Though Ironheart joined the Champions, the team of teenage superheroes led by Ms. Marvel and Miles Morales, she is solitary by nature and has some trouble making friends. Riri Williams was always more interested in the futuristic inventions she created than in maintaining a social life, but when she built her Ironheart armor and began fighting villains as a superhero, she began to realize that it comes in handy to have people she can rely on to watch her back. Over time, she grew closer to the other Champions, and formed an especially strong friendship with Viv Vision, the synthezoid daughter of the Vision.
Riri and Viv had a very natural understanding of one another right away, since Riri spends much of her time working with machines and Viv is technically a very advanced machine. Though some of the other Champions struggle to keep up with Viv’s logical and intellectually-advanced perspective, Riri intuitively understands where she is coming from and the two of them get along well as a result. This friendship turns out to be the key to saving the Champions in a storyline in which all of them except for Riri have forgotten their true identities.
In Champions #25-27 (by Jim Zub, Sean Izaakse, Max Dunbar, Marcio Menyz, Nolan Woodard and VC’s Clayton Cowles), the Champions travel through the Siege Parallel into Weirdworld to find Sam Alexander and Wasp, who were taken there by the Man-Thing. In Weirdworld, the Champions all find themselves in new, fantastical identities, with false memories of their lives in this world. Riri is the only one who remembers who they all truly are, and she struggles to find her teammates and make them remember the truth.
Sam and Wasp have been brainwashed by Eshu, the ruler of Weirdworld, and fight on his behalf. Riri attempts to reach Sam and remind him who he really is, but by herself she is not strong enough to combat the power he wields. Viv sees that she is in danger and magically merges with her Ironheart armor to protect her. This merge releases magical energy that wipes away the illusion of Weirdworld and causes all of the Champions to remember their true identities, thus ending the fight.
The magical nature of Weirdworld and the Siege Parallel enabled Viv to fuse with Riri’s Ironheart armor in order to offer her extra protection and guidance. The merge also ends up restoring the other Champions’ memories. Since this merge required magic to happen, it would not be possible in the ordinary reality in which the Champions reside. Nevertheless, it shows the importance of the friendship between Viv and Riri.
Both Viv and Riri sometimes felt like outsiders in the Champions and had trouble relating to the other teens, but they found friendship with each other. This friendship was so powerful that it allowed the two of them to come together and help their teammates remember their true identities. Though Viv and Riri may no longer be able to merge on a literal level, it is clear that they will continue to have each other’s backs, both as friends and as teammates.
About The Author
