[Ed. note: This review contains minor spoilers for the first three episodes of Ironheart season 1.]

Ironheart, Marvel’s spinoff of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, has more in common with Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? than any MCU fan might guess. The existential question at hand: Can a machine truly feel or be human?

In the Disney Plus series, the young, Tony Star-esque hero Riri Williams resurrects her best friend Natalie through artificial intelligence. The implications go full galaxy-brain real quick. Natalie can speak, remember, project a lifelike holographic form, and engage with people just like a real human — but she’s not “alive” in the traditional sense.

While the idea of an artificial companion has long been a sci-fi staple, its real-world counterpart now comes with intense controversy. The newest forms of generative AI chatbots are poised to upend industries, eliminate jobs, and spread misinformation. Hollywood has responded awkwardly. Films like 2023’s The Creator and Jennifer Lopez’s run-and-gun Netflix action movie Atlas reflect a growing trend of pro-AI narratives from studios with major investments in the technology and a vested interest in its acceptance.

Ironheart is another stab at improving the tech’s image. What bothers me isn’t that viewers might........

© Polygon