Who Exactly Is Anthony Ramos Playing in ‘Ironheart’?

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Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) a.k.a. Ironheart is finally returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) after her debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with her own series. Ironheart focuses on the titular character finding her place in this vast universe, after her “internship” in Wakanda, where she teamed with them to fend off the Talokans. While Riri had the opportunity to team-up with Shuri (Letitia Wright) and use Wakandan technology to craft a new suit for said battle, when she left the borders of Wakanda, she had to leave her new suit behind as well. This leaves Ironheart to allow Riri to have a new journey centered around building a new suit, but since the series takes place in her hometown of Chicago, she won’t have access to the tools she was used to when attending MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Meaning Riri will need to seek out new allies in order to acquire the materials needed to create a suit that is iconic.

As Riri seeks out a new path to becoming a hero, she is hired by Anthony Ramos’ character, The Hood. Riri will be seduced by the money. The Hood, whose real name is Parker Robbins, and his life of crime bring her, but her friends and family will help her realize the error of her ways, as hinted in the trailer. So, even though Parker is working in tandem with Riri at first, his comic book origins point to the character becoming an adversary of Ironheart by the end of this series. The Hood is a foe the young and inexperienced Ironheart has yet to face, and the villains that give The Hood his powers are even more dangerous than he is.

Who Was The Hood in Marvel Comics?

The Hood was created in 2002 by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artists Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell, and was introduced in his own comic series that started with Hood #1. Parker Robbins’ father worked closely with the Kingpin when he was a child, and he witnessed a fight between Daredevil and Electro that made Parker aspire to become a hero one day. After his father’s death, his mother ran into health issues as well, confining her life to a hospital bed. This drove the 19-year-old Parker to turn to crime to provide for his mother’s healthcare, as he had no other options.

Parker’s new life of crime led to a robbery gone wrong that resulted in Parker killing a demon named Nisanti. Parker stole the demon’s hood and boots, which granted him supernatural powers. Parker would now go by his alter ego, The Hood, and his powers include levitation, invisibility, mysticism, and occult knowledge, as well as hand-to-hand combat and marksmanship (his signature appearance includes two handguns, which can be seen in the Ironheart trailer). Later on, the Hood learns that his magic is connected to Dormammu and the Dark Dimension, which we have seen explained before in the MCU in Doctor Strange with Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) as well as in Vaughn’s non-canonical (for now) Marvel series Runaways with Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano).

After The Hood’s introductory comic miniseries ended with him outsmarting the FBI and the police, the character didn’t appear in Marvel Comics again until Brian Michael Bendis‘ 2007 New Avengers comic run, where he ascended to become the “Godfather of all supervillains.” In the wake of the Civil War, with the Avengers being fugitives and Steve Rogers being dead, The Hood was able to round up New York City’s criminals under one super-efficient crime syndicate. During Marvel’s Dark Reign event comic, The Hood was even recruited by Norman Osbourne to join The Cabal, a secret society of super villains that was to oppose The Illuminati. Later in the comics, Parker lost his powers related to the demon Nisanti, where he gained the powers of the Spirit of Vengeance, most commonly known as the powers of Ghost Rider. Parker received these powers after making a deal with Marvel’s devil himself, Mephisto.

Since the dawn of the MCU Disney+ Series with WandaVision in 2021, theories about Mephisto have run rampant in the pop culture mythos, due to the villain’s connections to the Scarlet Witch’s children in the comics. Alas, the demonic entity has yet to appear in the MCU, but he was name-dropped in the 2024 series Agatha All Along. Obviously, comic precedent doesn’t guarantee what the future holds for the MCU, but some breadcrumbs point to Mephisto finally entering the picture in the upcoming Ironheart series. Sacha Baron Cohen has been confirmed to be playing a role in the series, with his role only listed as “Mystery Man.” Back in 2022, Deadline reported that Cohen was likely joining the MCU as Mephisto, with his first appearance to be in Ironheart, with plans to see the infamous Marvel villain appear in several future projects as well.

The major difference between the MCU iteration of The Hood, is that he is based in Chicago instead of New York CIty, and like most MCU adaptations, his origin story will likely differ from its comic counterpart. Ironheart could see a blend of his comic stories, where he doesn’t get his mystical hood and boots after killing a demon, but they are offered to him by Mephisto himself. The tattoos and markings on The Hood’s back shown in the Ironheart trailer definitely align with imagery of the occult, giving all the more ammo to this Mephisto theory firepower. Even the shots showcasing The Hood’s cloak by itself scream the devil is in the details when it comes to this magic-powered adversary.

The Hood’s magic-based abilities will be a great contrast to Riri, whose skills are rooted in technology and knowledge. While both magic and advanced technology are not new to the MCU, fans haven’t seen the two directly face off within this vast universe. While Ironheart was filmed back in 2022 and isn’t part of the new wave of the MCU’s quality-over-quantity production plan, the inclusion of Ryan Coogler as an executive producer, in addition to the possible introduction of one of Marvel’s most dangerous villains shows promise for a series that most fans believed Marvel Studios forgot about.

The first three episodes of Ironheart will premiere on Disney+ on June 24.

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