Did You Know One ‘Ironheart’ Character Is Actually Obadiah Stane’s Son?

Ironheart premiered yesterday with its first three episodes, and so far, the reviews have been mixed. The story picks up shortly after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and jumps straight into the action. Riri Williams is already in trouble; she’s been kicked out of MIT after breaking school rules to fund her ambitious tech project.

Soon, Riri gets involved with a shady crew led by The Hood. The money’s good, but the jobs are illegal. To build the tech she needs for these missions, Riri dives deep into the criminal tech underworld. With the help of her friend/AI, Natalie, she eventually tracks down a guy known as “Joe McGillicuddy,” a quiet but suspicious figure who deals in black-market biomimetic mechatronics.

At first, “Joe” seems like a pushover, but it quickly becomes clear he’s no amateur. He’s used to blackmail and shady deals. He briefly hints that his love for tech is connected to memories of his father, but doesn’t go into detail.

Editor’s Note: Warning, the rest of this article contains heavy spoilers for the first three episodes of Ironheart.

Eventually, Riri convinces him to collaborate. She pitches the idea of developing tech that could be used for good, especially in the field of bionics. Their partnership seems promising, at least until the third episode, when a big twist changes everything.

While trying to scam “Joe” out of his bio-mesh skin for another job with The Hood, Riri stumbles across a surprising clue, a bag of ashes labeled “Obadiah S.” hidden in his cupboard. She puts the pieces together and realizes that “Joe” is actually Ezekiel Stane, son of Iron Man’s first villain.

Zeke confirms it: his father wasn’t just some forgotten businessman, he was the man who tried to kill Tony Stark. And he didn’t die in a plane crash, as many thought. Obadiah Stane was the original Iron Monger and the main villain in the 2008 Iron Man film.

This reveal ties Ironheart back to the very beginning of the MCU. While Riri isn’t meant to replace Tony Stark, her story now mirrors his in some unexpected ways. The legacy of Iron Man lives on, not through the suit, but through the same tech and the same dark history.

Obadiah Stane was a close friend of Howard Stark and worked with him at Stark Industries. After Howard died, Stane took over as CEO until Tony Stark was old enough to run the company. But Stane became jealous of Tony. He secretly worked with a group called the Ten Rings to try to have Tony killed so he could take back control of the company.

When that plan failed, he gave the Ten Rings powerful weapons to help them fight in a war. Later, he turned on them and had them killed. Tony’s assistant, Pepper Potts, found out what Stane was doing. To stop Tony himself, Stane built his own metal suit and became the Iron Monger. In the end, he fought Tony and was killed.

Even before the show dropped, rumors had suggested that Iron Monger’s son would appear, and those leaks turned out to be right.

As for Zeke’s future in the MCU? That’s unclear. After Riri’s last job goes sideways and the bio-mesh tech is lost, Zeke’s now at serious risk. He warned Riri this could happen, and now his illegal work might be exposed. Whether he’ll turn himself in or try to protect Riri remains to be seen.

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