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Marvel Head Kevin Feige confirmed a Disney+ series for “Ironheart” at Disney Investor Day 2020 Marvel presentation on December 10, last year. Now, according to Lizzie Hill of The Cosmic Circus, the working title for Ironheart is "Wise Guy", which could be a nod to the “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” Tony Stark.
The alleged working title for the upcoming series caused fans to speculate if “Wise Guy” hints at Tony Stark returning to the MCU. Feige had also confirmed that Dominique Thorne had been cast as “Riri Williams”.
Who is Riri Williams
Riri Williams was a teenage super-genius who reverse-engineered the outdated Iron Man Armor Model 41 and created her own Iron Man suit. Williams was introduced in Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 3) #7 (2016) and was associated with the team “Champions”.
The team also included members like Nova, Power-Man (Luke Cage), Ms. Marvel, Patriot, Miles Morales (Spider-Man), and Falcon (Joaquín Torres).
Marvel is expected to combine the members and origins of both “Young Avengers” and “Champions” from the comics for their rumored upcoming Young Avengers project. Most of the characters from the teams (Young Avengers and Champions) have already been introduced in the MCU.
How Tony Stark could return in the Disney Plus “Ironheart” series
Tony’s potential return in Ironheart will likely not be as Iron Man, which is obvious with his demise in Avengers: Endgame (2019). However, the character could make a return as an artificial consciousness.
In the comics, Tony Stark created an AI “essence” of himself in Superior Iron Man #1 (2014). His digital self also appeared in Infamous Iron Man #1 (2016), where he mentored Riri Williams. Marvel is expected to take a similar route from the comics if the rumors of Tony’s return are accurate.
Here’s how Twitter fans are reacting to Disney Plus’ “Ironheart” series tease of Iron Man/Tony Stark's return.
Most fans speculated that the working title for Ironheart, ‘Wise Guy,’ refers to Tony’s AI from the comics.
The reactions showcases that Riri William's reception as the new addition to the MCU is largely positive.
How Iron Man could return to the MCU
Since 2008’s Iron Man, the first MCU film, Robert Downey Jr. has been a fan-favorite member of the Avengers. It is very unlikely that Downey would return as Iron Man. Even in the Ironheart series, Tony Stark is only expected to show up digitally throughout the series containing only his voice-over as the AI.
However, trusted insider Daniel Richtman reported on his Patreon page:
“I have they are considering a bunch of interesting cameos for Strange to play different versions of characters we know. One example I heard of is Tom Cruise as Tony Stark from another Earth.”
Tom Cruise was previously in talks with Marvel to portray the character in the first Iron Man film, before Robert Downey Jr.
This theory seems plausible as Cruise was filming Mission Impossible 7 in London while Doctor Strange 2 was also in production there.
