Now that Riri Williams has made her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, casual fans may be wondering where the name comes from. Ironheart. Those unfamiliar with the comic may be curious to know more about its origins.
Riri Williams appeared in “Invincible Iron Man #7”, in 2016, by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr., practically out of spite (albeit an artificial spite that she manufactured to boost her own motivation).
Even though her attempt isn’t perfect, it works well enough to put her on the radar of Tony Starkwhich in turn starts her on her path to becoming a superhero.
However, the name does not come from her relationship with the billionaire, genius, playboy and philanthropist, but from her relationship with her friend and neighbor. Natalie Washington. The girl first meets Riri when she comes across the future MIT student working on an invention in his open garage.
The death of the best friend
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Natalie is Riri’s best and only childhood friend, until the day she is the victim of a stray bullet during a picnic in the park. The bullet came from a shooting that was intended for someone else, but instead hit a crowd of bystanders and pierced Natalie’s heart, killing her.
The event not only gives rise to the name Ironheart for Riri Williams, but also traumatizes Riri to the point of sparking her desire to create. Riri was already into technology and was an inventor when she met Natalie at the age of 10.
As a result, the workload she imposes on herself becomes obsessive. Without any other distractions, Ironheart throws herself headfirst into her inventions as if she had no choice; the random act of violence inspires her to make an indestructible suit of armor that she uses to protect people.
Riri uses this time to focus almost exclusively on crafting her technology to an extreme degree. She even goes so far as to recreate her late friend’s likeness in an AI named Natalie, which was modeled after Tony Stark’s AI.
Both in its name and in its drive to work obsessively on perfecting the technology it creates, Ironheart as a character she is largely defined by the traumatic experience she witnessed with the death of her friend Natalie.
