by In her initial audition tape for the role of Shuri in the 2018 MCU film, Ironheart actress Dominique Thorne was seen performing with the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.
With Phase 4, the MCU received a number of newcomers, including Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, aka Ironheart. Ironheart, who will lead her own Disney+ series this year, made her acting debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, continuing the lineage of everyone’s favourite armoured Avenger.
Thorne had experience with the MCU before to Ironheart, though. Letitia Wright ultimately won the role of Shuri, T’Challa’s sister, after the newcomer actress auditioned for it during the first Black Panther pre-production.
Meets Chadwick Boseman in New Video from Ironheart
The first glimpse of Ironheart actress Dominique Throne as Shuri in 2018’s Black Panther was presented at the Marvel Studios Assembled behind-the-scenes special for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The pair of Chadwick Boseman and the Ironheart actress are tested as potential on-screen siblings in the previously unreleased screen test.
During Chapter 4 of Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast, Thorne first revealed her Shuri audition, saying that she was “accepting the fact that [she] didn’t get the role:“
“When the first one came out, where was I in my life? Man, I was accepting the fact that I didn’t get the role.”
The actress auditioned for Shuri several years before to the film’s release, but she was already aware before leaving the audition that she had not been offered the job because at the time, she was concentrating on her academics at Cornell:
“I auditioned for Shuri in like, what– 2016, 2017. And that was the first time I met Ryan [Coogler], first time I met all the Marvel folks, for real. And I knew before I left that I didn’t get the audition, like I didn’t get the role. I was at Cornell at the time and I had also signed with these agents. It was the only agency that had wanted to meet with me, that respected the fact that I wanted to go to school.”
Despite this, Throne was conscious at the time that her family obligations, “academic warzone,” and “all of these ambitions” prevented her from being “where [she] needed to be to take on a project like that.”
The newcomer to the MCU was aware that she “had things to deal with,” at the time that she lost the job, and Marvel even advised her to “get [her] credits up” before they would “love to work with [her]:”
“To be honest, I knew I had things to deal with, so… 2018, by the time the movie came out, I was in a much better place. I also, just logistically, I hadn’t done any films. So from the Marvel side, they were like,‘Get your credits up, and then we’d love to work with you.’”
Soon after the release of Black Panther in 2018, Thorne would go on to star in her first film, the romantic drama If Beale Street Could Talk.
The actress revealed that producer Nate Moore called her right away to give her the part of Riri Williams, or Ironheart, when it became available for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever:
“He asked me first if I was familiar with the character, Ironheart… I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, of course I do.’ And he was saying that they’re looking to tell her story next and they want to know if I would be interested in playing her…”
However, this time around in the MCU casting process, there was no need for an audition, and the on-the-spot offer left her speechless:
“[I’m] still silent at this point on the phone, because I’m waiting for him to tell me like, ‘I’ll send you the audition material. You can get us your tape by this day. We look forward to seeing your audition.’ I’m waiting for him to give me those details and it was just silent. And then he was like, ‘Hello?’ (laughs) He’s like, ‘Yeah, would you be interested?’ I was like, ‘Yes, absolutely.’”
In other parts of the Multiverse… Black Panther by Dominique Throne
Dominque Thorne recently made her debut as Shuri in Wakanda Forever, donning the legendary Black Panther suit somewhere in the limitless Multiverse. Thorne’s life obviously turned out for the better, though, as she entered the MCU and instantly grew close to Letitia Wright’s Shuri.
In order to receive an immediate, audition-free offer for Ironheart when the sequel came around, the young actress must have left a lasting impression on director Ryan Coogler and others at Marvel Studios. This was no small offer to accept given that she would have a major role in Black Panther 2 and get her own Disney+ series in addition to future MCU appearances.
Wright’s portrayal in the Black Panther movies drew a lot of positive attention. Marvel Studios obviously made the proper choice in that regard. Both actresses are winning now that Thorne is starring in her own Disney+ series and that she is taking the Wakandan franchise into the future.
The only real regret in this situation is that Chadwick Boseman is not around to collaborate with these two actresses more. He was wearing a “Stand Up To Cancer” shirt in this audition video, which may have been worn around the time of his 2016 cancer diagnosis and subsequent battle in the theatre.
Thorne has had the exceptional opportunity to engage with numerous MCU giants already, and her time in this franchise is only getting started. She received support from Iron Man’s Robert Downey Jr. in addition to receiving the chance to audition opposite Chadwick Boseman.
You can watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever right now on Disney+.
