Ironheart recently premiered on Disney Plus, giving fans a more in-depth look at the titular character, first introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Fans soon found out from Riri Williams herself that her Ironheart suit, unlike her predecessor Tony Stark’s Iron Man suits, does not possess an arc reactor. Since then, they have been wondering why the suit lacks one.
So why does Riri Williams’ Ironheart suit not have an arc reactor like Iron Man’s suit? Here’s what we have learned on the subject.
Why Riri Williams’ Ironheart suit does not have an arc reactor
Riri Williams’ Ironheart suit does not include an arc reactor because the process of making one is not public knowledge. Moreover, building an arc reactor is extremely expensive.
Instead, Williams designed her suit to run on solar and wind energy, making it special and setting it apart from the Iron Man suit.
Despite not having an arc reactor, the Ironheart suit has similar abilities to the Iron Man suit. It grants Williams superhuman strength, speed, durability, reflexes, stamina, and agility, while also allowing her to fly. Additionally, the suit features its own AI, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., modeled after her late best friend Natalie Washington.
Ironheart currently holds a 69% Fresh score and a 66% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Meanwhile, on Metacritic, the series has a 57 metascore, indicating mixed to average reviews. It also has an abysmal 3.3 user score, pointing to generally unfavorable reviews.
Reviews have been mixed. The Guardian noted that the “small screen could barely contain the energy” of the series. They also described Dominique Thorne’s portrayal of Williams as “stunningly charismatic.”
ComicBookMovie commented that while the series’ story isn’t terrible, it feels “familiar” and lacks what made earlier shows like WandaVision, Loki, and Daredevil: Born Again special.
ComingSoon‘s Jonathan Sim called the series “one of Marvel’s best Disney+ shows” and gave it a score of 8/10. He noted that it primarily worked because of its “very interesting characters.”
SuperHeroHype‘s Matt Morrison gave the show a 5/10 and was highly critical in his review. He observed that Riri Williams maintained the same “abrasive personality” from the comics and felt the series failed to make her “a sympathetic antihero.”
