IRONHEART Introduces a Character With Ties to a MCU IRON MAN Villain Tai Gooden | usagoldmines.com

Sometimes, you have to make some unorthodox choices to get what you want. More than anything, Riri wants to build a state-of-the-art iron suit and become iconic. The problem is, she doesn’t have the money to do it. Her time at MIT is done, which is her own fault tbh, so there’s no more grant money. And getting a local job in Chicago isn’t going to bring in stacks of cash that she needs. So, when she goes on a “job interview” for the Hood’s sketchy team, she signs up to join, even though she knows they will use her tech mind and suit to do illegal things. Speaking of her suit, it is in shambles and in need of upgrades. This adventure for new parts connects Ironheart to tech collector Joe, who is actually Ezekiel, the son of Iron Man villain Obadiah Stane. 

In episode two, Riri needs parts to fix her broken suit to make it work before meeting up for the 8PM mission. She still doesn’t fully trust nor understand AI Natalie, but she is willing to receive the program’s information about dark web sellers. The nearest person is Joe McGillicuddy, who lives in Evanston. Riri pays him a visit. He’s a rather weird and skittish dude who is far too easy to blackmail to get to his stash.

He takes her and the suit on a little road trip—complete with some Alanis Morissette sing-a-long action and life advice from Riri—to his secret bunker. Riri wonders why he would have so much extensive tech and how he has the ability to acquire it all. He claims the place made him feel close to his dad, an engineer who loved tech. She doesn’t question him further due to time constraints. But it is clear that he’s not fond of her suit nor using tech he worked hard to acquire. 

Riri pulls off the TNNL job alongside Hood’s crew and they all have a nice stack of cash. However, she still has two more jobs to work with him in order to fulfill her obligation. Riri doesn’t feel great about what they’ve done, including Parker killing a police officer. AI Natalie warns her that there’s something really off and dark about Parker. Riri knows she’s right but the cash makes her not want to press the issue.

Episode three brings things to a head when Clown, a member of Parker’s crew, puts his hood on. It causes some temporary trouble and piques Riri’s curious mind. She wants to figure out how it works, especially after ex-crewmember Stuart’s death, to protect herself from potential trouble. Riri wants to take a piece of his hood during a mission to analyze it, and that’s possible using Joe’s bio-mesh skin concept. 

At Joe’s place, she accidentally discovers the remains of Obadiah Stane in a Ziploc bag. In case you forgot, he was the previous COO of Stark Industries and Howard Stark’s pal in the original Iron Man film. Obadiah staged a coup to take over Stark Industries completely and kill Tony, even wearing his own large and menacing suit. He’s pretty darn important as the MCU’s first villain.

He admits to being Ezekiel Stane, the son of Obadiah whom everyone thought died in a plane crash. He tells Riri the truth about Obadiah’s death, saying he doesn’t want to be like him at all. Riri coming to him with a suit on with the same type of energy makes him incredibly nervous. This makes sense considering he knows what can happen when that type of tech is used for nefarious reasons. Ezekiel Stane says he cannot be a part of whatever Riri is into. She opens up about her stepdad Gary, who loved Stark, and his tragic death. This is the right tug on Ezekiel’s heartstrings. He gives her what she needs for her upgrades and she promises that this won’t blow back on him.

Unfortunately, that’s probably what’s about to happen. Riri tries to use the skin to sneak past Heirlum’s advanced security system, but it detects her anyway, leading to pure chaos. John discovers Riri with a piece of the hood and they fight briefly before she locks him in a room to suffocate. During the scuffle, the mesh comes off Riri’s arm, leaving evidence for the police. Riri lies about John’s death to the crew and Parker sees a vision suggesting that she’s at fault for it. This doesn’t bode well for Riri nor Ezekiel, if the authorities and/or Parker are able to tie that piece of tech to him.

We will have to wait and see what happens with Ezekiel Stane when the final three episodes of Ironheart drop next week.