, on her terms.
The issue is not that a company wouldn't be willing to pay her. They would. The issue is strings and contracts and terms and conditions for the funding.
She wants Tony's billions because with it comes freedom to design and build what she wants how she wants without all the crap that comes with other peoples money. And as an idiot teen she is too impatient to do the time and pay her dues to get there later.
I think this show is about her learning the consequences of taking the short cuts and her arrogance. Not actually that dissimilar to Tony having to learn about the consequences of playing fast and loose assuming his company just ran without his oversight. They are both learning about the responsibility that comes with their gifts.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/06/27 02:15:30
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
Well, I watched Iron Heart. Of all the MCU content, it's definitely one of them.
Not bad, not great. My biggest problem with it is that it is somewhat suffering from "Black Panther Syndrome". Namely fans telling me it's the best thing since sliced bread. BP was above average, and got super-hyped by many people. Iron Heart is good..... kind of like how I was proud of my nephew for getting 3rd place in the 6th grade spelling bee kind of good.
LordofHats wrote: On the one hand, Riri is that sort of arrogant genius who thinks that being very smart and capable entitles her to whatever she wants,...
So was Tony Stark, to begin with. The difference was he already had the resources to do whatever he wanted, and learning the responsibility that came with that was key to his character development.
Riri has a different path because she is starting without Stark's resources... but it's the same journey.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/06/27 02:35:13
LordofHats wrote: On the one hand, Riri is that sort of arrogant genius who thinks that being very smart and capable entitles her to whatever she wants,...
So was Tony Stark, to begin with. The difference was he already had the resources to do whatever he wanted, and learning the responsibility that came with that was key to his character development.
Riri has a different path because she is starting without Stark's resources... but it's the same journey.
It just doesn't play the same.
Tony was a jackass in a glass house who learned... I mean I don't think he learned humility per se, but he at least learned there were consequences to his actions and decided he didn't want to be a complete jackass anymore. He was never an evil man making pathetic excuses for evil acts, he was a wildly naive industrialist who didn't think things through. Tony had the blatant benefit of being plain old ignorant.
He wasn't self-sabotaging and then blaming everyone else for his problems. Riri's 'I don't have the resources' is a cheap excuse that can be fully laid at her shoulders. She had the resources. She had grants, a tour to MIT, and four years to make something happen. She squandered it. Then she goes around committing some pretty high end financial crimes and wants to insists she's not a criminal. I appreciate that the show directly calls her out on this when the time came, but my main complaint is with the set up in episode 1, not the execution of subsequent episodes.
The situations aren't comparable. That Tony Stark benefited from nepotism and inherited wealth is not a particularly compelling basis for Riri's character to not be responsible for the things she's done to herself. Which again, completely undermines the whole underdogs angle the show is aiming for. I'm not saying there's not an arc here. I am saying that I find Riri profoundly unlikable in a way Jackass Tony never was. Jackass Tony didn't find himself in a cave with a box of scraps and decide to join the terrorists cause he was down on his luck and he's not really a terrorist but he just needs a little start up cash so he can quit terrorism and go legit!
Spoiler:
Especially if John or whatever his name is (jack?) is actually dead, in which case Riri has the proud honor of I think being the first MCU 'hero' who is 100% guilty of 2 counts of felony murder. Because that other guy is definitely dead. Hood killed him.
I also just kind of doubt the show is ever going to come around to the issue that Riri's suit is not remotely stealthy and I'm not sure how she expects, while using it, to go completely unnoticed and never pinned for any of the crimes she's committing. There's already at least one witness to her participation, unless the security guard Hood shot is also dead in which case she's got 3 counts of felony murder.
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2025/06/27 04:20:02
I mean, maybe you're explaining it badly, and maybe it's just this headcold messing with my brain... but it kind of sounds like you're just complaining that Riri's character hasn't completed her hero's journey at the start of the story.
'Self-sabotaging and blaming everyone else for her problems' ... welcome to every teenager, ever. That's precisely what she needs to grow out of. That's what the setup was for.
Spoiler:
...Riri has the proud honor of I think being the first MCU 'hero' who is 100% guilty of 2 counts of felony murder.
Are you not counting what Hawkeye got up to during the Blip?
insaniak wrote: but it kind of sounds like you're just complaining that Riri's character hasn't completed her hero's journey at the start of the story.
Again; my main complaint is solely about episode 1 and the set up of the show. The subsequent episodes are better once it gets past that point, but episode 1's set up leaves me shaking my head because Riri's 'hero's journey' mostly hinges on her willful arrogance (not sympathetic) making her commit some serious crimes (people are dead) and I'm very unclear how there's a 'hero's journey' here.
The show plays out more like someone becoming trapped in villainy, which in itself wouldn't be a bad plot (I am a huge fan of Taylor Hebert/Skitter and the Undersiders in Worm, which is exactly that story) but is Disney really going to go that route for this character? On the one hand I'd be very impressed in the plot ultimately forced Riri to actually own her gak, and I mean really own it, but I'm super skeptical that's gonna happen.
Tony Stark didn't become a terrorist to solve his problems, and Riri doesn't have the excuse of innocent ignorance. She knew she was committing crimes, and her underlying basis for excusing herself as not a criminal, while called out on the show, doesn't make her come off as sympathetic to me. She's 19 years old. 19 year olds don't get the full bodied excuse of 'I'm just a dumb kid' anymore. 19 year olds go to prison as adults, and you could certainly write a story about a sympathetic 19 year old criminal, but you probably don't want the kid to come of as a egotistical brat like Riri does. Certainly, it helps not to hinge a story of being underprivileged while the main character is a recognized super genius who was given a free ride to MIT. Like, every part of that sentence after 'main character' is the opposite of being underprivileged.
Spoiler:
Are you not counting what Hawkeye got up to during the Blip?
No one really minces words that Frank Castle is murderer, and it works for his character because Castle knows exactly what he is and the narrative treats him as that. His character only exists in a state of tonal dissonance completely ignorant of any conception of morality for IRL cops who slap Punisher logos on their squad cars.
Spoiler:
And I say felony murder in the exact legal sense of that phrase, though I guess it could mean other things in other places.
Where I am felony murder is when you commit a crime and someone dies in the process. Intent and personal commission of the death aren't important. The charge is that you committed a crime and while committing the crime someone died. Felony murder. Hawkeye that time and Punisher just straight up murder people and no one really pretends otherwise. Lots of people get murdered in these movies/shows, but I can't think of any others where the designated hero is an accomplice to blackmail schemes that ended in people being killed.
This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2025/06/27 05:08:20
Again; my main complaint is solely about episode 1 and the set up of the show. The subsequent episodes are better once it gets past that point, but episode 1's set up leaves me shaking my head because Riri's 'hero's journey' mostly hinges on her willful arrogance (not sympathetic) making her commit some serious crimes (people are dead) and I'm very unclear how there's a 'hero's journey' here.
So, yes, you're looking for a story to be resolved despite the fact that it's only just started.
She made some poor decisions, got herself in over her head by convincing herself that what she was doing wasn't actually hurting anyone, and has just been forced to confront the fact that this was actually a really bad idea.
There's a certain disconnect from the fact that this story is happening after Wakanda Forever when it sort of feels like it should have been before, but aside from that it seems like a perfectly cromulent origin story so far, given that we're only on episode 3.
No one really minces words that Frank Castle is murderer, and it works for his character because Castle knows exactly what he is and the narrative treats him as that. His character only exists in a state of tonal dissonance completely ignorant of any conception of morality for IRL cops who slap Punisher logos on their squad cars.
Riri's reaction at the end of episode 3 puts her in a very different category to Frank Castle. Or, for that matter, any of the original Avengers, all of whom have kill counts and none of whom (aside from possibly Clint and Natasha) seem particularly bothered by that...
So, yes, you're looking for a story to be resolved despite the fact that it's only just started.
If she decided the best way to get what she wanted was to sell crystal meth, would we even be having the same conversation?
Her story being unresolved has nothing to do with the set up being unsympathetic. Whether she can win me back with how the story unfolds is another question, just one I'm skeptical of because I don't really see Disney making that kind of show.
She made some poor decisions, got herself in over her head by convincing herself that what she was doing wasn't actually hurting anyone, and has just been forced to confront the fact that this was actually a really bad idea.
'She made some poor decisions' includes breaking and entering, assault, battery, blackmail, financial fraud, cybercrimes, arson, and the other one I mentioned. Like, I feel like people are underselling the scale to which Riri has committed more crimes in her show, than some MCU villains have. She's not nearly as evil as most of them to be sure, but I find the tonal dissonance bizarre. And a lot of those villains have way more sympathetic motivations for the gak they do than Riri, who just wants money after she blew up a wealth of opportunity.
Like, this isn't how crime works. You don't get a pass on being part of the mob just because you personally didn't put the gun to Big Pussy's head and pull the trigger yourself. You were on the boat, you still helped Tony murder Big Pussy, there's no 'poor decisions' excuse here that really flies. Adriana made poor decisions. Anthony Junior made poor decisions. Tony's just a crook who insists his criminality is vindicated by cheap excuses even he doesn't believe in.
Riri's reaction at the end of episode 3 puts her in a very different category to Frank Castle.
Oh for sure. The actress sells it to. You can see the moment where it all hits her that 'this sit is real.' But I never accused Riri of being psychotic or amoral (she's clearly more naively stupid than either of those). I charge that her story has a very unsympathetic origin point, and I'm wary of the way the show is rolling out in a way that's just making excuses for her instead of actually having her really own up.
Or, for that matter, any of the original Avengers, all of whom have kill counts and none of whom (aside from possibly Clint and Natasha) seem particularly bothered by that...
Most of the Avengers movies take place in 'save the world or it blows up' scenarios. Is the world going to blow up if Riri doesn't steal money?
Clint and Natasha were state agents, who certainly engaged in shady black ops type gak, but one has the excuse of basically being a child soldier while the other was a spy working on behalf of some clandestine government gak shot. Is Riri serving her country in the crimes she commits?
This comparison just isn't honest. Warzones and government agents aren't a valid comparison to Riri just being kind of greedy and foolishly thinking a massive blackmail scheme is a harmless crime she can just come back from. Especially not when the scheme ends in some of the things its ending in.
This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2025/06/27 06:00:35
I gotta agree with LordofHats here, there's a lot of different ways to give character flaws to a character that is SUPPOSED to be a hero without having them go knee-deep in a bunch of unnecessary crime that is entirely of their own choosing and circumstance that is due to their own ignorance and greed that not only alienates them from the audience, but is incredibly inconsistent with what's already been established for her in Wakanda Forever. She's already been scouted by them and she has a direct connection to Wakandan royalty, you don't think she can't call them up and get some favours called in?
Also, again, the optics of having a black girl immediately commit crime while hip-hop plays in the background is uhhhh not a great look if they're trying to break certain stereotypes.
Heck, if she really is so gifted, she would probably quickly become the go-to person to fix stuff in her neighborhood cheaply. Which would not only assure her of a modest income, but also give us an excuse for why she knows a lot of people.
Getting her into crime from there while keeping her sympathetic is also relatively easy. Either have a friend/sibling push her into it, or create a need for quick money (parents are ill or gamblers).
Then you go from vending machines, to ankle tags, to ATMs, to shop alerts, until they catch her in a bank.
After this, a corporation (Hammer Industries?) bails her out, the price being that she helps them reverse engineer pieces of Stark Tek they 'acquired' over the years. This leads her to build her own version of an Iron Man suit.
While it lacks behind the originals, largely because it runs on battery power, it is still a more than decent force multiplier.
Then something happens to force Riri to run away with the prototype (either the lab is raided by a third party, or she discovers an evil plot). Now on her own she must fight for her survival and overcome her own hubris to turn into a real hero.
During this she could be assisted by an AI prototype Tony left behind, that was installed on a chip she integrated without knowing into the prototype (which is also partly the reason why the suit even works as it overrides the DRM of other pieces of Stark Tek in the prototype).
For a bit of key jangling you could also have it be that one of the pieces Hammer Industries acquired was a knock-off of the first mini arc-reactor with the metal band that reads "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart." With that you would even have a possible explanation for why she uses "heart" in her hero name.
Like I banged this alternate route out in 5 min and it's something I feel dodges the issue of having such a poorly thought premise of the first episode for Ruri's circumstances.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2025/06/27 06:02:01
I gotta agree with LordofHats here, there's a lot of different ways to give character flaws to a character that is SUPPOSED to be a hero without having them go knee-deep in a bunch of unnecessary crime that is entirely of their own choosing and circumstance that is due to their own ignorance and greed that not only alienates them from the audience, but is incredibly inconsistent with what's already been established for her in Wakanda Forever. She's already been scouted by them and she has a direct connection to Wakandan royalty, you don't think she can't call them up and get some favours called in?
Also, again, the optics of having a black girl immediately commit crime while hip-hop plays in the background is uhhhh not a great look if they're trying to break certain stereotypes.
Heck, if she really is so gifted, she would probably quickly become the go-to person to fix stuff in her neighborhood cheaply. Which would not only assure her of a modest income, but also give us an excuse for why she knows a lot of people.
Getting her into crime from there while keeping her sympathetic is also relatively easy. Either have a friend/sibling push her into it, or create a need for quick money (parents are ill or gamblers).
Then you go from vending machines, to ankle tags, to ATMs, to shop alerts, until they catch her in a bank.
After this, a corporation (Hammer Industries?) bails her out, the price being that she helps them reverse engineer pieces of Stark Tek they 'acquired' over the years. This leads her to build her own version of an Iron Man suit.
While it lacks behind the originals, largely because it runs on battery power, it is still a more than decent force multiplier.
Then something happens to force Riri to run away with the prototype (either the lab is raided by a third party, or she discovers an evil plot). Now on her own she must fight for her survival and overcome her own hubris to turn into a real hero.
During this she could be assisted by an AI prototype Tony left behind, that was installed on a chip she integrated without knowing into the prototype (which is also partly the reason why the suit even works as it overrides the DRM of other pieces of Stark Tek in the prototype).
For a bit of key jangling you could also have it be that one of the pieces Hammer Industries acquired was a knock-off of the first mini arc-reactor with the metal band that reads "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart." With that you would even have a possible explanation for why she uses "heart" in her hero name.
Like I banged this alternate route out in 5 min and it's something I feel dodges the issue of having such a poorly thought premise of the first episode for Ruri's circumstances.
You missed your calling
But yes it is bad when the audience can come up with better stories than the writers in a few minutes of thought.
ccs wrote: It'd be amusing if it ends with her being arrested, tried, & sent off to prison.
It'd also be a convenient explanation should we never see the character again.
Wouldn't that be something? But I suspect the moral of the story is going to be that consequences are for poor people.
But... isn't the central conflict that she IS a poor person, desperate for the money with absolutely no strings attached to fuel her scientific ambitions?
It would be a really interesting, though very ambitious plot twist if at the end to keep her out of American prison, she's arrested by Sorceror Supreme Wong for magical crimes, and put on house arrest with her new parole officer- Madisyn, who is the most experienced at dealing with devils and demons.
Or, much more focused on Ironheart's story, offered sanctuary by the Dora Milaje and Wakanda.
Klawz-Ramming is a subset of citrus fruit?
Gwar- "And everyone wants a bigger Spleen!"
Mercurial wrote:
I admire your aplomb and instate you as Baron of the Seas and Lord Marshall of Privateers.
Orkeosaurus wrote:Star Trek also said we'd have X-Wings by now. We all see how that prediction turned out.
Orkeosaurus, on homophobia, the nature of homosexuality, and the greatness of George Takei.
English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleyways and mugs them for loose grammar.
ccs wrote: It'd be amusing if it ends with her being arrested, tried, & sent off to prison.
It'd also be a convenient explanation should we never see the character again.
This is kind of my thing, because I'd be surprised Disney ends the show that way. We'll see.
In my eyes Riri crossed a line in Eps 2 and 3 from being someone doing foolish things but hadn't caused enough damage or harm to be worth more than a slap on the wrist, to someone who has been too involved and not really repentant until it was too late.
I keep making comparisons in my head between Riri and Taylor Hebert from Worm, and there's really a lot to compare them on. But one of the big ones is that at a point, Taylor was no longer able to pretend she wasn't a villain. She had to make peace with the choices she'd made and that she'd crossed too many lines to just turn around and say 'oops my bad, a little youthful stupidity hasn't it happened to all of us?' Riri's been intimately involved with a serious criminal enterprise, unrepentantly, until suddenly she was uncomfortable with it. Like that sucks for her, but it sucked for Taylor too and Taylor's narrative didn't maintain credibility by ignoring that at her core Taylor had become a super villain even though she started out wanting to be a super hero.
Is this narrative actually going to reconcile what Riri willfully chose to do with the consequences of her actions. I struggle to see how that happens in any way but Riri becoming a villain outright, or turning herself in. Anything else would just be more of how her story started in the first place; running away from her actions and skimping on responsibility.
EDIT: But like, emphasis there. I can't say I don't want to see the show all the way through. In contrast to the Acolyte or other Disney+ stuff I couldn't be bothered to finish, even if this show is kind of a disaster by the end, I want to see the trainwreck all the way through. I am not unentertained. If anything I'm bile fascinated by wtf is going on in here.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/06/27 23:09:46
EDIT: But like, emphasis there. I can't say I don't want to see the show all the way through. In contrast to the Acolyte or other Disney+ stuff I couldn't be bothered to finish, even if this show is kind of a disaster by the end, I want to see the trainwreck all the way through. I am not unentertained. If anything I'm bile fascinated by wtf is going on in here.
That's where I'm at too. Riri is going to need some serious redemption if they want to paint her as anything more than a naive criminal, at best. There's something missing in how they've set up her arc, and I think it's down to not spending enough time establishing her struggles at the start, so it looks like she's gone from immature brat-genius, to career criminal in the space of about two days. I also have an issue with the use of the suit. It's now been used in two violent robberies, with witnesses. You'd think someone using an Ironman suit to commit crime might make the national news, at which point it would take all of about 3 seconds for MIT to link it back to Riri. Actually, for that matter, she stole the suit and took it back to...her childhood home. How have MIT not alerted the police and how have they not found the suit yet? Then there's the convenience of Joe, the tech wizard black marketeer with all the stuff Riri needs. Yes, I know episode 3 tries to explain it, but it's still just really weird.
Despite all that, the rest of the plot is good, the acting is really good and the action sequences are cool. Hood looks like he may be a compelling villain, too. So unlike shows like Acolyte, which never really showed much sign of ever rising above the problems they had from the outset, this seems more likely to at least be a good watch all the way through.
Yeah. At least on the 'stole the suit' front, someone says 'she made it all herself' or something to that effect as she's leaving. She loses control since her control AI was tied into her student ID and crashed when her credentials were revoked, but I just assume the suit is her property outright and no one is looking for it.
Except that a security guard saw her in it, she's flying around in it, she's in Chicago, and it seems like she can only use the suit to commit crimes so much before one has to wonder how on earth no one is linking her to anything she's doing by virtue of 'there's not a lot of Iron Man suits in the world.' Which I'd add also just makes Riri seem kind of dumb but there's still three episodes to go for these dominoes to fall over and I want to see them fall.
EPs 2 and 3 seem like they're lining up several guns to go off in the last 3 eps of the season. I'm kind of just... not sympathetic to Riri's reasons? But dear god I want to know how these dominoes are going to fall, even if the end result is a generic Disney ending with a fethed up moral message that kind of just sweeps Riri's mistakes under the rug or tries to play off a heroic 'lessons I've learned' speech as sufficient to make up her trainwreck.
Like if nothing else, the meta-narrative qualities of this show make me want to see the rest. I want to know how all of this is getting played.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/06/28 23:53:20
insaniak wrote: And the crimes have been deliberately targeted against shady businesses, putting them in situations that they don't want to go public.
They are, amusingly, rather transparent stand in for popular companies to hate.
I'm not sure what the first one is (the one before Riri gets involved). Have to watch again. The other two companies are clearly stand ins for Tesla and Monsanto.
I have a feeling from the 3rd episode that the hood isn't just targetting companies willy nilly either. It seems like hes doing the devils dirty work on that green house place. The contracts things seems like an extension of Mephistos deal.
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
Correct me if I misremember, but Parker overtly says something to the effect of 'this wasn't the deal' right? So question is, is the deal just between him and whatever entity is behind the hood, or is that entity making other deals? Either Parker made a deal for his own goals and I feel like his are fairly well elaborated on in the first 3 episodes (he sees himself as a robin hood sort of figure, except so far it's take from the rich and give to ourselves) but I wonder if the company CEOs also made deals with the devil? I guess it depends on his the Hood-Demon or whatever it is, is solely involved with Parker toward whatever its goals might be, or if it's been around for a while and has an entire scheme in play.
With Greenhouse guy I can't tell if killing the guy was the demon whispering evil into Hood's ear, or the demon enacting its own plan through Hood. I think we need to see more cause it's not something Ep3 makes entirely clear.
Hood's been a pretty interesting villain so far, setting arguments about Riri aside. Mysterious in the 'what is making this guy tick' sort of way with some fun little hints about his ego (a certain TV broadcast clearly sets him off and he has a similar 'oh gak this is real' moment to Riri) that seem to parallel with Riri's.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/06/29 15:06:39
They have the Ego bit about Parker Robison (The Hood) taken straight from the comics. Parker was a "nobody" and wants to be "somebody". He wants the money power and respect that being somebody comes with and the hood is his path towards that.
The moment the news called him and his people petty thieves. Nobody's. It triggers him. That is his central drive right there.
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
Watched the last 3. Good overall. Not the best MCU stuff, but nowhere near a bad one. Or even a middling one imo. Actually just good. The Hood was great. The characters were great. Love the set up of the secondary bad guy. Love that a lot of these characters come out the other side to show up someplace else somewhere down the line.
Spoiler:
Good version of Mephisto. Surprised the ending went the way it did. Riri + Ghost Rider down the line? Il take it.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/07/02 09:35:57
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
Fantastic ending to Ironheart. I had absolutely the wrong expectations about this series.
Spoiler:
I'm always up for some Sacha Baron Cohen, but holy crap. He ate the scenery like it was his pizza for that entire finale.No grand threat, no real stakes beyond a vengeful, very small time amateur street gang leader, and Riri never even comes close to becoming a hero. Without that burden on her arc, she's an interesting character to watch stumble into problem after problem of her own making, like Loki, but so far without the redemption. I am so glad I finished the series. Every shortsighted, stupid choice has been building up to her engaging willingly in demonic powered necromancy, and 'hacking magic', with undoubtedly disastrous consequences once we find out how Borat abuses her creation.
I hope they make more, it's a wild ride! Just not the one I thought I was on when we started.
Klawz-Ramming is a subset of citrus fruit?
Gwar- "And everyone wants a bigger Spleen!"
Mercurial wrote:
I admire your aplomb and instate you as Baron of the Seas and Lord Marshall of Privateers.
Orkeosaurus wrote:Star Trek also said we'd have X-Wings by now. We all see how that prediction turned out.
Orkeosaurus, on homophobia, the nature of homosexuality, and the greatness of George Takei.
English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleyways and mugs them for loose grammar.
Just up front; this girl still has two count them two freaking personal shield generators and she's committing crimes to make money. Patent that gak and sell it You apparently didn't need that much money. About 45k worth. Riri is god's perfect idiot, and I can't help but feel like many of the things I don't like in her character and the tonal dissonance I see in parts of show wouldn't be problems if this wasn't part of the plot. They demonstrate with almost every other character they can produce an 'origin story' that leaves you understanding why they're criminals. Riri's a criminal because the premise leaves her looking like a moron too dumb to make money in any of the far easier, and not illegal, ways she has to make money.
Also the magic girls we meet in ep 4? Love her!
Spoiler:
Do what you had to do my but. You were in your armor and he couldn't have hurt you if he had an RPG. You let him die and like with many things Riri, you just blow off that you did that. More than that, even after realizing how real it all just got, you went back to Parker to try and get more money? The good person bad person bit is nonsense. There's black. There's white. Yeah there's shades of gray too, but Riri, you're a bad person at the start of the show, you're a bad person still at the end of the show. You never owned up to anything because it was the right thing to do, you just bounce from one selfish dumb choice to another. I feel like it says something that of all the villains in the show, Riri is the worst of them insofar as motivations and personal choices is concerned.
On the bright side, I can't say this doesn't work because Riri's awful but not unentertaining.
Now Zeke? Zeke is how you write a villain you can feel sorry for, and keep him as someone you can kind of root for because as pissed as Zeke is, rightfully so, at Riri, he stops short of killing anyone by his own choice. At least in this show, Zeke is never out to hurt anyone even to his own benefit. The worst he does by choice is trash the object of Riri's ego; her suit (and then she builds another one out of a car so that doesn't last and further makes her motivations and reasons for starting all of them seem like she's just that stupid). Zeke beating her suit to scrap is honestly cathartic. The show is kind of just weird really. Zeke is screwed by Riri. The worst thing he ever does is destroy her property. Actually, meaningfully hurting other people, is something Zeke seems to intrinsically reject and I respect it because unlike Riri Zeke is given at least superficial reasons to want to hurt people. Parker's crew actually convincingly portray people who are criminals because they have no other opportunities, and Parker? Parker's possessed by a demon and his childhood is gak, so that's like a thing even though I'd say Parker would be a bad guy with or without the hood by the time we encounter him. I gotta say narrative honesty goes a long way in that the other 'bad guys' in this show are people I get and enjoy watching in their own right. None of them is as shallow as Riri, or committing crimes because they were just too dumb to figure out anything else.
Narratively speaking, it's very impressive how Riri is kind of the worst person in the whole show who isn't a literal demon. On the one hand, it's interesting that the show never overtly makes a hero out of her, but it's also just tonally weird as a program because Riri's just the worst kind of person and it's weird that the show spends time both making her the worst, but also like wants the audience to root for her while she's being the worst? I feel like this dynamic never quite comes together but I guess they have more story they want to tell so I will be cautious in my judgement on that front.
At the very least, she ends the season actually suffering a fate worse than anything she's done, for a reason that is not pure ego on her part, so she's finally made a choice that is understandably wrong instead of stupid. But like, is Meph's speech about her being 'on the short end of the stick through no fault of her own' supposed to be true as far as the story is concerned, or just Meph telling her what she wants to hear? Because the only stick at fault in Riri's life for Riri's problems at the start of this story is Riri's stick, and that hasn't changed by the end. And of course she's the kind of uncultured that has never heard of Faust.
So yes. That prepped me to be convinced I would see a show with a rather screwy moral lesson in the end. At least that is ultimately not what happens. Riri remains a heroine (as in main character) I can't say I care about, but at least the story owned up to drop all her gak on her head and make her actually suffer for it instead of taking some easy lame speech way out. The show largely avoids the cliche Disney MCU ending I was anticipating and I am impressed they went where they did.
I did enjoy watching this show. It's an odd duck for Disney (I feel like they learned something from Boba Fett, Crime Lord of No Crime). It's not really what you expect going in. IMO, there's nothing worse than to be boring. If nothing else, this story is not boring. Suppose now we sit and wonder if any of the dangling plot threads will ever get resolutions given all the shake ups in the MCU these days. I could watch a show about any of the things the show kind of leaves on really. They all have the potential to be interesting.
Also;
Spoiler:
Oh god the Ezekiel montage is so heartbreaking. Like, as far as crime went Zeke was a kitten who actually wanted to do some good for the world (hint hint, Riri) but just seeing him become the bad apple while no one knows Obidiah was an absolute monster is just so damn sad. Seeing him rip into Riri was cathartic.The way his story leaves off, leaves me wanting more than Riri. Him and Parker really. What happens Zeke now, and just how low can/will Parker go?
Zeke just hands out verbal 'reason you suck speeches' and I love him for it.
