We know now.
Here’s a question none of us really have bothered to contemplate: What’s Marvel Studios going to do when Robert Downey Jr decides he’s done with being Tony Stark? That’s not saying he’s leaving after Iron Man 3, but the man is pushing 50, and he can’t be acting forever.
Badass Digest asked this very question to Marvel Studio’s head honcho Kevin Fegie:
I think Bond is a good example. Let’s put it this way: I hope Downey makes a lot of movies for us as Stark. If and when he doesn’t, and I’m still here making these movies, we don’t take him to Afghanistan and have him wounded again. I think we James Bond it.”
That’s exactly the answer i want to hear. Look, Marvel Studios owes just about everything it has now to Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. But, just because you have a new cast, doesn’t mean you have to pretend that the audience is dumb and start all over again. It’s been done with The Hulk already in the main Marvel Movieverse with Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. But, if the “ugh” reaction to Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man reboot is any indication, people don’t want to see the same basic story replayed. Even Sony knows this if you see the trailers proclaiming it’s the part of the story you never saw.
Think of it this way. In the comics, when a new creative team takes over, they add their own touch to the characters. Same look, but with unique touches. Think of new actors taking over parts as just a new creative team putting their own spin on the character. I know that there are other actors out there that are fully capable of playing Iron Man, or Captain America (Thor, that’s going to be hard, but lucky Chris Hemsworth is a young guy) or any other icons from the comics.
Just, let’s not repeat what we’ve seen already.
