Marvel Comics superstar Riri Williams, aka serving on the Champions superteam and offering a genius check on Tony Stark's more ambitious inventions - she even recently took the Mandarin's Ten Rings for personal study, with Tony itting she's the one person he'd trust to keep them safe. However, while she entered the comics and films as a hero taking up Iron Man's legacy, one dystopian future proves she came close to embracing the armor of a different MCU hero.
Riri Williams was introduced in 2016's Invincible Iron Man series by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato as the 15-year-old successor to Iron Man, aided by a holographic version of Tony Stark. Riri began her superhero activities in the midst of tragedy and found herself reverse-engineering a vacant Iron Man armor in order to create her first suit. After years of becoming an established name, Riri recently made her feature film debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, played by Dominique Thorne. Ironheart's MCU tenure will continue with her self-titled six-episode Disney + series, set for release in late 2023.
Chip Zdarksy and Adam Kubert's Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #304 finds Spider-Man accompanied by his sister Teresa Parker and J. Jonah Jameson to an alternate version of New York City where Peter never became a superhero. Norman Osborn has become a political and business powerhouse, and the Sinister Six his enforcers. New York is fully in Osborn's grasp, except for a tiny cell of Avengers who continue to resist his rule. The team is made up of Doctor Strange, Captain America, and Ironheart. However, rather than the red and gold of Iron Man or her current pink, gold, and black, Riri has adopted the gunmetal gray armor of War Machine, complete with James Rhodes' iconic shoulder-mounted cannon.
Riri Williams Could Become the Future War Machine
The issue depicts a world in which a fair amount of Earth's superhero population has been depleted and all that remains of the Avengers are Riri, Strange, and Cap. It therefore makes sense that Riri has abandoned the ambitious futurism of Iron Man for the raw firepower of War Machine. On of the markers of Riri Williams in the Marvel Universe is her staggering intellect and creative potential. She's an inventor so gifted, even Tony Stark has been forced to take notice, naming her as the person he wants to work alongside as an equal and eventually bequeath his legacy. While War Machine is a noble, self-sacrificing hero, Riri embracing the gray armor appears to symbolize her being unable to live up to her full potential. Riri isn't free to invent like Tony, but rather is forced to fight every day, showing just how bad things have gotten without Spider-Man.
Riri's War Machine Armor Is a Worst-Case Scenario
While this is specifically a world without Spider-Man, its depiction of the War Machine legacy as a worst-case scenario for Riri sets the stakes of her future. As Ironheart, Riri will eventually sur Tony Stark as a heroic inventor and hero, but if the current generation of heroes allows the world to fall into ruin, that future isn't guaranteed. The gray armor of War Machine shows that like all Marvel's young heroes, Ironheart's future is still in flux, and Tony Stark, Spider-Man, and the Avengers must continue fighting for a world where her full potential can be realized.
