Chinaka Hodge hired as Head Writer for Marvel-Disney Plus Series ‘Ironheart’

Variety is reporting that the “Ironheart” series at Disney Plus has tapped Chinaka Hodge to serve as head writer.

“Ironheart” will star Dominique Thorne as Marvel character Riri Williams, a genius inventor and the creator of the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man. Thorne was last seen in Judas and the Black Messiah opposite Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya.

The show was first announced as being in development during Disney’s investor day presentation in December.

Williams was first introduced in the Marvel comics in 2016, the creation of writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato. In the comics, she is a 15-year-old MIT student who reverse engineers Iron Man’s armor in order to create armor of her own. Iron Man, a.k.a. Tony Stark, eventually took notice and gave her his encouragement to pursue the life of a superhero.

Hodge is a screenwriter, poet, playwright, and educator. Her past television writing credits include the Apple reboot of “Amazing Stories,” as well as the TNT series adaptation of “Snowpiercer” starring Daveed Diggs. She has published two books of poetry to date, “For Girls with Hips: Collected Poems and Writings” and “Dated Emcees,” while her plays include “Chasing Mehserle” and “Mirrors in Every Corner.” She is also a founding member of the hip hop collective The Getback along with Diggs and others.