How Dominique Thorne Felt Putting On Ironheart Suit For First Time

Judas and the Black Messiah star Dominique Thorne is among the young stars about to blow up from the MCU after making her debut as Riri Williams, who puts on the Ironheart suit in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In an interview with Variety, she talked about wearing the 50-pound practical suit and becoming this character.

There are CG components to the Ironman-styled suit that Ironheart creates in the film, but for this introduction, Dominique Thorne got to put something on practically rather than the motion capture suits most actors wear nowadays. Having the practical element helps actors get in touch with the character. For the young star, it was the “quickest entry point into Riri Williams.”

Dominique Thorne on how it felt wearing the Ironheart suit in Wakanda Forever

It took some getting used to when it came to moving when wearing 52.5 pounds of superhero robotic armor. It took time for Dominique Thorne to get the movement down while wearing the Ironheart suit, but also it was her first time doing wire work to make her fly to fight for Wakanda. When it came to the weight, she was not told until “a month ago” as the crew waited to tell her when the film had wrapped.

Riri Williams is a teenage genius who gets ahold of Stark tech to make her own version of Ironman. While many characters have been around for decades, like Black Panther originating in 1966’s Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #52, Riri made her debut in 2016’s Invincible Iron Man #7. Now, she has made her live-action debut in Wakanda Forever and will have a Disney+ series for a more intimate adventure.

Dominique Thorne, as Ironheart, joins the other young superheroes to join the MCU. We have Tom Holland as Spider-Man, who was the youngest for a few years. Now, we have Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. What this could lead to has been speculated to form the Young Avengers, but with Marvel’s secrets, we won’t know what is being planned for the teens and 20-somethings of the MCU for some time.