Marvel’s ‘Ironheart’ Release Might Be Delayed Until 2024

Marvel Studios might be looking at a possible delay for its upcoming Disney+ series, Ironheart, which filmed briefly in Chicago. Ironheart, with Dominique Thorne reprising her role as Riri Williams from last year’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was expected to debut on Disney+ later this year, as announced by Kevin Feige during the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, but newly reinstated Disney CEO Bob Iger’s new cost-cutting strategy could push the premiere, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The new Marvel Studios series Ironheart completed approximately two weeks of filming throughout Chicago between October 24th and November 3rd last year, with the bulk of production taking place in Atlanta.

So Where Did Ironheart Film in Chicago?

In case you missed it, let’s take a quick look back at the Ironheart Chicago shoot. The Marvel series made its way throughout the city, descending upon notable landmarks such as the Adler Planetarium. Other locations included the mansion at 1300 North Astor and a trip Downtown onto Lower Wacker, near Wacker and Columbus.

Here are a few choice snapshots from Chicago photographer Joshua Mellin shared, of Ironheart stars Dominique Thorne, who plays the iron-clad hero, and Illinois native Lyric Ross, who is cast as her best friend…

The Unit Production Manager for this shoot was Chicago’s Kevin McGrail, who served as UPM on the big-budget Amazon series Paper Girls that filmed in Illinois.

Everything You Need to Know about Ironheart

The six-episode Ironheart, created by Chinaka Hodge, stars Dominique Thorne as Marvel character Riri Williams, a genius inventor and creator of the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man.

When Ironheart was announced by Marvel Studios, the series was expected to film primarily in Atlanta and Chicago. However, with much of Marvel’s production already headquartered in Georgia, the bulk of the series filmed in the Peach State. Nevertheless, the burgeoning Chicago television industry was pleased to welcome this franchise to town for a brief stint, generating more job opportunities for Illinois professionals.

Your First Look at Ironheart

Your first look at Ironheart arrived this past November in the highly anticipated movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Actor Dominique Thorne donned the Ironheart armor and played a key role in the Wakanda Forever storyline.

You can catch a quick glimpse of Ironheart towards the end of the trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever…

Chicagoan in the Marvel Studios Director’s Chair

As SCREEN reported last May, Chicago native Sam Bailey is directing multiple episodes of this latest foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Sam Bailey’s star has taken off since her Primetime Emmy nomination for the web series Brown Girls, which she created with poet Fatimah Asghar in her hometown of Chicago. The series starred two young women coming to terms with queer identity, and navigating career and relationships, and went on to be developed with HBO. Since then, Bailey has become a mainstay in the television circuit, directing episodes of the series Alone Together, First Wives Club, East of La Brea, Grown-ish, Loosely Exactly Nicole, and Netflix’s Dear White People, for which she was also a writer and producer.

As for Bailey’s Chicago roots, she was born in the city’s Logan Square neighborhood. Bailey began stage acting as a teenager and received her bachelor’s degree from Columbia College Chicago, before co-creating the aforementioned Brown Girls.

So Who Is Ironheart? Let’s Bring You Up to Speed

Comic book aficionados will recall that Riri Williams/Ironheart was first introduced in Marvel Comics in 2016, the creation of writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato. In the comics, she is a 15-year-old MIT student who reverse engineers Iron Man’s armor in order to create armor of her own. Iron Man, also known as Tony Stark, eventually took notice and gave her his encouragement to pursue the life of a superhero.

There is another notable Chicago connection with the Ironheart franchise. One of the writers on the comic book series back in 2018 was Chicagoan Eve Ewing. Click here to enjoy her interview with marvel.com. As to Ewing’s involvement with the television series, SCREEN will have updates as they become available.

To bring you up to speed, here is a quick Ironheart character breakdown from vlogger Blerd Without Fear…

Meet Ironheart Head Writer Chinaka Hodge

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige’s Ironheart team is led by head writer Chinaka Hodge. Hodge is a screenwriter, poet, playwright, and educator. Her past television writing credits include the Apple reboot of Amazing Stories, as well as the TNT series adaptation of Snowpiercer, starring Daveed Diggs. She has published two books of poetry to date, For Girls with Hips: Collected Poems and Writings and Dated Emcees. Her plays include Chasing Mehserle and Mirrors in Every Corner. She is also a founding member of the hip hop collective “The Getback” along with Diggs and others.

What better way to introduce yourself to Chinaka Hodge than to take a listen to her recent TED Talk…

Black Panther‘s Coogler Enters the Fray

SCREEN shared last Spring that Ryan Coogler of Black Panther fame is among the executive producers alongside Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Zoie Nagelhout, and the aforementioned Hodge.

Check back here at SCREEN for updates as Ironheart nears its 2024 release date. You can also click right here to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter.