Eric André's Ironheart Character Has A Connection To The Last Marvel Hero You'd Expect

This article contains spoilers for "Ironheart" season 1, episode 1, "Take Me Home."

Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) is out of Wakanda, out of MIT, and in with a seriously bad crowd. The long-awaited "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" spin-off "Ironheart" takes Riri back to her roots in Chicago, with a burning desire to build something truly unsurpassed but a chronic lack of funding. To alleviate the latter, she agrees to join Parker "The Hood" Robbins' (Anthony Ramos) gang of criminals for some hopefully easy heist money after being convinced that they're palatable enough to work with in the short term.

Parker's group features the sort of misfits you'd expect to see in a heist-themed MCU project, from Shea Couleé's hacker Slug to Sonia Denis' erratic Clown. Perhaps the most surprising presence among them is noted comedian Eric André, who plays the team's resident tech guy, Stuart Clarke. Stuart spends much of his screen time radiating vague ineptitude and trying and failing to establish the ill-fitting code name "Rampage," and he's utterly unaware that Parker and the gang intend to replace him with Riri.

Stuart is treated as a joke character through and through, but his comic book counterpart has somewhat more clout (as well as powers). He's also noted for having a working relationship with an incredibly unlikely Marvel crime-fighter: Frank Castle, better known as the Punisher.

Though he's primarily a chew toy, "Ironheart" episode 1 offers one key hint that Stuart might actually be more than meets the eye. After he's repeatedly been disrespected by the rest of the Hood's gang, Riri — a proven technical genius — immediately recognizes Stuart from a tech Discord and independently confirms that, in her circles, he's indeed known as Rampage.

This small but potentially significant nod may be a sneaky reference to the character's comic book iteration, a fairly capable tech-based supervillain who rocks a powerful super-suit and has been known to return from the dead in mysterious ways. With the help of his exoskeleton suit, this Rampage has your average set of armored hero superpowers — flight and massively enhanced physical attributes — as well as the special ability to emit hypnotic gas. 

He's also notable for being one of the extremely rare breed of Marvel characters with a criminal past who have interacted with the Punisher and weren't immediately greeted with a hail of bullets. This is because Frank Castle wasn't aware of Rampage's criminal past when he started working with the hacker ... and when he did find out, suffice to say that the pair's relationship deteriorated extremely quickly.

Though best known for his gonzo antics on "The Eric André Show" (such as a truly unforgettable interview with Lance Reddick), Eric André can act. In fact, he once turned down the role that won Kieran Culkin an Oscar when he decided playing Benji in "A Real Pain" wasn't for him. Even so, it would be pretty difficult to picture him fighting crime with Jon Bernthal's growly Punisher — especially since the latter has his hands full in New York for the time being, courtesy of "Daredevil: Born Again" and the upcoming "Punisher" special (along with his role in 2026's "Spider-Man: Brand New Day").

Granted, it wouldn't be the first time the MCU Punisher has had backup. In "The Punisher" season 1, Frank Castle teams up with David "Micro" Lieberman (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who also plays Ben Grimm in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps"), an NSA analyst who was forced to fake his death after learning too much and is looking for a way to regain his life. After a rocky start with the Punisher, the two find out they share a target, and Micro becomes Frank's mission control and de facto partner. However, as it stands, all signs point to the MCU intending to let the Punisher fly solo for a while ... that is, unless Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) needs a favor.

Episodes 1-3 of "Ironheart" are currently streaming on Disney+.