Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and executive producer of its spin-off Ironheart, has said he knows “jack s**t” about when the latter’s characters will now return.
Ironheart wrapped up its brief two-week release schedule on Disney+ a couple days ago, with several major cliffhangers that leave its characters’ next steps uncertain. But when asked by Variety where Ironheart heroine Riri Williams might next appear — for example in the upcoming Black Panther 3, which Coogler himself is now writing — the director claimed he had no idea.
“I don’t know jack s**t. I just did an all-nighter writing X-Files,” Coogler said, referencing yet another upcoming project of his that’s currently in the pipeline, an X-Files TV reboot.
“I’m here for whatever Chinaka [Hodge, Ironheart head writer]’s got coming at us next; whatever Kevin [Feige]’s got coming at us next, you know what I’m saying,” Coogler continued. “I think the audience is going to take to that ending and I can’t wait to see those characters again.”
Warning! Spoilers for Ironheart follow:
Ironheart’s finale sees Williams defeat Parker Robbins, played by Anthony Ramos, but also make a Faustian bargain with Mephisto, played by Sacha Baron Cohen, to save a dead friend. Robbins suggests his next move will be to hunt down the MCU’s Sorceror Supreme for presumably nefarious reasons, Williams is seen slowly being corrupted by Mephisto’s magic, while the devil himself remains very much at large.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Hodge previously suggested she was keen to work on future seasons of Ironheart, should Marvel choose to make them — though the company has made no suggestion so far that it plans to do so.
“I’m hoping for all work in Hollywood right now,” Hodge said. “Yes, a second season, a third season, a fourth season. Yes!”
For now, Marvel has said nothing of any future plans for Riri Williams, let alone Robbins or Mephisto, and the response to Ironheart itself has been mixed. “A cynical addition to the MCU as science and magic collide in Chicago,” IGN said of the series in our Ironheart review.
Currently, none of the characters are down to appear in Avengers: Doomsday. Black Panther 3, meanwhile, is still in the planning stages — and we already know that Coogler is writing a role for Denzel Washington.
Image credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
