Black Panther director Ryan Coogler has linked the stories of upcoming Disney+ spin-off series Ironheart and Marvel’s next mega blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday, as the show’s first three episodes launch today.
Speaking to Deadline, Coogler admitted that Ironheart was conceived before Marvel dramatically changed course on its plans for the next Avengers movie, and ditched Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror to instead bring back Robert Downey Jr., now playing Dr. Doom.
Still, Coogler evoked Dr. Doom to suggest that Ironheart had a similar focus — a mix of technology and magic that was symbolic of Marvel’s iconic masked villain.
“It’s so crazy to be putting this [show] out now, at the time where AI is on the front of everybody’s mind, technological ethics are on the front of everybody’s mind,” said Coogler, who holds an executive producer credit on the series.
“But also when the MCU is gearing up — we didn’t know it was going to be Dr. Doom in the Avengers when we first started, but he’s a guy in publishing who’s most famous for fusing technology and magic, so it’s a great sample of things that are to come in probably what’s going to be the biggest movie in Marvel history.”
The first half of Ironheart launches today, June 24, 2025 on Disney+, after an unusually long wait between filming and release. Filming initially lasted between June and November 2022, before reshoots reportedly took place between February to April 2024.
It’s interesting to compare this production schedule to what else was going on behind the scenes at Marvel around this time. Reports suggesting Disney was reconsidering its plans for Kang circulated throughout 2023, after Majors’ arrest in March of that year. Majors was formally fired in December 2023, immediately after he was found guilty of harassment and assault. By February 2024, what was Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was reportedly being rewritten. Finally, in July 2024, Marvel announced that its fifth Avengers film was now titled Avengers: Doomsday, with its focus shifted to Dr. Doom.
So, was there time amid all these changes for Ironheart to get retooled as an Avengers: Doomsday lead-in? Is that why the series took so long to arrive? If any clear sign of Doom does appear, it would suggest Marvel was already settled on its plans for the next Avengers film as early as the start of 2024, when Ironheart reshoots took place, months before the Russos and Robert Downey Jr. were formally announced to the world.
Or, perhaps, Coogler is just savvy enough to know that while this belated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spin-off might be launching now, Marvel fans are already focused on December 18, 2026 — when Avengers: Doomsday finally arrives.
While Ironheart star Riri Williams is a technological genius, recent weeks have seen Marvel focus its marketing on the series’ magical side, evoking popular Disney+ shows like Wandavision and Agatha: All Along. Indeed, Marvel fans believe Ironheart is hiding a big magical secret — the debut of a character whose MCU arrival has been expected for some time.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
