Inspired by Tony Stark and determined to follow in his heroic footsteps, fifteen-year-old super genius Riri Williams built her own suit of advanced armor and now leads a life of adventure, crime-fighting, and humanitarianism as the Super Hero known as Ironheart.
Girl Genius
Born after the death of her father, and after whom she was named, Riri Williams was raised by her mother and stepfather in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of five, a series of tests showed that she possessed an intelligence of super genius level. As Riri grew, she pursued her passion for technology obsessively, choosing to spend time alone inventing new and advanced machines rather than making friends, playing with toys, watching TV, or even eating regular meals.
By the time she was eleven, Riri had embarked on a college career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). Fascinated by the billionaire scientist, businessman, and Super Hero Tony Stark, Riri built herself a suit of armor like the ones worn by Iron Man, reverse-engineering Stark’s Mark-41 design and putting her own spin on it. Riri used materials that she stole from around campus, including the robotics lab—and when a security team arrived at her dorm room to confront her about it, Riri put on the armor and flew off, deciding to quit school.
Ironheart (Riri Williams)
While testing her armor in a flight across the United States, Riri captured a pair of inmates escaping from the New Mexico State Penitentiary, but her armor was damaged in the process. Returning home to repair the suit and to explain to her mother that she left M.I.T., Riri found herself being paid a visit by none other than Tony Stark himself, who had learned of her activities. Stark expressed his support for Riri’s decision to become a Super Hero. Now guided by an Artificial Intelligence programmed with Stark’s persona, Riri adopted the identity of Ironheart.
Riri Williams is a normal human being without any super powers, though her incredible intelligence places her among the smartest people in the world.
Her initial suit of armor is big, crude, and somewhat clunky, though it gives her flight capability, super human strength, magnetic powers, and the ability to contain opponents inside an energy bubble. These abilities carry over to Riri’s upgraded suit, which is much more streamlined, enables her to fire energy blasts from the palms of her gloves, and is equipped with an interface to the computerized copy of Tony Stark’s mind, which functions as her main operating system.
Attracting Enemies
While still fairly new to the Super Hero scene, Ironheart has already faced off against a variety of super powered adversaries. Early on, she battles Animax, a mutant criminal with the power to create large, rampaging monsters at will out of her own DNA structure. Soon after, Riri confronts the Rhino, the Armadillo, and Lady Octopus, all of whom she defeats. Riri also teams up with business executive and part-time Super Hero Pepper Potts, who is outfitted in her Rescue armor, to fight the Inhuman crime lord Tomoe the Techno Golem and her minions, the Biohack Ninja.
Ironheart experienced her first defeat at the hands of the Will o’ the Wisp. She is rendered unconscious during the fight, and the Tony Stark A.I. calls in the Avengers for help.
Perhaps Ironheart’s most significant enemy thus far is the criminal cyborg Lucia von Bardas, who sets herself up as the new leader of her home country, Latveria. After von Bardas launches a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, Ironheart embarks on an officially unsanctioned mission to Latveria to confront her. After defeating the cyborg in battle, Riri declares herself the new ruler of the country—at least until free elections were held a short time later.
Riri also fends off the mutant called Hijack and Melina Vostokoff, the Iron Maiden, both of whom are hired by the renegade board of directors of Stark Industries to confiscate the Ironheart armor as Stark property.
