Seventeen years ago, Robert Downey Jr. launched the MCU with Iron Man and a bag of charisma that basically printed money for Marvel Studios. Fast forward to 2025, and someone new is stepping into the iron spotlight. Enter Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, aka Ironheart — a teenage tech prodigy who doesn’t need a billion-dollar inheritance to build her suit. Just some scrap, Wakandan tech, and a whole lot of genius. You might remember Thorne’s Riri from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she casually built a flying mech in her college dorm. No big deal. Now she’s suiting up in her own Disney+ series, Ironheart, and—despite the internet’s predictable backlash—she’s got a key endorsement that should silence a few critics. “Robert Downey Jr and I spoke just after we wrapped, and he shared some very lovely words about my journey,” Thorne told Empire. “He told...