Ironheart Producer Explains Why Her Pink Suit Was Never an Option for MCU Show (Exclusive)

Ironheart's producers provided new insight into why the MCU's Disney+ show did not give Riri Williams her comic-accurate pink superhero suit. In her three-year tenure with Marvel Studios, Dominique Thorne's Ironheart has already donned a number of exciting costumes, displaying her technological genius and expertise. However, her pink-and-black suit from the pages of Marvel Comics still has not been adapted into live-action.

Ironheart producer Zoie Nagelhout revealed that the production team never considered Riri Williams' pink Ironheart suit as an option for her Disney+ series. While Riri did not get her final Ironheart suit until the penultimate episode of her solo show, it looked vastly different from what she normally wears in the comics from a color perspective.

Speaking exclusively with The Direct, Nagelhout gave credit to artist Mike Deodato and comic writer Brian Michael Bendis for their work on the suit that inspired the MCU's red and black suit. While "we may see that pink suit in the future," the team wanted to start Riri off with a suit made so that "you can tell where each part came from:"

The Direct: "Was it ever considered to give [Riri] her classic pink suit in this series?"

Nagelhout: "To be totally honest, no. And part of that is because when you look back to some of the earlier comics, you know artist Mike Deodato, who was the art of the colorist and artist for the Brian Michael Bendis run, he did this amazing, sort of gunmetal gray, mostly transformers-esque style suit that she built in her dorm room at MIT. And as soon as we saw that, we were like, 'That's it,' you know. And certainly we may see that pink suit in the future, you might build that the way Tony built to the nanotech. But that's sort of like scrappy. You can tell where each part came from. It came from this junkyard or this car part. That was where we wanted to start her."

Thus far, Riri Williams has utilized four suits across her solo show and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This includes her original homemade suit (which only covered her arms and legs), the advanced red-and-black suit made for her in Wakanda, her second homemade suit used through Ironheart's first four episodes, and her final red-and-black suit built out of parts of her stepfather's Plymouth Barracuda muscle car.

Released in two parts on June 24 and July 1, 2025, Ironheart gives Dominique Thorne her own solo series for Riri Williams' continued journey in the MCU after Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Picking up with Riri during her tenure at MIT, the story then moves to her hometown of Chicago, where she gets mixed up with a dark group of criminals partially tied to supernatural forces in the background. Ironheart is streaming on Disney+.

Will Ironheart's Pink Suit Ever Show up in the MCU?

As seen throughout the Multiverse Saga, Marvel Studios has had no issues in bringing comic-accurate imagery and costuming to life on the big and small screen. From Wolverine's long-awaited yellow costume and cowl to Wanda Maximoff and Vision's OG costumes being teased in WandaVision, fans have been largely pleased with how their favorite characters have looked in their MCU projects.

For Ironheart, the show's creators seemed intent on making sure her costume worked narratively first and foremost, as she is still in her early days of being a hero in the MCU. Having recently been expelled from MIT, Riri returned to her hometown roots and embraced her original suit design before looking at one of her late stepfather's most prized possessions for more inspiration.

With Thorne already teasing Ironheart's return to the MCU in future projects (many hoping for Avengers: Doomsday to be one of them), Riri's pink suit could certainly be an option to use down the road, possibly before the end of Phase 6.

Many wonder if this could be tied to her newly revealed deal with Mephisto, which puts her in a precarious situation for the foreseeable future. No matter how it plays out, there are sure to be plenty of questions regarding just how long this new red-and-black suit will be Riri's main weapon of choice in the MCU.