While Marvel fans are still reeling after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and awaiting the game-changing events of Avengers 4, a new rumor may indicate a whole lot about what kind of changes are coming in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: an Ironheart movie is reportedly in development:

IRONHEART by Jada Rodriguez was one of the best scripts our readers read last week. https://t.co/cGkwm9RLOW pic.twitter.com/O1khyMnqvO — The Black List (@theblcklst) July 19, 2018



The Hashtag Show has added that the script appearing on The Black List (a list of Hollywood's most popular unmade screenplays) could be a sign that she was indeed commissioned by Marvel to write an exploratory draft. There's no comment from Marvel Studios yet, so this is just a developing rumor at the moment.

Ironheart, aka Riri Williams, is a successor to Tony Stark / Iron Man in recent Marvel Comics runs. She was created by comic book maestro Brian Michael Bendis, as a young teenage prodigy who is manages to reverse-engineer the Iron Man armor tech all by herself, while studying at MIT. While doing some moonlighting int he armor, she's eventually discovered by Pepper Potts and Tony Stark, who endorse and help support her on the road to becoming a superhero. Tony sends Riri an A.I. version of his consciousness, which serves as her mentor and allows her to build her own new armor, becoming the hero "Ironheart."

This movie would make a lot of sense for Marvel Studios, as it enters a vastly different Phase 4 landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As we've previously discussed, an Avengers 4 time jump may find Tony in a very different place as an "eye-in-the-sky" kind of world defender, as well as a father to he and Pepper's child. Whether Tony dies during, or survives Avengers 4, it may be time for him to hang up his Iron Man title, instead following the comics by becoming head of SHIELD, or some other supervisor role. That would clear the lane for this rumored Ironheart film to actually be the Iron Man franchise release for MCU Phase 4, with room for Downey to cameo (read: get paid for vocal/facial performance ) as the Tony Stark A.I., and return in the flesh for key big MCU events or cameos. For his part, Downey has already publicly stated that he's behind the idea of Riri taking over.

Do you think Marvel Studios is really developing an Ironheart movie - and is now the time? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Ant-Man and the Wasp is now in theaters. Avengers: Infinity War will be released on home video in August. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.