Last week on Marvel’s Ironheart, we got the surprising twist that Joe McGillicuddy (Alden Ehrenreich) is not a regular “Joe.” He’s actually Ezekiel Stane, the son of Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) from Iron Man. And this week? Surprise, surprise, we’ve got another big Marvel connection. Spoilers past this point, but midway through Episode 4, “Bad Magic,” we meet none other than Zelma Stanton, played by actress Regan Aliyah.
In the show, Zelma works at a combo candy shop/magic shop called, appropriately, Stanton’s. It’s run by her mother, Madeleine Stanton (Cree Summer), who is a friend of Riri Williams’ (Dominique Thorne) mother, Ronnie (Anji White). And with Riri having issues with the magically powered Hood (Anthony Ramos), it only makes sense to consult some magic folks for help.
Zelma, though, is even more magical than Ronnie is expecting… She dreams of studying at Kamar-Taj, the mystical monastery where Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) studied in the first Doctor Strange movie… As she describes it, it’s her “reach school.” She’s also able to identify that the piece of the Hood’s cloak Riri cut off is bad magic (we could have told her that), and access a mystical section of Stanton’s set in what she describes as the Western Cortex of Neverish. Oh, and she’s self taught.
Later in the episodes, Zelma helps out Riri in building a magic/tech hybrid armor to battle The Hood, and she pops up again in a post-credit scene teasing… Well, probably nothing, since it’s unlikely the threads of this show will be continued. But point being that Zelma is yet another young hero in the MCU.
Who Is Zelma Stanton In Marvel Comics?
First introduced in 2015’s Doctor Strange #1, written by Jason Aaron with art by Chris Bachalo, Zelma was a librarian from the Bronx who got infected with magical mind maggots. After getting cured by Doctor Strange, he offered her a job as his librarian — and thereafter, Zelma was a staple of the team’s run on the comics.
After that, she moved on to the spinoff title Strange Academy, which was a school for mystically-inclined children run by Doctor Strange and other mystical Marvel characters. Zelma helped run the school, as well as recruit students. And of course, she also worked as a librarian.
Zelma isn’t necessarily magical herself, but as a quick study she’s been able to use magic occasionally. And at some point thanks to a magical attack, she became more sensitive to the magic around her (hence being a good recruiter for Strange Academy).
To tie this back to Ironheart, clearly the character is different on TV. But it’s likely that her wanting to go study at Kamar-Taj was a setup for the Strange Academy TV show that was in the works by Marvel, but now is likely not to happen. TV Zelma is also overtly magical, and clearly younger than the Zelma we saw in Marvel Comics. But the bones of the character are still there.
Who Is Regan Aliyah, The Actress Who Plays Zelma Stanton On Ironheart?
Prior to Ironheart, Regan Aliyah was likely best known for playing Julianna on Netflix’s To All The Boys I Loved Before spinoff series, XO, Kitty. She also appeared as herself on two episodes of Club Mickey Mouse, and opposite Giancarlo Esposito, Michelle Dockery, and Zoe Colletti in the 2024 horror film Please Don’t Feed The Children.
At the current time, Aliyah doesn’t have any announced projects beyond Ironheart. But you can follow her on Instagram, where she has 411k followers. And she’s a rapper, with one single out: Walkout, which you can listen to on all platforms now!
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