Was that AI Natalie or a resurrected human Natalie in the Ironheart finale? Exploring speculations

Apart from Mephisto's involvement in the Ironheart finale, the return of Natalie Washington is one of the most talked-about aspects of the series. The first episode of the six-episode miniseries opens with a video of Riri Williams and her best friend, Natalie is revealed to be dead along with Riri's step-father because of random gun violence before this series or probably even before Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

However, Natalie is brought back in the form of AI in the closing minutes of Ironheart Episode 1, "Take Me Home". However, Riri also supposedly loses this AI version of Natalie for a mysterious reason in the fifth episode. But it is the Ironheart finale, Episode 6, that has people talking. The sixth episode, concluding moments of "The Past Is the Past", shows a supposedly human Natalie.

Explaining Natalie's return in the Ironheart finale:

As mentioned above, we see the AI version of Natalie getting wiped out for an undetermined reason after Riri manages to create an AI-powered Ironheart armor at the end of the fifth episode. Despite several attempts, Riri fails to recreate the AI Natalie or N.A.T.A.L.I.E. (Neuro Autonomous Technical Assistant and Laboratory Intelligence Entity) in the sixth episode.

After failing to recreate N.A.T.A.L.I.E., Riri decides to suit up in the armor and confront Parker Robbins to take the hood. Riri finally manages to do that by tricking Parker, but as she is about to leave the gang's hideout, we see her meet Mephisto (the Devil in the Marvel Universe) for the first time. Mephisto takes credit for handing over the hood to Parker and offers a different deal to Riri.

Mephisto offers to resurrect Natalie in exchange for something that Riri will not miss (probably her soul), a deal that she takes. The scene then shifts to sometime later, where we see Natalie suddenly appear in front of Riri. This version of Natalie is supposedly human, as she can touch Riri, something N.A.T.A.L.I.E. was unable to do in the previous five episodes.

As Riri hugs her best friend, we see scars forming on her hands, similar to those on Parker's body. Dominique Thorne touched on this decision in an Entertainment Weekly interview this week:

"It just helped to reinforce what we've been seeing from Riri since Wakanda Forever, which is that she's not majorly committed to this superhero mantle. It's not something that she goes out chasing or seeking, but it's something that she has to think her way through and figure out and really make conscious choices at every major turning point until she gets to the truth of who she is and who therefore who Ironheart will be. That last moment brings it all home, boils it all down, and reiterates what we've been seeing since we've met Riri Williams, which is you have all this brilliance, you have all this potential, and you need to make a choice."

Thorne's Ironheart co-star Lyric Ross, who plays both versions of Natalie, also addressed the difference between the two like this in The Hollywood Reporter interview:

"I think the AI Natalie is that light you can’t put out even if you try. She is there to stay whether you like it or not. Very determined, little to no fear, which is one of the things I loved about her. You don’t see her getting shaken up by anything really. She takes on challenges seamlessly. The real Natalie is a friend, nurturer, supporter. She’s everything that she says she is, in all her confidence, and nobody can tell her different. She embraces challenges like AI Natalie, just with that confidence that she can do anything and everything. And she is always there for her friend Riri. So very similar, but, at the same time, they have their different struggles."

Then, touching upon the human version of her character, Ross went on to say:

"We haven’t really seen much of the real Natalie. It’s more so been flashbacks, but we get to come back to her at the end of the show and see she’s a little more calm than AI Natalie, who’s kind of all over the place and a very big personality, which they both have, but she’s just a little bit more that in who she is, and she understands that and everything that comes with it. So, just different little things."

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