Is It Really the End of the Iron Age for Marvel Movies?

[fix-the-spade]

I wonder if Downey signed a contract stating no one else can play Stark? If not, that is what I'd like: a new actor playing the character.

That would be extremely unlikely, Disney/Marvel certainly wouldn't back themselves into a corner like that. He might be the only person allowed to be Tony Stark on screen until his current contract expires, but beyond that it's anyone's game.

I think this (and the impending departure of Chris Evans) is a massive opportunity for the MCU, sooner or later they are going to have to start killing people off. Whilst they've killed a couple of side characters (like Friga) they've been relying on deus ex machina somewhat to keep the established characters kicking, it would help them long term to establish that actually anyone can die in the MCU and re-establish some suspense.

What would really impress me is if Disney/Marvel were brave enough to kill one or both of them off early. That would be a suitable raising of the stakes (and stop people like me guessing plots in advance) and they have the money spare to just buy an actor out of contract if they want to (or have them appear in flash back etc).

 

[gorfias]

I think this (and the impending departure of Chris Evans) is a massive opportunity for the MCU, sooner or later they are going to have to start killing people off.

I suppose you could say that of 007. The only way he would die is in preparation for a reboot. I think it shows a lot of savvy for a writer to keep you compelled, even though you know certain characters are off limits.

Too often, it just feels contrived when a major character is killed. James Kirk, Gwen Stacy, Cyclops: just felt like the writers were killing time and had little emotional impact. It can be done. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when Nimoy/Spock "died" in wrath of Khan but for the most part, you need better writing. (Did anyone care that Chris Pines' Kirk died? Didn't buy it for a second.

And Marvel Superhero movies have a lot of trouble in the writing department. They are filming these things before they even have finished scripts/stories and it is showing. Thor Dark World was absurd with its Deus Machina. (though, the failed plot between the brothers would have been a better ending). I really liked the 1st Captain America, but really: Red Skull picks up and gazes at the Cosmic Cube? Would he have done that with weapons grade Plutonium?

Fan service is also a problem. They (me) are pissed when the plot doesn't stay true to the comic book, and bored if they are too faithful as there are ZERO surprises.

But with literally hundreds of comic book stories about Iron Man, they should be able to squeeze out a dozen movies with him. I'm hoping for a new actor, no origin story reboot: just get Iron Man back in action.

 

[Lightknight]

I'll have to massively disagree with you here. While I'm not a huge fan of Paltrow regularly I think she does an outstanding job as Pepper Potts. She has the whole register and is probably one of the best romantic fits for a character I have ever seen. It takes a lot of balls to handle Tonys Iron Man 1 personality but she is a champion. The way she handles that reporter he bangs is just....awesome. And she grows with the role, from secretary to boss to something of a hero in Iron Man 3. She is NOT just a pair of boobs and actually gets some stuff to do besides looking good. I adore her.

Oh, she certainly isn't a pair of boobs. She'd have to have them before I'd call her that. If they were hiring an actress for breasts or sex appeal then they picked the wrong girl. She is certainly attractive, but not intended to be eye candy, hopefully you can agree with that.

She is a good actor. A great actor even. But entirely interchangeable.

She is beautiful, funny and smart. And she doesnt take Tonys crap. Their chemistry is 10/10 to me.

This is a standard and stereotypical role for the female support role of these kinds of character. I've seen it pulled off countless times. Sorry, but this is like telling me that Mary Jane Watson made an excellent damsel when spiderman's Aunt would have been just as passable in the role.

Its easy to say that another actress could do her job....but really, no one could. They would do a different job. Maybe better (though I doubt it) maybe worse, but definitely different. The same can be said about Downey. I cant think of anyone that could take his place, but I'm sure there is someone. In the end it doesnt matter. His casting is PERFECT, and so is Paltrovs.

Many, and I mean MANY people could do what she did. Many people have filled the exactly same role. The long suffering love interest that is capable and smart while being supportive and holding the hero back from doing something dumb? That's practically as old as women's suffrage...

Downey's role is a little more specific and demanding. Still, I believe he could also be replaced. I just think he's damn near perfect for the role so a replacement would either be shooting for his success or owning the role in their own special way.

But sure, snarky overconfident genius is also an incredibly common role that has been accomplished regularly.

I think you're giving actors and actresses too much credit. Good writers and good directors are FAR harder to replace. Actors might as well be the tools they use. Sure, some tools won't work for some jobs and some tools are just better for some jobs than others. But I think we can all agree that Downey is one giant tool appropriate for this job .

My 2?.

My $2.60...

 

[Stevepinto3]

As far fetched as it is, I would be up for anything that gets Sam Rockwell back in the MCU. I can only dream about him piloting the Iron Man suit.

 

[Gerishnakov]

I kind of thought this was old news? I'm sure back when Iron Man 3 came out everyone had the same conversation, Downey Jr said he'd be back for Avengers movies, but not for any more Iron Man sequels.

 

[Azriel Nightshade]

I feel like for the cost of 1 RDJ, we could get a solid Black Panther, Ms/Captian Marvel or a an entire movie with any other character. Just hire a new handsome dude to be Stark and move the hell on.

 

[Edguy]

If Rhodes takes over the mantle, I hope they don't just change him into Iron Man, but keep him as War Machine. But the problem here is that 50 % of Iron Man's success (the other 50 % being CGi robot armor flying around to AD/DC being badass) lies with RDJ/Stark's humor and charisma. I don't see any of that pull from Rhodes. They better get another character (like Strange?) for that, and just keep Rhodes around for whenever they need some power armor to fly around and kick ass in a team up.

And let's hope they don't pull in any more movie kids. That's the exact thing the MCU DOESN'T need.

 

[Impossibilium]

I like most of these ideas. This is what I think Marvel should do going forward, as the actors start leaving:

- James Rhodes or Pepper Potts takes over as the main Iron Man, and Tony Stark becomes director of S.H.I.E.L.D., head of their science division, or (to really surprise people), president of the United States. This allows Robert Downey Jr. to still make cameos in the films going forward.

- Captain America dies, and is replaced by Bucky Barnes or Falcon.

- Thor becomes unworthy to wield his hammer, becomes a background player that makes cameos and shows up for big battles, and is replaced by Jane Foster (or whoever the female Thor in the comics turns out to be) or Beta Ray Bill. (Side note: Now that would make for a diverse Avengers team - women, black people, AND horse-faced aliens!)

- Hulk goes to hang out on another planet, being replaced by Red Hulk or She-Hulk.

- The rest of the Avengers are rotated out and returned as neccessary. For example, Black Widow and Hawkeye could go back to their old spy stuff, letting Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver take over as regular team members, but can just pop back up whenever Scarlett Johannson or Jeremy Renner feel like doing another movie. And any of them can be replaced by other heroes that are introduced along the way (Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, etc.).

 

[SOLID MATTIC]

Have Phil Coulson take on the Norman Osborne role. He was shown to be potentially going crazy at the end of the first season of AOS after being named the new director of SHIELD. He rebuilds SHIELD from the ashes but unfortunately his exposure to GH 325 causes him to eventually snap.

He can utilize the new SHIELD he controls much like Osborne used HAMMER. With the resources at his disposal he could find a way to get an Iron Man suit. Might be an interesting story to tell in the vein of Dark Reign/Siege.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

no no no, I can't stand Gwyneth Paltrow, make her the lead would be painful for me to watch

 

[Jandau]

I'm sorry, but if Paltrow gets to star in her own Iron Girl movie BEFORE we get a stand-alone Black Widow film with Scarlet Johannson, I'll egg Marvel central offices...

 

[zumbledum]

I found iron man to be a waste of screen time since the end of the first solo film. that was when he was interesting and when he finished the meaningful story arc . im not really a marvel fan but i do know they have a pretty big roster of characters and some of them have to be more interesting.

 

[Kahani]

In all seriousness, I don't like the idea of Downey not being Tony Stark anymore. Iron Man trilogy had a good conclusion and we don't need any more of those movies. Marvel should just keep the guy alive throughout The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3. Let him retire or something. I just hate the idea of Tony Stark dying.

Very much this. One of the biggest problems comics have is constantly bringing the same characters back over and over again, making everything into an endless soap opera rather than just telling the story and then letting it be. So far Marvel have done a great job of not doing that with the films - aside from a couple of recurring villains like Loki, who are obviously there specifically to be recurring villains and no-one thinks have ever been killed, every character who has died or otherwise been written out of things has stayed out in later films. The Dude, Frost Giants, Dark Elves, Chitauri, and so on. And now with Guardians doing so well at introducing entirely new heroes that most people have never vaguely heard of before, there's even less reason than ever to just keep bringing the same ones back over and over again. Iron Man's story arc is finished, so why not just leave the poor guy alone and focus on bringing some of the thousands of other heroes in Marvel's stable to the screen?

 

[Lightknight]

I'm sorry, but if Paltrow gets to star in her own Iron Girl movie BEFORE we get a stand-alone Black Widow film with Scarlet Johannson, I'll egg Marvel central offices...

Black Widow... you mean a spy movie regarding a "super hero" with no powers?

I mean, Scarlet as an actress is of course far more interesting. But I've always had issues with "superheroes" with no "superpowers". Green Arrow has his special arrows. Batman from the DC universe has his tech enhancements (and I'd argue super intelligence as he has outwitted super intelligent beings regularly). But Black Widow? Enhanced Immune system, resistence to mind control/reading, and slowed aging that has been retconned in? Ok...? Not really what I have in mind.

That being said.... yeah, she'd be more interesting than Paltrow as a protagonist. Even if I would just view it as a spy movie. Same as the Punisher.

 

[MaddKossack115]

In the comics, Pepper has her own suit of armor and codename, "Rescue" -- likely because there was already a villain named Iron Maiden. But if it were up to me, they'd let Pepper use it for the movies.

Actually, an article from Cracked (link [http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-superheroes-who-shouldve-gotten-movies-before-ant-man/]) actually pitched a movie premise for Pepper in her "Rescue" persona - the premise of the Rescue armor is that it's an unarmed Iron Suit designed to protect and, well, "rescue" people, like a fireman/paramedic on cybernetic steroids. So instead of just making "Iron Maiden's" story a gender-swapped version of "good guy uses Iron Suit for good, and must stop bad guy from using other Iron Suit for evil", "Rescue" would actually serve as a hook for a genre-mashup between superhero films, and disaster movies - rather than fight one-on-one villains, Rescue would be fighting "2012" levels of tsunamis, volcanoes, earth-bound asteroids, etc., giving a larger-scale threat than just another supervillain who goes through the motions of duking it out with the superhero. Even if Rescue HAD to be given an archnemesis for her own movie, it can still keep the disaster movie angle by making it a 'weather-manipulating' villain, like a mad scientist with an earthquake beam or somesuch. Since some viewers are already getting sick of the "superhero and supervillain finish movie with a climactic super-punch-fest", one where a superhero who holds back giant floods or pounds volcanos back in the ground would be a unique twist that can carry more water than just "Hey guys! It's just like an Iron Man movie, except Iron Man's role is being played by his girlfriend!".