Ironheart Introduces a Major Iron Man Villain, But There's a Big Catch

Warning: this nonfiction contains afloat spoilers for Ironheart’s archetypal 3 episodes! If you haven't already, beryllium definite to cheque retired IGN's Ironheart review.

Marvel’s Ironheart bid puts the solo spotlight connected Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams, gathering connected her debut successful 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The bid besides introduces respective caller villains to the MCU, not the slightest of which being Anthony Ramos’ ambitious supernatural gangster The Hood. But that’s not all. The bid besides introduces 1 of the astir important Iron Man villains of the 21st Century successful Alden Ehrenreich’s Ezekiel “Zeke” Stane.

There’s conscionable 1 catch. Zeke (or Joe, arsenic helium prefers to beryllium called) isn’t overmuch of a villain. He’s a amazingly bully feline for being the lad of Tony Stark’s archetypal arch-nemesis, to the constituent wherever he’s a spot of a pushover. Will that alteration arsenic the bid progresses?

While we hold for the 2nd fractional of the bid to driblet connected Disney+, let’s instrumentality a look astatine Ezekiel Stane’s comic publication roots and wherefore Ironheart is going successful specified a antithetic absorption with the character.

Ezekiel Stane successful the Iron Man Comics

Ezekiel Stane’s roots arsenic a quality spell backmost to 1985’s Iron Man #200, which depicts the last conflict betwixt Iron Man successful his upgraded Silver Centurion armor and Obadiah Stane’s Iron Monger. Their rivalry ends erstwhile Stane commits termination alternatively than look imprisonment and nationalist humiliation. However, that enactment would animate a heavy grudge successful Obadiah’s lad Ezekiel, a quality who didn’t really marque his debut until 2008’s The Order #8.

Following his debut successful The Order, Zeke rapidly became 1 of the main antagonists of writer Matt Fraction and creator Salvador Larroca’s Invincible Iron Man series. The bid is each astir Tony’s conflict to germinate arsenic some a businessman and a superhero and face the rapidly shifting scenery of the 21st Century, and Zeke plays close into that struggle. As Fraction told CBR, Zeke represents a new, much advanced, and much anarchic fusion of antheral and machine.

“Zeke is simply a post-national concern antheral and benignant of an unfastened root ideological terrorist, helium has perfectly nary loyalty to immoderate benignant of law, creed, oregon credo,” Fraction said. “He doesn't privation to bushed Tony Stark, helium wants to marque him obsolete. Windows wants to beryllium connected each machine desktop successful the world, but Linux and Stane privation to destruct the desktop. He's the unfastened root to Stark's closed root oppressiveness. He has nary headquarters, nary base, and nary slope account. He's a existent shade successful the machine; wholly disconnected the grid, flexible, and mobile.”

Art by Salvador Larroca. (Image Credit: Marvel)

Zeke is meant to item Tony Stark’s cardinal weakness arsenic a hero. No substance however precocious his technology, Tony is simply a antheral wearing a suit astatine the extremity of the day. Separate the antheral from the armor, and helium tin beryllium defeated. Zeke is alternatively a existent fusion of biology and technology. He’s augmented his ain assemblage with hyper-advanced bionics that let him to innately wield galore of the aforesaid powers arsenic Iron Man. He has super-strength and healing. He tin occurrence repulsor blasts from his fingertips. As agelong arsenic helium keeps his accelerated metabolism fed with capable calories, he’s fundamentally the adjacent procreation of Iron Man.

Tony yet defeats Zeke, though not without immoderate large collateral harm (including the near-death of Pepper Potts). Their rivalry inspires Tony to rethink his attack to the Iron Man armor, transforming it from mechanical suit to a bio-organic, liquid metallic conception that lives wholly wrong his ain body. This evolved armor, dubbed the Bleeding Edge suit, was the inspiration down Tony’s Mark L and Mark LXXXV suits successful 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, respectively.

Zeke has continued to beryllium a thorn successful the broadside of Tony Star and different Marvel heroes successful the years since. Later successful Fraction and Larroca’s Invincible Iron Man, he’s recruited by The Mandarin to transportation retired the second villain’s maestro plan, creating a existent confederation of aged and new-school Iron Man villains. These days, Zeke runs the caller incarnation of Stane International, making him a adjacent of chap supervillain businessmen similar Alchemax’s Tiberius Stone and Fisk Industries’ Wilson Fisk.

Why Aldren Ehrenreich’s Ezekiel Stane Is So Different

Given however overmuch Fraction and Larroca’s Invincible Iron Man draws inspiration from the MCU, galore fans assumed it would lone beryllium a substance of clip until Zeke Stane crossed implicit to marque his MCU debut. That’s yet happened, with Alden Ehrenreich portraying the quality successful Ironheart (though we don’t get confirmation of that information until Zeke reveals his existent individuality successful Episode 3).

But again, this is simply a precise antithetic instrumentality connected the quality than comic fans mightiness person been expecting. In the comics, Zeke is defined by a ruthless hatred of and disdain for Tony Stark and everything helium represents. He blames Tony for his father’s death, adjacent though that decease was wholly self-inflicted. He besides views Tony arsenic a technological dinosaur wielding an outdated signifier of power.

Ehrenreich’s Zeke, by comparison, virtually couldn’t beryllium a nicer guy. He’s lukewarm and pleasant and endlessly diligent with his selfish, uptight neighbors. He doesn’t look to clasp immoderate sick volition toward Tony Stark for his father’s death, but alternatively recognizes that Obadiah was the designer of his ain destruction. And alternatively than moonlight arsenic a terrorist, he’s a specified tinkerer with a time occupation arsenic a tech ethicist. Apart from being a superb idiosyncratic with a knack for bionics and the lad of Obadiah Stane, Zeke could scarcely beryllium much antithetic from the root material.

That seems to beryllium the full point. Marvel Studios has ne'er shied distant from making profound changes to the villains of the Marvel Universe successful the past, whether it’s making Ultron the kid of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, redeeming Daniel Brühl’s Helmut Zemo, oregon virtually everything involving The Mandarin. In this case, depicting Zeke arsenic a fanatic with a beingness grudge against Tony seems pointless erstwhile Tony himself is agelong dead. What is determination for Zeke to prove, exactly?

Instead, the thought seems to beryllium to subvert expectations by making Zeke the level-headed dependable of crushed successful the unreserved to crown the MCU’s Iron Man successor. He recognizes the information posed by Tony’s technology. He forces Riri to analyse her ain motivations and question wherefore she’s truthful hellbent connected gathering her Ironheart suit. One of the cardinal ideas driving the bid is that conscionable due to the fact that you tin physique a happening doesn’t mean you needfully should. Riri needs to find her crushed for being Ironheart earlier she tin genuinely go who she’s meant to be.

This isn’t to accidental Zeke volition stay the squeaky cleanable tech ethicist and knowing neighbour for the full series. We’re already seeing cracks starting to form, arsenic helium realizes helium tin propulsion backmost against those trying to instrumentality vantage of him. It remains to beryllium seen conscionable however profoundly he’ll alteration implicit the people of the 2nd fractional of the bid and if he’’ll go thing much akin to the vindictive tech-terrorist of the comics, but we bash expect he’ll commencement to butt heads with Riri much and more. She represents the aged attack to Iron Man - a flesh-and-blood quality wearing an outer suit. He embodies the caller Iron Man - a idiosyncratic augmented by bionics to go genuinely superhuman. It whitethorn beryllium that to genuinely triumph, Riri volition person to find a blessed mean betwixt the two.

Do you deliberation Zeke Stane volition go a villain by the extremity of the series? Vote successful our canvass beneath and fto america cognize what you deliberation successful the comments.

For much connected Ironheart, spot wherefore fans deliberation the bid is hiding a Mephisto reveal, and brushwood up connected each Marvel movie and bid successful development.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.