The upcoming Disney+ series Ironheart will focus on the titular hero, introducing the next generation's Armored Avenger to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Centering on Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a young woman whose genius can rival that of even Tony Stark, the show will continue to expand the MCU with a new batch of legacy heroes. Little is known about the show at the moment besides that the character will make her debut in the upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and her sequences were filmed at MIT -- suggesting the character may be attending one of Stark's alma maters.
This also quietly opens up a lot of possibilities for Riri's peers at the university, as they could include any number of major Marvel characters. While rumors have hinted this could include new versions of classic villains, like Ezekiel Stane, it could also be the ideal place to introduce other major figures from the Marvel Universe -- fellow young geniuses, who could help define the future of the MCU by also being mutants.
Potentially one of the most advantageous could be the introduction of mutants through MIT -- using the setting as a location to introduce some typically bombastic and melodramatic X-Men through a more grounded lense. In fact, this could be the perfect way to introduce the MCU version Hank McCoy, aka the Beast.
McCoy has always been established as a brilliant since his boyhood, with his wits only complimented by his mutant genes giving him a large, super-durable body. McCoy could easily be one of Riri's peers at university, after he's spent some time at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, matching Beast's canonical story after he originally left the team as a student. This could be a great way to introduce a future X-Man to the MCU through an outside character, while also tying the fresh take on the mutants to the new generation of heroes.
Beast isn't even the only ideal tech-savy mutant that could be introduced during Riri's time at MIT. It could also easily be a location related to Forge, another major mutant. Forge's mutant abilities give him the ability to construct anything he can conceive of, acting on almost subconscious level. Given his history as part of an older generation of mutants, Forge could easily be introduced as a teacher at Riri's school -- someone who could hint at a greater hidden history of mutants in the Marvel Universe. Doing it through Ironheart allows those concepts to be introduced through the eyes of someone still discovering her way through the MCU alongside the audience.
Mutants are inevitably coming to the MCU, and the sheer scope of the eventual X-Men cast could benefit from introductory time in other pockets of the universe, fully cementing the next cinematic X-Men into the MCU as it has been established. Beast and Forge being such tech-heavy characters gives them an easy reason to run into Riri Williams in her series. Both of these mutants also have connections to other corners of the Marvel Universe that could be adapted to any appearance in Ironheart's orbit.
Beast's longstanding affiliation with the Avengers in the comics gives him an easy reason to become friends with the heir apparent to Iron Man, while Forge's government ties and military history could easily get him involved in stories surrounding War Machine (like the upcoming Armor Wars) or Nick Fury (like the upcoming Secret Invasion). Beast and Forge could easily be ideal supporting characters for an Ironheart series, and could help set the stage for the X-Men's debut.