Recap: Riri Puts a Team Together in Penultimate Episode of Marvel's "Ironheart"

After the last episode, things seem to be as bad as they can get for Riri Williams. She has pushed away her mother, Xavier and even her Natalie AI and, while she doesn’t know it yet, Parker just put a hit out on her. And not to mention, Zeke Stane has received some kind of biotech upgrade and he also has a score to settle with Riri. Her back is up against the wall now and she’s going to need all the help she can get.

This fifth episode opens with Natalie sitting alone in the suit, watching old videos of Riri and the real, living Natalie. Eventually, the suit is ambushed by Slug and thrown into the back of a truck. Meanwhile, Riri meets with Zelma at a White Castle. Zelma tells her Parker’s cloak was likely created by none other than Dormammu, the cosmic entity and ruler of the Dark Dimension we met in Doctor Strange. In fact, Zelma goes on to explain the plot of Doctor Strange, telling Riri all about Kaecilius. So it seems, Dormammu is the one behind all of this and it is, once again, not Mephisto like I may have secretly hoped. Although, Zelma does say she’s only 50% sure. She also theorizes that Dormammu might want to come to Earth to eat it. That could be a reference to Galactus, whom we will meet in the Fantastic Four: First Steps in just a few weeks.

Their conversation is interrupted when Parker’s team enters the restaurant and surrounds their table. Riri tells Zelma she should leave, and she does so, along with everyone else. Roz and Jeri attack Riri first. After a scrambling, back-and-forth fight, Riri manages to catch them in a forcefield from one of her watches.

Clown comes in next and stalks Riri through the kitchen. Riri tries to reason with Clown, telling her Parker and John killed Stu. Clown shrugs her off though and gets ready to attack her. Riri uses her time distracting Clown to build a makeshift rocket and she takes Clown out.

Outside the restaurant, Slug chases Riri down in the truck. Natalie breaks her way free of the truck and gets to Riri just in time to save her from getting run over by plowing through the truck. Slug emerges and looks at Riri, now in the suit. Riri makes a move like she’s going to attack and Slug simply walks away. Riri vomits after the traumatic events… and probably too much White Castle. Natalie checks on her and the two argue about what just happened with Xavier.

Seemingly having survived the attack, Riri begins to fly away before getting zapped by some form of electricity. After she falls to the ground, she sees it was Zeke who shot her down. He explains that Parker allowed him to make some upgrades to himself and he now understands his father’s obsession with power. The two fight but Riri is clearly outmatched. Zeke destroys her suit and has Riri at her mercy but he lets her live. He tells her to leave Chicago because if Parker finds out she’s alive he’ll kill her. After Zeke leaves, Riri grabs the project from her suit in an effort to save Natalie and runs off. Clown watches the whole thing.

Back home, Riri arrives to an immediate scolding from Ronnie. That stops though when Riri tells her she needs her help. Ronnie gets Riri cleaned up and they discuss what they need to do. Riri wants to leave the city but Ronnie tells her she can’t keep running. Ronnie says the reason for all of her problems is her iron suit and asks why Riri is so obsessed with building one, prompting the same “because I could" response we’ve heard before. Ronnie pushes back and Riri finally breaks down and explains that it’s because it was the only way she could think to protect them after Gary’s and Natalie’s deaths. Ronnie tells Riri she needs to fight back and that she will help her. Natalie also emerges and says she is with them as well.

Ronnie brings Riri to the garage and pitches it as a workspace to get herself back in the fight. Riri still pushes back and says again they need to run. Natalie interrupts their discussion by projecting a memory of Riri and Gary in the garage. Riri reluctantly watches and eventually thanks Natalie and apologizes for what she said earlier. She also admits Ronnie and Natalie are right and they need to prepare for a fight with Parker. However, she says she still has nothing to build a new suit with. Ronnie reveals that she bought back Riri’s old car, the one she worked on with Gary and eventually sold to buy part for her suit. Now, the plan is to take parts from the car itself to build her new suit.

At Parker’s hangout, Zeke tells him the job is done and he puts Riri’s helmet on the table. Parker asks him for details and he simply says there isn’t much to tell. Parker grabs Zeke and says he doesn’t believe him, asking his crew to verify. Clown covers for Zeke, telling a story about Riri’s murder. Parker buys it and tells the crew to get ready for their final job. Once he and Zeke are gone, Clown asks Slug to hack into autopsy reports. It’s clear she isn’t fully trusting Parker any more. On their way out, Parker makes a pitch to Zeke for him to join the team but he refuses.

Xavier listens to music at home, using his old headphones, before they stop working. He picks up the expensive new headphones Riri bought him and is surprised to find a note, with the Star Trek logo on the envelope.

Riri works in the garage and starts a small fire. Ronnie comes in with part from the junkyard and says there’s a young man who wants to join the team before Landon enters. Riri explains to Ronnie and Natalie that she can’t find a power source that can sustain the new suit. As she talks through what she needs, she realizes she is going to have to fight magic with magic.

Parker readies the crew for their next job before Clown derails everything by asking if he killed Stuart. Things get tense and Parker eventually grabs Slug by the throat before Jeri punches him. Parker fires the whole crew and they leave him alone in his hideout as his scars from the cloak grow even more.

Back in the garage, Zelma pitches an idea to steal power from Dormammu himself, which is met with some pushback from the whole team. Ronnie asks Zelma how sure she is that Dormammu is even the one providing Parker with his power. This time, she answers 47%. There’s still hope for Mephisto!

Xavier arrives to join the team and shares a brief moment with Riri after he tells her he read her note. She convinces him to be more accepting of Natalie and he agrees to work with the team. He asks Riri what kind of trouble she’s in and she says she’ll explain as they work. Cue the work montage.

After we see the team using both science and magic to create a new suit, we jump to Zeke packing his bags at his old house before his neighbor tells him she’s calling the cops. She continues to push until Zeke snaps and approaches her. He tries to zap her flowers but sees that his power isn’t working. Parker pulls up and explains that he is in control of Zeke thanks to all of the tech in his body. He tells him he’s going to kill anyone who gets in their way and takes him for his next job.

Parker and Zeke arrive at a mansion, the same one we saw from the flashback with John and Parker a few episodes ago. Zeke breaks the front gate and Parker takes out the first security guard, As the rest of security swarms, Zeke takes them out one by one, against his will, as Parker makes his way inside.

Parker surprises the owner of the mansion, whom we later learn is Arthur Robbins, Parker’s father. It turns out his goal this whole time was to steal from his father to get back at him for kicking him out when he was just 12 years old. As Arthuer tries to defend his actions, we learn that he is also really just not a great guy. Parker tries to get his father to sign over his company and everything he owns to him. Arthur refuses until Parker threatens to kill him. Once he signs, Parker kicks him out of the mansion. As he takes his father’s seat, we hear whispers from the cloak and see his scars grow more.

Back in the garage, Riri tries on the suit and Zelma uses magic to power it up. But as it starts to boot up, Natalie starts to disappear. Zelma explains that maybe the suit can’t support both the magic and Natalie. Riri scrambles to tether Natalie to her laptop, but she’s too late and the episode comes to a close with Natalie gone.

Just as things started looking up for Riri, another episode ends with a heartbreaking conclusion. Now, the stage is set for her to use her new magic-powered suit to take on Parker and his new tech puppet Zeke. However, it appears she is going to have to go into that fight knowing she just lost Natalie again. Plus, there is still the treat of the cosmic entity pulling all the strings. And the question of just who or what that might be.

Marvel’s Ironheart is now streaming on Disney+.