Marvel reveals first trailer for its long-gestating Ironheart TV show, but its rumored episodic release format has got me worried

• The first trailer for Ironheart has been released
• Marvel's next live-action TV show will make its Disney+ debut in late June
• There are rumors it'll have a unique albeit worrisome episodic release format

Marvel has released the first trailer for its long-overdue Ironheart TV show – but, while it looks like a fun time, I'm more concerned about the conjecture surrounding its rumored episodic release schedule.

The teaser, which you can view below, arrives just over a month before Ironheart lands on Disney+. We previously learned of Ironheart's official launch date in October 2024, with the series set to air on June 24 in the US, and June 25 in the UK and Australia (NB: Ironheart will also launch on these dates in other nations and territories).

Marvel Television's Ironheart | Official Trailer | Disney+ - YouTube

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The trailer confirms a couple of rumors that have circulated online over the last few months. The main one, though, is that Dominique Thorne's Riri Williams will initially team up with The Hood, an antagonistic dark-magic wielder played by Anthony Ramos, to help her create an "iconic" super-suit to rival that of Tony Stark's Iron Man.

However, given The Hood's morally questionable antics, which are teased throughout the footage, it seems as though Williams will eventually square off against him and his cronies. It appears she'll get more than a helping hand from Alden Ehrenreich's Joe McGillicuddy, which has to be a fake name, right? Nobody would walk around the streets of Chicago with a surname like that.

Before the trailer's unveiling, the only footage we'd seen came courtesy of Marvel's 85th birthday celebration video last August and an Ironheart behind-the-scenes featurette that was released yesterday (May 13) to build excitement for the official trailer's arrival.

Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is among Ironheart's executive producing team, which includes Marvel's Head of Television Brad Winderbaum. Snowpiercer's Chinaka Hodge serves as head writer, showrunner, and executive producer.

Why I'm worried about Ironheart's reportedly unique episodic release structure

Intriguing as Ironheart's science versus magic-based story looks and sounds, I am concerned about speculation concerning how its episodes will be released.

Yesterday, Marvel revealed that Ironheart would receive a three-episode premiere, which would ordinarily be surprising in its own right. No other Marvel TV series has launched on Disney+, aka on one of the world's best streaming services, with three episodes before. In fact, Andor season 2, the critically-acclaimed Star Wars TV show whose two season run ended today (May 14), is the only other show I can think of that's made its Disney+ debut with a three-episode drop.

My main concern, though, relates to the release of Ironheart's three other chapters.

Per industry insiders Nexus Point News, which has previous form for revealing factual information ahead of time, this Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV show's fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes won't be released individually on a week-to-week basis. Indeed, the outlet suggests they'll be released on the same day one week after Ironheart's premiere. For example, that's July 1 in the US, and July 2 in the UK and Australia.

Disney and Marvel haven't confirmed this will be the case yet, so Ironheart's final three entries could arrive weekly following its debut.

If Nexus Point News' report proves correct, though, why would Disney and Marvel want to rush Ironheart out of the door? It can't be because other highly anticipated shows, such as Alien: Earth, are launching at the same time. That aforementioned series doesn't arrive until August 13. Meanwhile, The Bear season 4 is dropping in full on June 26, so it likely won't cannibalize Ironheart's viewership.

For me, there are two potential factors at play. The first is that Ironheart doesn't meet Disney and Marvel's expectations. If they're unhappy with its quality and/or concerned about how it'll perform, releasing all six episodes close together would ensure the show doesn't suffer huge weekly audience drop-offs. If they're that worried, though, why not just release the whole series in one go, like they did with Echo?

The other possibility concerns how long Ironheart has been in development.

Initially conceived as a movie, it was retooled as a TV show ahead of Thorne's Williams making her live-action debut in 2022's Wakanda Forever. To take advantage of her potential popularity off the back of that film, Ironheart would be made with the aim of releasing soon after Black Panther 2.

With two and half years passing since Wakanda Forever's arrival, that clearly didn't happen. Given the apparent development issues it's had, Ironheart's two-part release appears to be Disney and Marvel's way of getting it in front of Disney+ subscribers ASAP. Again, though, why not release it in full if that's the intended aim?

Whatever the rationale may be (again, if Nexus' sources can be believed), the fact that Ironheart might be rushed out is a big worry for me. I hope my assumptions about the final Marvel Phase 5 project are wrong. But, if Marvel confirms that the other three episodes will air on the same day, I'd be incredibly suspicious of Ironheart's truncated release format, and I wouldn't be able to shake the feeling that the show is proverbially being thrown to the wolves.

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