10 Amazing Legacy Superheroes Who Proved Fans Wrong
5. Riri Williams
Marvel Comics
Storylines To Read: Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart
Riri Williams introduction to the Iron Man mythos in 2016 hit headlines everywhere. Tony was leaving the picture - briefly - and filling his boots was Williams, a character that had only just been introduced by Brian Bendis at an earlier moment in his run on the character. A baseless backlash thusly ensued, but that didn't take away from the many positives of Williams' assumption of the Iron Man mantle, specifically for the very reason it made the Marvel Universe a more diverse place to be in.
Bendis and other writers subsequently set about reminding everyone that representation does, in fact, matter, and Williams led the comic for a whole other year. Better still, Riri is still making waves on the page, and will stay in Marvel's plans despite Bendis having left for DC last November. She certainly makes Iron Man more interesting, and given that the character's history on the page hasn't always reflected the one off it, the desire to add more characters, legacies and more is a welcome one.
Riri Williams is here to stay, and the Marvel Universe is stronger for it.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
