Marvel Studios is reportedly looking to cast the Marvel Cinematic Universe's very first non-binary character, who will supposedly play a significant role in the upcoming Disney+ original series Ironheart.
According to a Patreon post by industry scooper Daniel Richtman, aka DanielRPK, Marvel is looking for a non-binary, genderqueer or genderfluid actor of any ethnicity who is in their 20s or early 30s. (Non-binary is an umbrella term for gender identities that are neither male nor female.) The reported casting call is for an unnamed character who is described as being "extremely intelligent, shrewd" and "poised." According to Richtman, this character will appear in all six episodes of Ironheart.
If this report is accurate, it remains to be seen if the character in question will be an original creation of the show, or a version of an existing Marvel Comics character. Notably, there are a few canonically non-binary characters in Marvel's comic book universe, though none of them seem to have any direct ties to Riri Williams/Ironheart.
There has certainly been a recent uptick in LGBTQ+ representation in the MCU. For instance, the Disney+ series Loki finally confirmed the on-screen version of the God of Mischief (played by Tom Hiddleston) as being bisexual. Additionally, the Marvel Studios film Eternals prominently featured Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), the MCU's first openly gay character, who is depicted as having a husband and a son.
Interestingly, though, should Richtman's report prove accurate, Ironheart would actually not be the first screen project under the Disney banner to feature a canonically non-binary character. That honor belongs to the Disney Channel animated series The Owl House, which introduced the character Raine Whispers (Avi Roque) in its second season.
Marvel Studios first announced in December 2020 that it was developing a live-action Ironheart series for Disney+ as part of the MCU, with Dominique Thorne attached to star as Riri Williams. The six-episode series lack a release date, though production is expected to begin this June in Atlanta. In addition to Thorne, the series has cast Anthony Ramos (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Lyric Ross (This Is Us). However, before Ironheart hits Disney+, Thorne is slated to make her MCU debut as Riri in the upcoming film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is currently scheduled for a theatrical release on Nov. 11.
Created by Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato, Eve Ewing and Kevin Libranda, Riri Williams/Ironheart made her first full appearance in 2016's Invincible Iron Man #9. In the comics, Riri is a teenage MIT student who manages to create an Iron Man-esque suit of armor using material stolen from the campus. While Riri's exploits initially land her in hot water, the original Iron Man himself, Tony Stark, comes to endorse her role as the world's latest armored superhero.
Ironheart is one of two major Iron Man-adjacent MCU series currently in the works for Disney+, the other being the Don Cheadle-led Armor Wars.
Source: Patreon, via The Direct