Here's what Shuri (Letitia Wright) could look like as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of Ironheart. Last year, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) ended his superhero journey through Joe and Anthony Russo's Avengers: Endgame. The genius, billionaire sacrificed himself for the greater good, wielding the power of all six Infinity Stones that ended up defeating Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his minions. It was a bittersweet death and the franchise will undoubtedly be different without him.
As Marvel Studios moves on from the events of the Infinity Saga, the transition also means introducing a new crop of superhero leaders who can step on the mantle and replace the original six Avengers including Stark. Intriguingly, all other five characters have their successors already set-up: Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) has officially ed the shield and the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie); Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) will be the next Thor; Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) could become the next Black Widow; and finally, She-Hulk and Kate Bishop are set to debut, taking over the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Hawkeye's (Jeremy Renner) spots in the universe. That leaves Iron Man without any clear replacement.
New fan-created art from BossLogic, however, floats the idea of Shuri potentially becoming Ironheart. Given Riri Williams' connection to Stark in the comic books, this would effectively have the princess of Wakanda being the replacement for Iron Man in the MCU. Check it out below:
For the uninitiated, Ironheart was created by Brian Michael Bendis in 2015; named Riri Williams a 15-year-old whiz kid who designed her own version of the Iron Man suit in the comics, she eventually assumed the superhero persona of Ironheart while Iron Man was in comatose after Civil War II. Riri and Stark have a lot of things in common — they're both smart and innovative. While there's no official word that Marvel Studios is looking to bring the character in the MCU anytime soon, it's worth noting that an Ironheart movie script by Jada Rodriguez emerged on the Black List back in 2018 giving the public hope that her introduction may not be too far. That possibility inspired this fan-art.
As cool looking as Shuri is in this illustration, chances of this coming to fruition is very slim to none. Shuri is her own character, and while she's around the same age and is clever as Riri, Marvel Studios and the public would want to see her become her own character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The untimely and heartbreaking ing of Chadwick Boseman further makes this improbable with Shuri more likely playing a bigger role in Ryan Coogler's Black Panther 2. In any case, there's really no rush in replacing Iron Man in the franchise. Marvel Studios has a wealth of available characters to play with; they can get by without a Tony Stark contemporary for a while.
Source: BossLogic
