Ironheart’s First Reactions Are Mixed, but Praise Its Strong Finale

The initial reactions to the MCU series Ironheart are here, and while they are largely mixed, most of them laud the finale. Produced by Marvel Studios, Ironheart is the 14th small-screen entry in the MCU and revolves around Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams / Ironheart, originally introduced in the 2022 feature Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

First reactions to Marvel’s Ironheart are all over the place

Ironheart has garnered a mixed initial response from critics who have watched all six episodes of the show. The Direct’s Aeron Eclarinal took to X (formerly Twitter) and gave a glowing review to the show. Eclarinal shared that Ironheart “delivers an insanely fun story that perfectly blends tech & magic.” The critic praised Dominique Thorne and Anthony Ramos’ performances as the eponymous character and the Hood, respectively. Eclarinal added, “It’s filled with fun Easter eggs & crazy surprises that will change the MCU forever!”

Meanwhile, @Mar_Tesseract observed that Ironheart was a “decent” entry in the MCU, “salvaged by a surprisingly strong final episode that is among the best finales of Marvel TV.” They criticized Riri Williams’ character development as “thin,” though they praised Alden Ehrenreich, who plays Joe McGillicuddy, and the depiction of the tech vs. magic conflict in the show.

The Cosmic Wonder’s Warren Thompson noted that he was “bored” watching most of Ironheart, though he also praised the ending, calling it “pretty epic.” He added, “Wish the whole show was, but sadly I didn’t like it that much.”

Rohan Patel of ComicBookMovie also praised Thorne and Ehrenreich’s “good performances.” However, according to Patel, the series didn’t really “soar since it really takes a while to get going.” He proceeded to criticize the antagonists in the show before praising the finale as well.

In contrast, The Hollywood Handle posted that Ironheart failed “to stick the landing.” They shared that while the show had “some fun moments,” its characters were “bland” and the plot was “super uninteresting.”

Ironheart premieres on Disney+ on Wednesday, June 24.