The New Avengers may have capped off Marvel's Phase 5 theatrical slate, but this phase isn't truly finished until Ironheart arrives on Disney+. This new streaming series picks up where 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever left off, as Dominque Thorne's Riri Williams comes home to Chicago and builds a brand new suit of armor. She'll need it, too, because she's about to face off with Anthony Ramos' Parker Robbins, aka The Hood.
Who is The Hood, and why is he such bad news for this fledgling heroine? We're here to break down everything you need to know about the MCU's newest villain and his ties to a larger-than-life supernatural threat. These are the topics we cover here:
- Who Is Parker Robbins, aka The Hood?
- The Hood's Powers and Abilities
- The Hood's Rise in the Marvel Universe
- The Hood in Marvel's Ironheart Series
Who Is Parker Robbins, aka The Hood?
Parker Robbins used to be a small-time criminal pulling odd jobs to support his family. But then, one fateful day, a job gone wrong ended up granting Parker incredible power. After coming into possession of the boots and cloak of a Nisanti demon, he rebranded himself The Hood and began making more ambitious plays for power in the New York underworld.
Since then, The Hood has become a regular thorn in the side of the Avengers and other heroes. His ill-gotten power has given him great ambition, even if he doesn't fully understand that power. He'll stop at nothing less than claiming his palce as the new kingpin of Marvel's criminal underworld.
The Hood's Powers and Abilities
Parker Robbins started out as an ordinary human with no special powers or abilities, but that changed after he stole a mystical cloak and boots off the body of a Nisanti demon. These tools grant him useful powers like levitation, invisibility, and the ability to channel magical energy through his twin pistols. The Hood has been known to become possessed by his demonic benefactor, transforming him into a feral monster with super-strength.
The Hood also understands the value of strength in numbers. As part of his bid for control of the criminal udnerworld, he assembles a group of loyal followers that includes The Wrecking Crew, Madame Masque, Jigsaw, Chemistro, and The Wizard. It's the kind of muscle even Wilson Fisk could only dream of.
Demonic possession notwithstanding, The Hood's powers are fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. But his ambition has often led him to claiming artifacts of greater power and transforming himself into a true Avengers-level threat, including the Infinity Gems and the Asgardian Norn Stones.
The Hood's Rise in the Marvel Universe
The Hood was created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artists Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell and first appeared in 2002's The Hood #1. That series depicts Parker Robbins as a flawed but basically decent man, one who turns to a life of crime to support his family. But after a botched job results in Parker claiming the cloak and boots off the body of a slain Nisanti demon, he finds himself drawn into a larger world.
In the original The Hood miniseries, Parker manages to successfully navigate a feud with a crime lord known as The Golem and evade capture by the FBI. He vows to turn over a new leaf. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be, and in the years since, Parker has wholeheartedly thrown himself into his quest to become the top power in the criminal underworld.
The Hood resurfaces and plays a major role in Brian Michael Bendis' New Avengers series. He seeks to take advantage of the power vacuum created in the wake of the Superhuman Registration Act and the retirement of Wilson Fisk. The Hood assembles an army of supervillains and announces his ambitions to become the new Kingpin. Still busy staying one step ahead of Iron Man's Mighty Avengers team, the New Avengers are hard-pressed to stop him.
It's during this period that the true source of The Hood's magical gifts is revealed. His real benefactor is revealed to be none other than Dormammu, one of the most powerful supernatural villains in the Marvel Universe.
The Hood enjoys even greater power and prestige in the aftermath of 2008's Secret Invasion crossover, as he's recruited into Norman Osborn's Cabal, a group of supervillain power players that also includes Doctor Doom, Namor, Emma Frost, and Loki. That group is disbanded when Osborn is defeated and disgraced in 2010's Siege, but The Hood makes another bid for power soon after. He nearly succeeds in assembling the Infinity Gauntlet, proving just how far his ambition has come since his early days as a low-level street thug.
These days, Dormammu has been exorcised from Parker Robbins, but that hasn't brought an end to his villainous ambitions. He'll keep scheming and cheating death in his bid to become the top dog in the criminal underworld.
The Hood in Marvel's Ironheart Series
The Hood hasn't enjoyed very many appearances outside of Marvel's comics so far. To date, his appearances have been limited to a handful of free-to-play games like Marvel Heroes and Marvel Puzzle Quest and the anime series Marvel Future Avengers (voiced by Todd Haberkorn).
But that's all changing with the arrival of the live-action Ironheart series on Disney+. The Hood serves as the series' main villain, where he's played by In the Heights star Anthony Ramos. But why is The Hood of all characters headling this series when he doesn't have a strong connection to Ironheart in the comics? Let's dig a little deeper.
The Ironheart series is an offshoot of 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with Dominique Thorne reprising her role as teen genius Riri Williams. In the series, Riri is apparently kicked out of MIT and is forced to return home to Chicago. There, she'll design a new armored suit (much to the chagrin of her family and friends) and take on an aspiring crime boss known as The Hood.
Essentially, The Hood serves two main purposes in this series. It makes sense to focus on a villain with ties to the more grounded, street crime-centric side of the MCU when you consider Riri's own roots. Growing up in Chicago, her life has been sadly touched by gun violence, and her childhood experiences play into her desire to be a superhero. There's a special weight to pitting her against a villain who carries enchanted guns as his calling card.
It's also worth pointing out that many Iron man stories deal with the clash between science and magic. The Mandarin became Iron Man's chief arch-enemy precisely because he represents the antithesis of everything the billionaire industrialist Tony Stark stands for. The MCU never really explored that clash between technology and the supernatural in the Iron Man movies, so Ironheart is a way of making up for lost time. The Hood's magic is the counter to Riri's scientific brilliance.
The question is how the series will handle the reveal of the origin of The Hood's powers. We can see Ramos' Parker struggling against the malignant influence of his cloak in the Ironheart trailer. Is Dormammu also the secret force behind this character in the MCU? Or will The Hood be reimagined as the product of some other supernatural foe? And will he eventually grow to become the Avengers-level threat he is in the comics?
We'll find out the answers to these questions when Ironheart hits Disney+ on June 24, 2025. Until then, learn more about Dominque Throne's Ironheart and brush up on every Marvel movie and series in development.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
