‘Ironheart’ Review: Marvel Follows Suit

Marvel Studios tries to give some order to its oozing lava flow of movies and television shows by dividing them into “phases.” These divisions seem to be determined simply by the calendar rather than by anything happening onscreen. We are currently in Phase 5 — six features, eight series — and it has been defined less by themes or story arcs than by the odor of desperation coming off dreary films like “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.”

Phase 5 ends with the release of “Ironheart,” a series about the young tech genius Riri Williams, who was introduced back in Phase 4 in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” (Three of six episodes premiere on Tuesday, on Disney+.) If you’re still hanging on with Marvel, this isn’t the one that will make you give up; it’s a respectable piece of work. But it’s not going to revive anyone’s flagging interest.

“Ironheart” opens with Riri (Dominique Thorne) back in school at M.I.T., her Wakanda adventures in the past. She is obsessed with building her own Iron Man-inspired armored suit, telling skeptical teachers that it will be a boon for first responders, but she’s forced to crowdsource funds by doing other students’ projects for them.

When M.I.T. loses patience and kicks her out, she heads home to the show’s setting, working-class Chicago. Her determination to find the money needed to perfect the suit brings her into contact with a criminal gang led by a man (played by Anthony Ramos of “Hamilton” and “In the Heights”) whose hooded cloak gives him supernatural powers.

As Riri at first abets the gang in its elaborate capers and then turns against it, the usual array of Marvel elements is on offer. Action is lower in the mix than you might expect for a show built around a battle suit, and the fights and chases are not very imaginative, though the imperfections of Riri’s nuclear-powered suit allow for Iron Man-style physical comedy.

Fan service is prominent — the back story of the hooded cloak’s powers involves the introduction of characters from various Marvel mythologies. Spoiler consciousness prevents revealing who some cast members, like Sacha Baron Cohen, are playing; one addition that has been made public is the magician and Doctor Strange associate Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah).