Marvel’s new breakout badass superstar has dominated Disney+ streaming platform as the debut season of Ironheart has officially been released. In 2022, fans initially got a first glimpse of Dominique Thorne starring as Ironheart in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This new Marvel x Disney+ miniseries is entirely focused on the journey and challenges of Ironheart’s character, Riri Williams, who is a 19-year-old MIT student from the Southside of Chicago. Thorne portraying this iconic role is nothing but an honor to her as she’s able to utilize this opportunity to represent other Black women who have stepped into environments whether on screen or behind the camera that weren’t expected to necessarily succeed; but surpassed all expectations and doubts that may have been initially set against them. Furthermore, she feels that she has the responsibility and privilege of continuing to tribute her beloved Black Panther castmate, Chadwick Boseman, whose passing is incredibly significant to the entire cast of the franchise. She advocates the priority to keep pushing forward for the African American community so that throughout her career she’s able to continue enjoying and sharing these opportunities with audiences. Thorne doesn’t want her community to only be praised for sharing their trauma and pain, but for their ingenuity, excellence, and beauty.
Dominique Thorne, 27, realizes the significance of securing the role of Ironheart and how it absolutely means the world to her. She feels that it’s the superhero version of young Black girls and women across the world that are constantly showing up for themselves daily and going after their dreams within their hearts. In the power of subconscious manifestation before she was deemed for the role, she would often see the artwork of Ironheart across her social media feed in college while not knowing years later she would be doing extensive research on portraying the role after she got a call from a Marvel producer that she was officially cast as the character. As Thorne began shooting for the role in Chicago once production began, she absolutely fell in love with the iconic city that Riri Williams was born and raised in.
“I have such a deep love for Chicago … I’m from Brooklyn. When I went to Chicago before that, I didn’t know a city could be clean. No tea, no shade to my hometown, but it really blew my mind. Chicago is so beautiful,” Thorne gushes. “Not just downtown, but the Southside too. The realness of my experience there also reminded me of home and it felt like a home away from home. It was just one of those examples where you step outside of your bubble only to realize ‘oh, we’re all the same’. So knowing that Riri is from Chicago, we’re out of Wakanda and now we’re going back to her home. We’re going to get to meet her beautiful young Black mother who’s a woman from Chicago, these are people that I was already familiar with. I think the chance to bring this into this space and honor them in this space is everything.”
As Marvel franchises have continued to acquire smash box office hits and increase their fanbases, there can be substantial pressure around taking on a symbolic character role within the legendary cinematic realm. Not only does Thorne acknowledge the magnitude of representing for her African American community, but her own personal duty to sufficiently prepare for the role for the Marvel diehard fanbase and audiences. She put emphasis on the effort of completely immersing herself in the preparation of the role and how that confidently influenced her artistic craft while portraying Ironheart.
“It was really about familiarizing myself with the story. Obviously we know the Marvel cinematic universe has a lot of loud and proud fans, I absolutely wanted to make sure that I was respecting the things that people loved about her from the comics since that would be the first time that we’re seeing a live action version of her at least,” she states. “So just going back through and I remember searching for every comic I can find where she made an appearance, in the Invincible Ironman comics and then later in the actual Ironheart comics specifically; just reading, reading, reading, and getting a sense of her essence through the page.”
Thorne is very gracious regarding the supportive and encouraging set environment throughout this monumental moment in her career and for the Black community. Angela Barnes, director of Ironheart episodes 4-6, shares the same sentiment of exhibiting confidence and advocating for other Black talent in limited spaces where opportunities and chances don’t often appear for their community. Deena Nowell, an editor, can attest that she only received an interview for Ironheart because of Barnes advocating to hire her for her team on the project.
“It is really for all of us. I want to say that again, it really is for all of us. So when you get the opportunity, bring someone with you,” Barnes expressed. “This was more like a feature, where from the very beginning before anything is built, before anyone is casted, all that stuff, it was all about me being able to weigh in on that kind of stuff. So, I got a little spoiled so then going back to something that I didn’t get to make all the decisions, I then go ‘why did they do it this way? it makes more sense to do it this way’ …”
Thorne wishes the absolute best for any upcoming or current acting professionals that are pursuing a career in the industry. Even in the midst of uncertainty or doubts, it’s essential to remain resilient and keep pushing forward no matter what odds or obstacles are stacked against you.
“Keep going. I know that’s probably the most generic advice that we hear, but I personally don’t think there’s anything truer or more essential to be reminded of than that,” She stated. “One foot in front of the other. And that is all. No more, no less. Every step that you take, make sure that it’s the fullness of you walking into that step and I think you’ll be okay.”