Shea Couleé is Being Hailed as a ‘Standout’ by Marvel’s Ironheart Viewers Despite Review-Bombing

The Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn't seen anyone quite like RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars winner Shea Couleé before — and the drag entertainer, recording artist, and freshly minted star of the upcoming miniseries Ironheart knows her character is about to make a vivid impression.

via: Pink News

Viewers of Ironheart, the latest television series from Marvel Studios, are praising RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 5 winner Shea Couleé as a ‘standout’.

Ironheart, which dropped its first three episodes 24 June in a triple-whammy premiere, follows genius inventor Dominique Thorne as young ingenue Riri Williams, after the character’s debut in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

And while the six-part series will see Riri make her own Iron Man-inspired suit of armour, all while dealing with the mysterious Hood (Anthony Ramos), with whom she seemed to strike somewhat of an uneasy alliance in the first full length trailer, there are some extra-special guest stars in the series too.

Ladies, gays and theys, please welcome to the stage, RuPaul’s Drag Race titan, winner of All Stars 5, Chicago drag legend: Shea Couleé.

Couleé, as confirmed by the first three episodes, is playing a hacker called ‘Slug’ – though we’re pretty sure there’s more to the character than meets the eye…

Either way, viewers of Ironheart are praising the triple Drag Race alumni as a “standout”.

“SHEA? OUR SHEA COULEÉ? Oh they will always make Chicago so proud,” one watcher commented.

“Wasn’t expecting to like this gang of disruptors so much. They are FUN to watch. Shea Couleé as Slug is a standout and a vibe!” another wrote.

And a third posted, “I still can’t believe THE DRAG ICON SHEA COULEE is on my screen in a MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE show!!! A treat!!”

Despite glowing takeaways for Shea (Ms. Couleé if ya nasty), general reviews for Ironheart have been generally middle-of-the-road.

The Guardian write that the small screen can “barely contain the energy” of Thorne’s RiRi Williams, but that the show becomes “slightly tiresome” in its messaging.

Empire adds that the “central narrative underwhelms” viewers, and “some serious upgrades [are] required.”

And, because this is Marvel, the series is being review-bombed by unhappy fans, with Ironheart standing (currently) with 2.4k one star reviews (47%) of the overall ratings on IMDb. The series was also rated as low as 32% on Rotten Tomatoes – before it was even available to watch.

Though not stated, we’d hazard a guess at the review bombing having something to do with a Marvel project featuring a strong Black female lead, and some unapologetically queer supporting characters.

Couleé is joined by Zoe Terakes – the MCU’s first ever out trans actor. The cast is filled out by Lyric Ross as Riri’s friend Natalie Washington, Alden Ehrenreich as Joe McGillicuddy, Matthew Elam as Xavier Washington, Anji White as Riri’s mother and Manny Montana as Cousin John.

Nevertheless, queer fans of Ironheart were given (in trademark Marvel fashion) a small crumb of information that RiRi may be bisexual, due to a brief (like, really brief) conversation with her mother.

Ironheart‘s first three episodes are available to stream on Disney +. Its subsequent three episodes will be dropped weekly.