When Marvel mastermind Kevin Feige first announced the new Ironheart Disney+ series, he said it would feature genius inventor Riri Williams, a.k.a. Ironheart, taking on a mystical villain known as the Hood. It will be a full-on battle of science versus magic for the first time in the MCU. The Hood will be played by actor Anthony Ramos in the show. Riri Williams actor Dominique Thorne confirmed that Ironheart won’t debut until 2025 but, in the meantime, we can get to know her upcoming adversary. Here’s a complete rundown of the origin story, powers, and overall Marvel Comics history of the Hood.
A Brief Explanation of Parker Robbins a.k.a. The Hood
When small-time crook Parker Robbins came upon a cloak of dark magic, he was granted incredible powers and became a supervillain known as the Hood. He used his street smarts and new supernatural abilities to become one of Marvel’s premiere supervillain crime bosses. Despite his small beginnings, he’s risen to become a threat to the Avengers and the entire Marvel Universe. He has been called the “Godfather of all supervillains.”
The Hood’s Comics Origin Is a Story of Rags to Riches
The Hood first made his comic book debut in a self-titled mini-series in 2002 by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artists Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell. Growing up in New York City, a teenage Parker Robbins witnessed a battle between Daredevil and Electro, but he found himself inspired by the villain rather than the hero. As an adult, Robbins lived a shady life where he lied and stole to get by.
When he needed money to provide for his sick mother and pregnant girlfriend Sara—not to mention his secret mistress—he took a job from his crooked cousin John King to help rob a warehouse. Rather than finding valuable goods inside, they stumbled across the remains of a demonic ritual and came face-to-face with an actual demon. Robbins killed the demon with a gunshot to the head and, not wanting to leave empty-handed, took its cloak and boots.
Soon after, he discovered the boots gave him the power of levitation and the cloak turned him invisible while he held his breath. Robbins used these new tricks to help pull off daring robberies, and the police gave him the nickname “the Hood.” Emboldened by his newfound power, Robbins went on to become a notorious supervillain and the head of a criminal syndicate.
The Hood’s Demonic Powers in the Marvel Comics, Explained
The Hood’s powers and abilities originally come from his magical cloak and boots. The cloak turns the Hood invisible while he’s holding his breath. The boots give him the ability to levitate. After his origin story, the boots were never mentioned again and the Hood’s powers were attributed solely to his cloak.
However, Parker Robbins without the cloak is no slouch in a fight. He’s a great shot with his signature twin pistols. Outside of combat, Robbins is a powerful leader and strategist. He uses his persuasive skills to recruit supervillains to his criminal syndicate and outmaneuver other crime lords to rise to the top as the Kingpin of crime.
Over the years, Robbins discovered his cloak had additional powers, such as teleportation and resurrection. The cloak also gives him the ability to see through all manner of illusion. During Secret Invasion, he was able to identify who was a shapeshifted Skrull. When battling Doctor Doom and a fleet of Doombots, he could tell which one was the real Doom.
In times of desperation, the Hood transforms his body to become more demonic. His face dons a monstrous guise, his fingers turn to claws, and he gains incredible strength, speed, and magical ability. In his demon form, the Hood can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Wolverine and Doctor Doom. (Speaking of Wolverine, one of the Hood’s most infamous acts is shooting Logan in the crotch during a fight. It didn’t end well for him.)
After some time with the cloak, Robbins began to commune with the source of its demonic power and learned it was none other than Doctor Strange baddie Dormammu. The ruler of the Dark Dimension helped Robbins access more of the cloak’s power. But the longer Robbins wore the cloak, the more he was corrupted by Dormmamu’s evil.
When an exorcism broke the link to Dormammu, Loki made a deal with Robbins to restore his powers with the Norn Stones of Asgardian legend. Loki eventually took back the power of the Norn Stones and left Robbins powerless once more. Robbins wound up in jail until a fellow prisoner told Robbins about the location of an Infinity Gem. So Robbins escaped and almost succeeded in gathering all of the gems before he was stopped by the Avengers. No matter how many times Robbins gets knocked down, he always finds a way to reclaim his power and continue his quest to become the Kingpin of crime.
The Hood Is a Criminal Mastermind
Since becoming a crime lord in New York City, the Hood has started several criminal organizations and joined the ranks of a few supervillain groups. His first big push to become the Kingpin of crime came in the fallout of Civil War when the superhero community was in shambles. This made it easy for the Hood to amass power and organize a large group of villains to take advantage of the situation.
As the Hood’s criminal empire expanded and he learned more about the dark power of his cloak, he became a major ongoing threat to the Avengers. When Norman Osborn took over the world during the Dark Reign era, the Hood joined Osborn’s ruling council of villains called the Cabal. The Hood started his own evil version of the Illuminati with fellow baddies Black Ant, Enchantress, Mad Thinker, Thunderball, and Titania.
Anthony Ramos Will Deliver a New Twist on the Hood in Marvel’s Ironheart Series
The story of Ironheart sees gifted MIT student Riri Williams return to her home city of Chicago where she reconnects with her roots and tries to rebuild her suit of armor, only to be pulled into a world of danger when she meets Parker Robins, aka the Hood. When the Hood makes his live-action debut in Ironheart, he will be a bit different than in the comics.
Hood actor Anthony Ramos told Entertainment Weekly that his Marvel Cinematic Universe Parker Robbins will be from Chicago instead of New York—specifically the Humboldt Park area of Chicago, which has a large Puerto Rican community. The change makes sense not only because it brings the hero and villain together but creates a personal link between them. “We created this whole backstory with [Parker Robbins’] mom being from the Young Lords and raising him that way [as a gang member-turned-activist].,” said Ramos. “Chicago plays a huge part in the identity of all of our characters and the identity of this show, so I’m really excited for people to experience that.”
Another big change will see the typically heroic Riri Williams joining the Hood’s criminal organization. In the comics, the two characters don’t have any sort of connection, so their relationship will be a brand new element unique to the MCU. As we saw at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Riri had to leave her shiny new suit of armor behind in Wakanda, which is why Ironheart finds her joining the Hood’s gang to fund the creation of a new one.
“We see this common thread between [Riri Williams and Parker Robbins] where it’s like, ‘How much can I get? I get a little bit and I see how much I can do with this little bit, maybe if I get a little more I might be able to do a little more with that.’ And we see how that affects the characters positively and negatively,” Ramos explained. “And then we start to see how the characters start to use each other to get ahead and to get more, whether that’s more power, more something, more money. It’s really cool to see that journey in how the characters start to interweave between one another’s stories.”
We cannot wait to see what the MCU does with the Hood next year when Ironheart hits Disney+.