The Disney Jr. Marvel universe is about to get a little bigger with the arrival of “Iron Man and his Awesome Friends”! The first Iron Man cartoon aimed at preschoolers will follow the adventures of Tony Stark (Iron Man), Riri Williams (Ironheart), and Amadeus Cho (Iron Hulk). These three super genius friends are out to protect their city and have an awesome time doing it! The first episode drops on Monday, August 11th.

Recently, Temple of Geek spoke with two members of the team bringing this show to life: Sean Coyle and James Eason-Garcia. Sean Coyle is the show’s executive producer and has worked on other Disney and Disney Jr. shows such as “Puppy Dog Pals”, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse”, and “Phineas and Ferb”. James Eason-Garcia is the co-executive producer and story editor. He has also worked on Disney shows, including “Elena of Avalor”, “Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures”, and “Pupstruction”.

Assembling “Iron Man and his Awesome Friends”

Q: With a lot of the characters that have suited up in the Iron Man armor for whatever reason in the comics, what brought you to Tony, Riri, and Amadeus for your trio for the show?

Sean Coyle: “The starting point really was that we wanted to have a team of super-geniuses. Super-geniuses but also super genius best friends. And the partnership that we have with Marvel and getting to kind of like brainstorm and figure out within the Marvel canon which characters best fit that dynamic, I mean this is where we landed and it’s kind of a no-brainer.

“I mean three wonderfully diverse human kids that are all super geniuses and they all offer a very unique and very fun and interesting point of view on not just the world but also how to tackle problems and what it means to be a good friend and what it means to be a good teammate and all that kind of stuff. … It came together so quickly and so naturally that it was kind of a no-brainer. And James can speak to the Hulk of it all!”

Why Iron Hulk?

James Eason-Garcia: “The other thing is who doesn’t like a Hulk? Who doesn’t want to be friends with a Hulk? And Amadeus just provided such a fun way in to partner with these other characters that might be a little more known to the Iron Man world and the Marvel of it all in bringing this other character in. But I think that’s what made it a great decision by our collaborations with Marvel and Disney Jr. and the full creative team. It brought this other point of view, this other perspective and just like a really cool looking Hulk version of an Iron suit!”

Lessons Learned for the Kids

Q: What are you hoping the kids who are watching the show take away from the adventures of Tony, Riri, and Amadeus?

Sean Coyle: “I think first and foremost just celebrate who you are. Celebrate yourself and celebrate your friends. Our characters- they attack each day with the intention of ‘What can I do to make this day the most awesome it can possibly be?’ And I think James and I, we talk about it all the time- that is such a healthy mindset.

“Especially like- I’m getting a little too heady maybe with this but post-pandemic especially we’ve sort of turned into this society of where there is a lot more of that sort of mental health and especially with kids, self-esteem issues and things like that. We really just want our show to showcase that it’s ok to be yourself and you- ANYONE can be a hero. You can be that hero, you can be that kid that goes off and tries to make their day or somebody else’s day the most awesome it can be. Whether you’ve got an Iron Suit or not is irrelevant- it’s truly what’s inside you that makes a difference.”

James Eason-Garcia: “And it’s all wrapped in just joy and fun and wish fulfillment. From the beginning of the episode to the end. Even our villains who are doing bad things, there’s fun there- there’s fun, there’s humor. Nothing is ever quite so dire, but the stakes are real to the characters and the world. And there’s fun and joy and excitement in solving the problem and saving the day.”

Awesome Friends Need Awesome Villains!

Q: I did ask about how you arrived at your trio of heroes, but what helped you pick the main villains for the show? Coming in as an MCU fan, I know that there’s a connection to Tony and Ultron. But I’m not as familiar with Swarm and Absorbing Man.

Sean Coyle: “So that was a really fun collaboration with the Marvel people for starters and those relationships evolve and we bring in the Disney Jr. point of view as well. I know for Absorbing Man that really started from a place of he’s such a visually interesting character. In animation, just the idea of this villain who can touch something and absorb its properties and his skin literally changes. That is super cool just to look at and we’ve written some really fun stories around that as well.

“And Talon Warburton who is just highly, highly, highly, HIGHLY unappreciated (all of our people- I keep saying that like ‘They’re all under appreciated!’ but everybody knows that they’re geniuses). He just adds this level of warmth and likability to this guy who’s just a big bully and a big buffoon most of the time. But with all of our characters, we love when they show up. Like the villains, you’re like: ‘Hooray it’s a Swarm episode!’ or ‘Hooray it’s an Absorbing Man episode!’ or ‘Hooray it’s Ultron!’ You enjoy them showing up and you enjoy the shenanigans, but then you also really love when the heroes save the day.”

Swarm!

Sean Coyle: “And with Swarm it was actually kind of an interesting story because we were kicking around some other villains, and it came from Marvel. They were like ‘Hey have you thought about Swarm?’ And we were kind of like ‘…No!’ And then when we talked more about what Swarm could be in our universe here- in our A-B-C, 1-2-3 multiverse (unofficially)- we were just kind of like ‘Yeah!’ This character that comes in and loves to make messes and can control an army of robot bugs and stuff like that? That is so fun and visually appealing and is also very different from what Ultron does and what Absorbing Man does. It all came together in a really perfect way.”

James Eason-Garcia: “And Vanessa Bayer is the voice of Swarm and she brought such wonderful- She’s kind of like a petulant, Valley Girl wicked witch! And that sounds crazy but when you hear it you’re like ‘That’s what it is!’

“And also to Sean’s point, we love watching the heroes deal with their shenanigans, but it’s also just so much fun to watch them get their comeuppance. It’s really really fun to see villains have to deal with repercussions, and we really like to make them deal with their comeuppance. It’s always really fun at the end to be like ‘How are they going to have to pay for this now?’”

…And An Awesome Supporting & Guest Cast!

Q: What other guest characters and voices can the audience look forward to in more episodes?

James Eason-Garcia: “We have so many wonderful guest voices. Getting John Stamos to play Howard Stark on the show was just an awesome get. It’s so fun because we are keeping his voice alive in this Disney Jr./Marvel preschool space. He was the voice of Iron Man in Spidey and now he’s the voice of Howard Stark. So there’s some fun there. Jessica Mendoza, the ESPN correspondent, comes in and plays just a die-hard baseball fan (Ironheart is also a die-hard baseball fan) and she was a joy to have. And I would say Jackée Harry as Riri’s grandmother just came in and brought just so much heart and humor to it. Most grandmother characters don’t get a lot of like… I don’t think they get a lot of fun in most other shows and this grandmother character is a lot a lot of fun!”

Sean Coyle: “Yeah it’s easy sometimes for kids shows to just make the parents kind of like the bumbling buffoonish characters, but our parents and even our grandmother- they get at it and they have some cool moments. And our kids- Because like in the real world sometimes the kids do need to lean on their parents and they do need to rely on parents and they do need mom and dad’s help or grandma’s help sometimes. So that’s real stuff that’s important to the DNA and the fabric of our show.”

“Iron Man and his Awesome Friends”… and an Awesome Dog!

Q: What was the thought process behind giving them a little team dog? Because I absolutely loved the dog!

James Eason-Garcia: “It’s so funny- everybody on the team is a pretty big dog person. Sean, you have two dogs- I have two dogs. Everyone in the writer’s room has at least one dog. And there’s something just so much fun about having your group of friends and you have a pet that you share together. You have your animal companion. We have such great episodes where we get to feature Gamma/Iron Pup.

“We have an amazing episode later on that was written by our script coordinator Marcial Rios that’s all about adoption and dog adoption. And of course Swarm shows up to cause some havoc and cause some mayhem. And there may be some, you know, interesting things that happen with Iron Pup along the way. It’s so much fun and action and charming, but there’s a lot of heart to it because it’s that love between a kid and their dog. I think we’ve all kind of adopted Gamma a little bit- she’s everybody on the team’s dog. We all love her so much.”

A Show for Parents to Enjoy Too!

Q: Do you think that this will be a show that parents who are Marvel fans will be able to enjoy watching with their kids?

Sean Coyle: “Oh, absolutely.”

James Eason-Garcia: “Yeah, Sean and I always talk about how we want this to be a co-viewing experience, we want parents to be just as excited to sit down and watch the show with the kids. We put so many different layers of things that kids won’t need to understand- it’s not important to the story- but it’s the extra layer of fun Easter-egg-y things. There’s- I can’t say the name of it- but there’s the iconic donut shop in LA- that’s a reference. There’s things like Stark Expo, there’s catchphrases- things that the parents and the families who’ve been watching the MCU or been reading the comic books. They know those things, they know those things exist so it’s kind of a fun little game for them to watch as well as these fun, engaging stories that their kids are having a good time watching.

“But they themselves are like ‘Oooh did I just hear that?’ or ‘I know what that’s a reference to!’ Which will then be great when the kids grow up and they’ve aged into that MCU phase or aged into the comic books themselves. And then they start being like ‘Hey I remember this when I used to watch “Iron Man And his Awesome Friends”!’”

My Thoughts on “Iron Man and his Awesome Friends”!

I don’t have any kids myself, but this show is utterly charming. Of course this is a more preschooler-friendly version of these characters and events. But those changes are made with care and often with humor! For example: Instead of Ultron wanting to wipe out humans, he instead wants to take all the toys for himself or broadcast his own song. Tony’s vice is listening to music too loud instead of… well, y’know. But this will be a great way to introduce younger kids to these characters and Marvel as a whole.

Honestly, I’m going to keep checking out the show if for nothing else than the voice cast! Tony Hale as Ultron is hilarious. The kids, Mason Blomberg, Kapri Ladd, and Aidyn Ahn (Tony, Riri, and Amadeus respectively) are all wonderful as well. I haven’t gotten a chance to see Swarm yet, but based on James’ description of Vanessa Bayer’s voice for her, I do want to see that!

The show really does what Sean said- it shows a wonderful group of friends doing what they can to make every day the best day ever. Sometimes that goes a little wrong when one of them goes a little too far with an invention or a plan, but they’re able to work together to solve any problem they face. Of course the stakes aren’t world-ending, but they are age-appropriate and demonstrate good teamwork and how to think problems through!

Plus, much like its predecessor “Spidey and his Amazing Friends”, this show has a rockin’ theme song. Mark Hoppus, the Grammy Award-nominated founding member of blink-182 wrote and performed “Totally Awesome”.

Check Out the Show!

“Iron Man and his Awesome Friends” premieres Monday, August 11th on Disney Jr. at 8:30am ET/PT and airs later the same day on the Disney Channel. Episodes will be available the next day on Disney+. The first 10 episodes will be available on August 12th in the US and select international markets.

You can check out the trailer now!

PS: Disney? Marvel? If this preschool show universe doesn’t already have a designation, it should absolutely be ABC123 like Sean said!