Marvel/RDJ — Give The People What They Want

So the Russos are back, along with RDJ in a new role. Some people seem very angry, which, honestly, I don’t get.

Yes, it’s clearly an attempt to get lost audience to return. That’s hardly unprecedented. Audiences have had fan-favorite characters and actors since forever. Shakespeare killed off Falstaff, off-stage, because he was sick of him, then had to write The Merry Wives Of Windsor to please Queen Elizabeth. Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes, Fleming killed off Bond, only to bring both back due to popular demand. Is that selling out? I guess. It’s also giving the people what they want.

In universe, my hope is that he’s not a Tony Stark variant, but instead he’s just, as they announced, Victor von Doom. Again, this is nothing new. Actors came back all the time in new roles in the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes films. Charles Gray played two different characters in the Bond films, as did Maude Adams (to say nothing of repeatedly using the same voiceover actors). Hell, in just Marvel, we’ve seen Chris Evans, Jon Favreau, Alfre Woodard, and Mahershala Ali return as different characters.

Coming from a repertory theatre background, I love seeing actors playing different roles. RDJ has his Oscar, and now he wants to come back to play with his friends. I’m sure he’ll be well paid, but I think he wants to have fun. He’s also…