‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’: Meet Dominique Thorne, Marvel’s new iron woman
It’d be pretty tough to top Dominique Thorne’s November: She wrapped filming on her new Disney+ series “Iron heart,” makes her Marvel superhero debut in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and just turned 25.
The rising star flies high – and delivers the biggest breakout in an iron suit since Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark – as Riri Williams in “Wakanda Forever” (in theaters now), where the inventive 19-year-old gearhead and MIT student battles alongside Wakandan heroes such as Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) in her own armored creation. But it’s just a glimpse of the character Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will see when Riri headlines “Iron heart,” premiering next year.
“She’s a young genius who is black and a woman,” says Thorne, who previously appeared in “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Judas and the Black Messiah.” “And to be introduced and ushered into the MCU by a nation that is about giving reverence to black brilliance – and in this particular film happens to be led by women – it’s the most appropriate combination for a character as unique as her.”
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Riri Williams has a couple of role models:-
Getting into the “Mark One” Iron heart suit in “Forever” was a kick for Thorne because she felt “the physical weight” of the character. “To see the hodgepodge of tools that she with her own two hands put together was such a great drop in for me as an actor,” she says. “It is this big, bulky, beautiful mess of pieces, but it’s also incredibly smart.”
And when anyone in the MCU dons that sort of armor, “there is an inherent acknowledgement that Tony Stark was the blueprint,” Thorne adds. But Riri’s late stepdad is also a huge influence: “That’s the man who protected her, who raised her, who put the first tool in her hand, who set her on this path of being a mechanic and an engineer. So it’s a beautiful meshing together of the two worlds.” ‘Iron heart’ will tackle a technology vs. magic dynamic
Executive produced by “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler, the new series takes Riri back to her hometown of Chicago and also introduces The Hood (Anthony Ramos), an antagonist involved in the darker arts. Thorne says “Iron heart” will explore “what it means to be a black, young woman in the context of this world where fantastical and mystical and magical things happen on the everyday, and what a suit like that might mean to someone like her.”