A new Ironheart poster highlighted one of the series' secret big bads (aka the super-powered offspring of one Iron Man villain). Even though the Ryan Coogler-produced streaming series was firmly planted in the present-day of the MCU timeline, the show harkened back to the franchise's earliest project, as Dominque Thorne's Riri Williams grabs hold of the torch left behind by Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark. However, it did this with much more than a familiar-looking suit of superhero armor, picking up on one key hanging thread left behind by the 2008 movie.
After being teased in various pieces of marketing prior to release, Alden Ehrenreich's Ezekiel Stane is now on full display in a new poster for Disney+'s Ironheart. Zeke is the super-charged son of Iron Man villain Obediah Stane (played by Jeff Bridges), who picked up the antagonistic banner left behind by his father in the new streaming show.
The new Ironheart poster was shared on Marvel Studios' official Instagram account, showcasing the battle between Dominique Thorne's Riri Williams and Ehrenreich's new MCU villain.
The image sees Zeke and Riri opposite one another, with their specific powers (Zeke's being electricity, and Riri featuring her new tinge of Doctor Strange-like magic) spelling out their names in an almost boxing match promotion fashion.
Audiences saw Ezekiel Stane drop his Joe Macgilicuddy pseudonym in the second half of Ironheart, joining forces with the dastardly Hood (played by Anthony Ramos) and getting injected with biotech that essentially turned his whole body into an Iron Man-like suit.
Ezekiel Stane is just one of several villains to appear in Ironheart, but the only one with such a long history in the MCU. The new series from showrunner Chinaka Hodge and executive producer Ryan Coogler follows teenage supergenius Riri Williams (Thorne) getting tied up with the wrong crowd after taking on a job as a part of the mysterious Parker Collins' (Anthony Ramos) crew. All six episodes of Ironheart are streaming now on Disney+.
What Is Next for Ezekiel Stane in the MCU?
Alden Ehrenreich's Ezekiel Stane is one of the hanging threads from Ironheart that could be picked up later in the MCU timeline.
Unlike his father before him, Zeke did not leave his debut Marvel Studios project dead and gone. No, the Iron Man villain's offspring is still very much alive.
The last fans saw of the character, Dominque Thorne's iron-clad hero kicked him in the groin (the only non-bionic part of his newly-enhanced body), commencing a hard reset and releasing Zeke of the Hood's control over him. He then tells Riri that "we're not done" before disappearing for the rest of the series.
This means the character is still out there, just like Parker Collins and the newly introduced Mephisto.
No word on whether Ironheart will get a second season has been made public yet (despite Thorne's hopes it will happen), but with all these loose ends set up in the Season 1 finale, it would make sense for Marvel Studios to want to pursue further stories centering on the armored hero.
If a Season 2 were to be greenlit, Ezekiel Stane would almost surely factor into it in some form, perhaps serving as the primary villain this time rather than a supporting player to Anthony Ramos' Hood.
