Ironheart: Shakira Barrera Joins Marvel Studios, Disney+ Series Cast

With only days to go until Disney’s big D23 celebration/massive news dump, we have another casting announcement to pass along for Marvel Studios, Disney+ & head writer Chinaka Hodge‘s (Amazing Stories, Snowpiercer) Dominique Thorne-starring Ironheart. Though Marvel has declined to comment (once again, no surprise), Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Shakira Barrera (Sprung, GLOW) has joined the cast as a series regular (though no additional details were offered).

Joining Thorne & Barrera for the series are Anthony Ramos (In The Heights), Lyric Ross (This Is Us), Manny Montana (Good Girls), Zoe Terakes (Nine Perfect Strangers), Regan Aliyah (XO, Kitty), along with Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), who’s reportedly been cast in a key role. RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Shea Couleé has also joined the cast in an undisclosed role. Sam Bailey (Dear White People) and Angela Barnes (Mythic Quest, Atlanta) have been tapped to direct the streaming series.

Created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato and debuting in 2016’s Invincible Iron Man No. #7, Riri Williams (Thorne) is a teenage genius who made a major first impression by building her own version of Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit- and would eventually go on to lead her own comic book series. Now here’s a look back at the entire official teaser for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that offered a preview of Riri, hitting theaters on November 11, 2022:

During the Vanity Fair Oscars Party earlier this year, Ramos was asked how it feels to be joining the MCU via Ironheart. Expressing how “excited” and “blessed” he is to be joining the series and the MCU overall, Ramos jokes in the following clip about being in the gym and wondering when Marvel Studios was going to call. From there, Ramos names some of the people from the streaming series’ “dope squad” that he’s appreciated working with. Though details on who Ramos is playing are still being kept under wraps for now, his character will reportedly have a major impact on both the series and the MCU in future projects (similar to Jonathan Majors being introduced as Kang The Conquer in Loki and now appearing in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania). Here’s a look at Ramos’ interview from the red carpet:

In addition, Ryan Coogler‘s production company Proximity has come aboard to produce, with Coogler, Hodge, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian executive producing alongside Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, and Zoie Nagelhout.