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On Monday, June 9, 2025, another trailer for Ironheart was publicly released. It provided a somewhat clearer picture of what the series will be about. But one thing the trailer revealed was the holographic character, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., played by actress Lyric Ross. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. is an AI much like Tony Stark's FRIDAY in the latter Avengers movies.
N.A.T.A.L.I.E., the AI powering Riri Williams' armor, is based on the latter's childhood best friend, who passed away probably before the events of Ironheart or her debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Therefore, Riri will create N.A.T.A.L.I.E. sometime during the events of this six-episode Disney+ mini-series.
Who is N.A.T.A.L.I.E. in the Ironheart Comics?
The first time we met N.A.T.A.L.I.E. in the pages of Marvel Comics was in Ironheart #2, which was published on January 16, 2019. Until then, Riri's AI took the form of Tony Stark's image. However, in this issue, Riri realizes that the new AI program that she had recently created took the aged-up form of her late childhood best friend, Natalie Washington.
After coming up with the name, Neuro-Autonomous Technical Assistant & Laboratory Intelligence Entity, Riri shortens it to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. and incorporates her to run the armor.
N.A.T.A.L.I.E. in the MCU explained
As mentioned above, Riri Williams in the Ironheart comics has used two AI programs to power her armor, one based on Tony Stark and the other based on her childhood best friend, Natalie Washington (N.A.T.A.L.I.E.). However, it seems that the MCU has made a slight change. Looks like the people involved in the series have jumped ahead to N.A.T.A.L.I.E.
In the show, Lyric Ross portrays the human form of N.A.T.A.L.I.E., whom viewers might recognize as Deja Pearson in This Is Us.
N.A.T.A.L.I.E. has a huge implication for the MCU
In the past few weeks, several cast announcements were made regarding the Vision Quest series. Firstly, on May 26, 2025, it was revealed that actress T’Nia Miller, who is known for her role in The Fall of the House of Usher, joined the Terry Matalas showrun Marvel series as the robot Jocasta. After that, last Wednesday, on June 4, 2025, Emily Hampshire joined the series as E.D.I.T.H.
Now, based on the new trailer of the Riri Williams-led series, it seems that AI programs in the MCU are advanced enough to take human form, and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. seems to be the first one.
What is the upcoming Marvel series about?
Releasing in approximately two weeks, the Marvel series will follow Dominique Thorne's Riri Williams after her experience in Wakanda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In this miniseries, she will create a new armor to confront the mysterious The Hood/Parker Robbins, who seems to be well-versed in the realm of mysticism:
"Set after the events of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, Marvel Television’s “Ironheart” pits technology against magic when Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne)—a young, genius inventor determined to make her mark on the world—returns to her hometown of Chicago. Her unique take on building iron suits is brilliant, but in pursuit of her ambitions, she finds herself wrapped up with the mysterious yet charming Parker Robbins aka “The Hood” (Anthony Ramos)."
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Learn more about N.A.T.A.L.I.E. by watching Ironheart, which is set to begin streaming on Disney+ from June 24, 2025.
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