5 things to know about new Marvel superhero Riri Williams, and Dominique Thorne who plays her in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ironheart

Thorne appears as Riri Williams, an MIT student who makes her own armoured suit, in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Marvel/Disney series Ironheart

She talks about playing a young black genius, fighting alongside Wakandan heroes, and why she crochets between takes

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Dominique Thorne, who plays Riri in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ironheart. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:15am, 16 Nov 2022Updated: 11:28am, 16 Nov 2022

It would be difficult to top Dominique Thorne’s November. She wrapped filming on her new Disney+ series Ironheart, makes her Marvel superhero debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and has just turned 25.

The rising star delivers the biggest breakout in an iron suit since Robert Downey Jnr’s Tony Stark, as Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in which the inventive 19-year-old gear head and MIT student battles in her own armoured creation alongside Wakandan heroes such as Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Okoye (Danai Gurira).

But it’s just a glimpse of the character Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will see when Riri headlines Ironheart, premiering next year.

“She’s a young genius who is black and a woman,” says Thorne, who previously appeared in If Beale Street Could Talk and Judas and the Black Messiah.

Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Ironheart in the teaser trailer for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”.

“And to be introduced and ushered into the MCU by a nation that is about giving reverence to black brilliance – and in this particular film happens to be led by women – it’s the most appropriate combination for a character as unique as her.”

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