The Stars Of “Ironheart” Get Real About Stepping Into The MCU: “You Know People Are Gonna Talk”

Anthony, you’re no stranger to a big action franchise. What was different stepping into the MCU this time around?

Anthony: The fanbase. It’s honestly different to Transformers, Transformers got their own thing, and Twisters definitely have their own dedicated fanbase, but the Marvel universe is unlike any other thing. It’s huge, and the fans are super-dedicated, very enthusiastic, they’re educated, and they know every little thing about every part of every character. All this stuff that you don’t even know, they’re just telling you “I hope he added this, and I hope he did that” and I’m like, “yeah me too!” It’s been three years, so I hope I did it – I don’t remember. 

Was there nervousness stepping into a project where you know fans most likely know more about your characters than you do? Because usually, as actors, you’re introducing people to characters, but in this case, everyone already knows everything about them.

Dominique: I don’t think so. Anthony kind of gave a nice answer about the fanbase earlier – there’s just a big sense of excitement, and I think in terms of how that relates to our portrayal, we kind of accept that our uniqueness is a part of why we are the ones playing this character. You almost have to lean into the fact that there is something unique to you that has led to you being cast in this role. So trusting that the combination of those two things is what is going to make the live-action telling of this – rather than the comic book – examples, everything that it needs to be. 

I also think the fact that the fans know so, so much about the characters really does work to our benefit because it always leaves room for more. There’s always the possibility that more can be explored. There are definitely things about Riri that I hope we’ll get to see explored later on, and I know that there’s so much of that for the hood and all these other characters that the fans are waiting on as well.

Anthony: It’s nice because you have a template and then you can build off of that as opposed to creating a character from scratch.