‘In the Heights’ Anthony Ramos joins Marvel's Disney+ series ‘Ironheart’
He’ll star alongside Dominique Thorne in the show about a young genius.
(L to R) Lady Gaga and Anthony Ramos in 'A Star is Born'
The last few years have been monumental in the career of Anthony Ramos. He’s enjoyed success on stage and screen and now, to add to it all, he’s joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
To be completely accurate, he’s joining the Disney+ TV section of the MCU, landing a role in ‘Ironheart’.
With Chinaka Hodge as head writer, ‘Ironheart’ will follow the adventures of genius teen inventor Riri Williams, who creates the most advanced armor suit since Iron Man. She made her comics debut in 2015 from creators Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato and has quickly become popular. Though her storyline in the comics involves Tony Stark, that will naturally have to change for the MCU version.
Disney announced that a series based on the character among many revelations at last May’s investor day.
Dominique Thorne, seen in Barry Jenkins’ ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ and last year’s ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ is playing Williams. And if current rumors hold, we’ll first meet her character in Ryan Coogler’s superhero sequel ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, due to arrive in theaters on November 11th this year.
‘Ironheart’ doesn’t yet have a set release date; given that it hasn’t started filming yet and with the schedule for the ‘Panther’ sequel, it’s unlikely we’ll see the show screens before next year.
And, in true Marvel fashion, Ramos’ character is a mystery for now. But while he’s only in the small screen branch of the MCU, as we’ve seen from other series, that is no bar to eventually showing up in theaters. And you’ve got to think that hiring a rising star like Ramos means Marvel has plans. Deadline’s report even mentions comparisons of the role to that of 'Loki’s Jonathan Majors, who is bringing his villainous Kang to ‘Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ to start with.
Ramos has been on something of a roll in the last few years – he was part of the original cast for Broadway sensation ‘Hamilton’ (which itself saw screens in 2020 via Disney+) and, while he’d been working in movies for some time before, had his big break in 2018’s ‘A Star is Born’.
Since then, he’s also shown up in ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ and took the lead in last year’s ‘In the Heights’, also based on a musical by ‘Hamilton’ creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. He’s certainly got the charm and the chops to be able to hang with other MCU characters.
The young actor’s future is busy – in addition to this latest job, he’s worked on the latest live-action ‘Transformers’ movie, ‘Rise of the Beasts’ (due on June 9 next year) and voices Mr. Piranha in DreamWorks Animation’s ‘The Bad Guys’, in theaters on April 22.
