Marvel fans react to Shea Couleé Ironheart casting
Famous Drag Queen Shea Couleé has been cast in Marvel’s Ironheart series, and fans are going crazy on social media.
Marvel Studiosis suiting up for their next batch of superhero projects, and on their roster is the new original series Ironheart,which was announced back in December 2020.
This new six-part series will be part of the MCU’s Phase Five, and fully introduce audiences to Riri Williams as she becomes the hero Ironheart, after building her own Iron Man suit by reverse engineering some of Tony Stark’s original technology.
The show has cast Dominique Thorne as the titular hero, along with other stars Lyric Ross, Anthony Ramos, and Alden Ehrenreich. But now one significant addition to the cast is world-renowned Drag Queen Shea Couleé.
Marvel fans react to Couleé’s Ironheart casting – as does Couleé herself
Shea Couleé is best known for her multiple stints – and wins – on the popular Emmy-winning reality show Rupaul’s Drag Race. Most recently she was on All Stars Season 7, where she competed against other winners of previous seasons.
While her specific role in Ironheart hasn’t been revealed yet, fans of Drag Race are incredibly excited to see her on their screens once again, which was only amplified when Shea posted about her Ironheart casting to her followers on Twitter.
BEYOND excited to be strutting out of the Werkroom right into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Words cannot express how excited I am to be a part of this amazing project! Acting was my first love, and I’m thrilled to be doing it again in such a big way! 💖https://t.co/QXGFfRrTqs
And naturally, as Drag Race fans tend to do, they all went wild.
it’s a great day to be a shea couleean@SheaCouleepic.twitter.com/M1fP7Lrl16
.@SheaCouleedidn’t need to join the MCU to be a hero, but good lord, we are glad she did:https://t.co/cXH5cNS3Dk#Ironheartpic.twitter.com/61RW8RCSwt
YES. A THOUSAND TIMES YES. SHEA MF COULEÈ ON A MARVEL SHOW IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO SEE.@SheaCouleebestie congratulations ❤️❤️❤️pic.twitter.com/d7cfm9dOa6
Some fans even tried to speculate what her casting would mean for the future of the MCU, and whether she would be playing one of the franchise’s newest superheroes.
Phase 5 confirmed omgpic.twitter.com/kKHIqwNXH1
— Sierra La Puerta (@_sierralapuerta)August 13, 2025
I think that Shea will play “Shade” the first Marvel’s Superhero Drag Queen! ALSO according with the co-creator Shade was inspired by The Vixen,Monét X Change,Dax ExclamationPoint and Shea Couleé, the latter of whom was also used as a photo reference for the character🔥#DragRacepic.twitter.com/vujtzGrooy
Let’s get one thing straight: Shea Couleé has BEEN a superhero for years. Marvel is lucky to have her.pic.twitter.com/fE4DGO1hOU
Fellow Drag Race All Star Jinkx Monsoon was also quick to congratulate the new Ironheart star.
and we will be watching! 👏👏❤️❤️https://t.co/OZaa7OMQQa
Shea showed love showed to of her fans for their support, and also didn’t hesitate to hit back at her haters, claiming that while many didn’t think she was good enough for Drag Race All Stars, she was certainly good enough for Ironheart.
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Me last week filming a Marvel series & watching all my haters go off about they thought I didn’t even deserve to be top 4. 😂pic.twitter.com/m1COI7nvrc
