Regan Aliyah Says One Marvel Spinoff Could Replace Harry Potter
Ironheart’s shocking post-credits scene takes the MCU in a supernatural direction.
Ironheart worked hard to bring its title character (Dominique Thorne) out of the shadow of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), but the series has been hiding another character’s origin story in plain sight.
Across six episodes, Ironheart has explored the connection between technology and magic: as Riri Williams scrambles for a way to defeat Parker Robbins, aka the Hood (Anthony Ramos), she finds herself fighting magic with magic. She also gains an unlikely ally in Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah), a self-taught witch running a bookstore with her mother in the heart of Chicago. Zelma’s role has been kept under tight wraps — and with Ironheart’s final episodes now streaming on Disney+, it’s easy to see why. Though the series felt self-contained at first, Zelma opens the door to the supernatural corner of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, establishing a strong connection to the franchise’s most powerful magic user, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
“Magic is magic. It’s not technology... It’s going to take [from you].”
“I was screaming on set when I got the scripts and saw that I got to say, ‘You ever heard of Doctor Strange?’” Aliyah tells Inverse. A Strange super-fan, the actor had to play coy before Ironheart premiered — but now that the cat’s out of the bag, Aliyah’s free to manifest a team-up with the former Sorcerer Supreme. “Everybody in my family knows I have Doctor Strange comics taped to my wall, [so] the fact that I got cast as a character that's literally his apprentice in the comic books is crazy to me,” she adds.
As Ironheart enters its home stretch, Aliyah sits down with Inverse to unpack the show’s Doctor Strange connection, her wild post-credit sequence with the Hood, and why a Strange Academy spin-off might not be far behind.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Ironheart Episode 6.
Riri fights magic with magic in Ironheart.
Just as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduced Riri in unfamiliar territory, Ironheart uses Zelma to introduce magic, all while tweaking her origins. In the comics, she’s an apprentice to Doctor Strange, but in the MCU, her mother, Madeline (Cree Summer), is the only magic teacher she’s got. Much as she yearns to see the world, train at Kamar Taj, and hone her magic skills further, Zelma is a great guide to Riri. She warns our heroine that all magic comes at a price — a lesson Riri learns the hard way when she infuses magic into her new iron suit and loses the connection to her AI companion, based on memories of her late friend Natalie (Lyric Ross).
“I do think there’s a world where she is like, ‘I told you there’s a price to everything,’” Aliyah says of Zelma’s headspace in that moment. “Magic is magic. It’s not technology. It’s not; Oh, this breaks apart. I can rebuild. It’s going to take [from you].”
We’ve seen a handful of the MCU’s strongest magic wielders buckle under the weight of that lesson, most notably for both Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Though Riri mostly relies on tech, she’s establishing a dangerous connection with magic — especially after striking a deal with the demon Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen) in the Ironheart finale.
Riri learned the true cost of magic in Ironheart Episode 5: “It’s not technology... It’s going to take.”
Zelma isn’t out of the woods either. In Ironheart’s post-credits scene, she crosses paths with Parker, freshly freed from his own sour deal with Mephisto. With his former crew disbanded, he’s searching for new allies well-versed in magic, and he’s hoping that Zelma will be up for “some abracadabra,” whatever that entails. He’s less powerful without his hood, but it’s hard not to worry that Zelma will get mixed up in some messy magic alongside Riri.
“I think she’s a smart girl,” Aliyah says wryly. “[But] if there were to be a second season or this storyline continued in another project, I’m like, ‘Don’t be bad, girl,’” Aliyah says. “Return to your roots. Go to that library. Go to Strange, knock on that door, say, ‘Please, please, please,’ because [this is] not the route you want to take.”
“It’s my dream to really stand next to Benedict [Cumberbatch] and act.”
Aliyah is referencing Zelma’s introduction in Doctor Strange Vol. 4, in which Strange finds the mild-mannered librarian on his doorstep, fighting a psychic attack from Mind Maggots. After her affliction is cured, Zelma becomes the custodian of Strange’s magical library, his protege, and later, a member of the faculty at his school for the magically-inclined, Strange Academy.
Ironheart makes a few references to Zelma’s arc in the comics, from the Mind Maggots in her interdimensional study room to a direct nod to the Sorcerer Supreme. Aliyah is quietly hoping that those nods will add up to a crossover down the line — if not via run-in with Strange himself, then in a Strange Academy spin-off. A Strange Academy series has been rumored since 2022, and though Marvel reportedly shelved plans for an adaptation earlier this year, Ironheart brings the series closer to fruition than ever.
Aliyah is ready to join the Doctor Strange crew: “Strange Academy could do something really, really cool.”
“All I can say is ‘I hope so,’” Aliyah says. “Strange Academy could do something really, really cool, and tap a market that people are dying for. The reason that Harry Potter is what it is because it really takes you to a world beyond what you know.”
Strange Academy could give Marvel a means of competing with the Wizarding World, just as Warner Bros. is developing a Harry Potter reboot.
“So many people wish they could support Harry Potter nowadays,” Aliyah says, referencing the ongoing boycott against Wizarding World creator J.K. Rowling. “They’re itching for something new that they can be super-fans of again. And in my head, Strange Academy could really fill that space.”
All Marvel needs to do is say the magic words.
