The show’s portrayal of AI strikes me as grossly irresponsible. Again, I get that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “AI” means J.A.R.V.I.S. and the Vision, not the thing Amazon has announced is going to help them fire people or the thing the Trump regime is using to decide which vitally important medical programs to shitcan. But that is what AI is in the real world.
In the real world, AI is designed by rich people, on purpose, to make people stupider and poorer, the end, full stop. People who use it for other purposes boil their own brains, convincing themselves they’re talking to a new girlfriend or a dead relative when what they’re actually talking to is a magic 8-ball, a mechanical Turk, a fucking Clippy. (Ironheart riffed on this last bit in the first episode, when Riri’s suit used an AI that acted like a talking pencil.) You either reckon with that reality when you’re writing your show or you don’t. Personally, I can’t enjoy watching people talk to dead friends using this bullshit technology when I know people are doing this to themselves for real. AI is the Anti-Life Equation.
On the other hand, creating a superhero whose weakness is the sight of a gun feels like a proper reflection of the real world. Gun violence, a cause to which the ruling political party in America is dedicated like a worshipful acolyte, is frequently a foundational trauma for superheroes, from Bruce Wayne on down. Making it a continued, kryptonite-style chink in the armor (no pun intended) for Riri and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. feels like a natural evolution, and a thematically appropriate one given the historical focus on gun violence in Chicago in particular. I’ll take what I can get.
I reviewed the second episode of Ironheart‘s three-part premiere for Decider.
Tags: ironheart, Marvel, TV, TV reviews