Iron Man Gathers Awesome Friends In New Disney Jr. Animated Series
Iron Man Gathers Awesome Friends In New Disney Jr. Animated Series
The preschool-aimed toon will feature Riri Williams and Amadeus Cho
If Spider-Man’s friends are amazing, Disney Jr. seems to believe if Iron Man had friends, they’d be awesome. The network has ordered their second Marvel series for their intended preschool demographic, Iron Man and His Awesome Friends. The animated series is set for a linear and Disney+ premiere in summer 2025.
The series is not a spinoff of Spidey and His Amazing Friends, which premiered in 2021 and was developed under the original Marvel Animation banner. Instead, it seems to be following its template, as it follows follows the adventures of best friend super geniuses Tony Stark, who keeps his Iron Man moniker, Riri Williams, who remains Ironheart as she is known across media, and Amadeus Cho, one of the many Hulks after Bruce Banner but doesn’t gain his own unique codename in the comics until he gives up most of the gamma powers and becomes Brawn. Never having donned an armor before, all of which allow flight and give enhanced super-strength, he now becomes Iron Hulk. And yes, they’re all the same kid age demographic to make the premise work. They work together to solve big and small problems as part of protecting their city. Each suit has its own unique ability: Iron Man has a Nano-Shield; Ironheart has a Heartbeat Bubble forcefield as her own defensive shield, and Iron Hulk has his Iron Boom clap and Iron Hulk Stomp techniques. Riri is rather comparable to Spidey’s Miles Morales aka Spin (that’s the hero name he uses on the series, probably to differentiate from Peter), mostly because they don’t step up as the next armor-donner or Spider-Man until Tony or Peter are dead. The Spider-Verse movies and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have demonstrated such, because it’s based in their comic origins. Now both are heroes together with their (same-universe) predecessor when they’re both children.
Tony, Riri, and Amadeus have a beachfront base called Iron Quarters (IQ), but instead of the JARVIS AI most are familiar with, Tony has Vision, voiced by David Kaye, already instead. They even have a puppy named Gamma, voiced by Fred Tatasciore who has her very own Iron Pup armor, tagging along with the Iron Friends on many of their adventures, definitely upping the cuteness factor. The series stars Mason Blomberg as the voice of Tony, Kapri Ladd as Riri, and Aidyn Ahn as Amadeus. More characters and casting announcements will be coming soon.
“We’re thrilled to introduce Marvel’s Iron Man and his Awesome Friends to preschoolers on Disney Jr. and Disney+, expanding their connection to the iconic Marvel universe,” said Ayo Davis, the president of Disney Branded Television. “Partnering with Brad and the Marvel Studios team on this series allows us to bring the incredible legacy of Iron Man to a whole new generation, sparking young imaginations with characters that embody courage, teamwork, and creativity.”
“Iron Man is the character that launched Marvel Studios and will always be especially beloved here as the hero that made the MCU possible,” said Brad Winderbaum who is head of Streaming, Television and Animation at Marvel Studios. “That’s why we’re so excited to partner with the incredible team at Disney Branded Television and bring Iron Man to a new audience. Together we are building a series that introduces the most brilliant scientists and inventors in the Marvel Universe as they share in fun armored adventures.”
While Tony/Iron Man has starred in both Avengers cartoons of the 2010s, various Lego specials, and a few episodes of What If…?, and made other animated appearances elsewhere, this seems to be the first western animated series with Iron Man headlining since Iron Man: Armored Adventures, the last of its kind to be a Marvel cartoon not running on a Disney-owned platform. It ran 2 seasons and 52 episodes on Nicktoons and also starred an aged-down Tony Stark, though not as drastic a drop, just to teenage. For Cho and Riri, they’ve been slowly rising in the Marvel roster. Cho’s first speaking appearance was as an Iron Spider in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Eric Bauza, followed by being an Avengers intern in the 2017 Spider-Man series and using the Totally Awesome Hulk moniker (which was the title of his series of comics), voiced by Ki Hong Lee. Riri too was an Avengers intern in this series, voiced by Sofia Wylie, who voiced her in two Marvel Rising specials. Cho will also be part of the supporting cast of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
From Disney Branded Television, produced by Disney Jr. and Marvel Studios in association with Atomic Cartoons, Marvel’s Iron Man and his Awesome Friends is executive produced by Sean Coyle and Harrison Wilcox. James Eason-Garcia is co-executive producer and story editor, Alex Cichon is supervising producer; Ashley Rideout is producer, and Michael Dowding is supervising director. Wilcox and Rideout come from Spidey, while Coyle comes from Puppy Dog Pals and Eason-Garcia from Pupstruction, both of which are previous Jr. series.
Source: Marvel