Ironheart

By the time "Ironheart" is over, it sticks the landing, bringing all those threads together into something that's surprising, fun, and feels genuinely new in an MCU landscape that always threatens to grow too homogeneous.

“Ironheart” points MCU in an intriguing direction and gives us characters we’d like to see more of in the future.

“Ironheart” may not have the visual pyrotechnics of a big-screen tentpole, but it compensates with texture and authenticity. The show knows when to flex its effects budget while keeping its focus on the characters.

Even though “Ironheart” is a lot of fun, it never loses sight of the wayward soul going through a particularly difficult coming-of-age in a particularly difficult world.

There are logic issues and some shaky plotting. .... But, the show still stands out for a few well-executed heists — including one set to Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody,” an unconventional but delightful choice of needle drop for such a sequence — as well as its character-focused moments, such as Riri bonding with her well-meaning partners in larceny, while also forming an unexpected connection with Alden Ehrenreich’s Joe, a tech nerd with similar interests.

When "Ironheart" gets cooking, it's impressive how much more satisfying it is than other Marvel shows that lean on earth-shattering events of cosmic importance. Nothing that happens over the course of the show's six, dense, quickly paced episodes impacts the larger MCU, but it sure changes Riri and her friends (and enemies).

It’s a rare balance of telling a street-level story in a way that truly feels like it’s set right in the same wider world of Iron Man and Doctor Strange. It went harder than I expected, and to places and characters I never saw coming, which was a nice surprise for a show that at first felt like it was aiming to carve out its own corner of the world with less connectivity more akin to a project like Moon Knight or Echo.