Robert Downey Jr. has every reason to look happy.
MTV’s Splash Page has an interview with Robert Downey Jr., in which he talks about how the Iron Man franchise will mesh with the Avengers universe. Have something to say, Rob?
“If we don’t get it right it’s really, really going to suck,” said Downey. “It has to be the crowning blow of Marvel’s best and brightest because it’s the hardest thing to get right. It’s tough to spin all the plates for one of these characters.”
That’s certainly true enough. That’s why it’s always such a mess when superhero movies start playing with–for some completely unexplainable reason–multiple villains.
He also spoke about the pitfalls of blending a more realistic character like Tony Stark, whose superpowers are scientifically based, with other parts of the comics universe that are, shall we say, more mystical.
“I think its important that I do what I’m supposed to do which is keep my side of the street clean,” said Downey. “The danger you run with colliding all these worlds is [director] Jon [Favreau] was very certain that ‘Iron Man’ should be set in a very realistic world. Nothing that happened in ‘Iron Man’ is really outside the realm of possibility. Once you start talking about Valhalla and supersized super soldiers and jolly green giants it warrants much further discussion.”
I’ll say–those folks from Valhalla can be such pains.
Downey also commented a little on Iron Man 2 (he was downright chatty, it seems) over on the regular MTV page:
Our idea is that this one brings us much more beneath the armor of Tony. It’s one thing to say you’re Iron Man, but what does it actually mean to become someone that can shoulder that responsibility? As we noticed at the end, he’s still not even responsible enough to read off the card that Shield and the government have given him. He still can’t help doing his own thing. He’ll have to come to terms with that. I think we could have more excitement. We could use a love triangle or two. I think it’s really important to keep up that idea of Tony’s interfacing with inanimate objects. He’s at his greatest ease when he’s faced with machines. I would love to see a little shout-out to the fact that he’s an MIT graduate. I love the idea of him inviting over a bunch of super-nerds from MIT who wind up figuring into ["Iron Man 3"] a little bit.
So what you’re saying is…”with great power comes great responsibility?” Works for me. And also, bring on the nerds, by all means!
Thanks, Robert Downey Jr., one guy who does not want 2008 to end. He was this year’s Josh Brolin, right? You know, the guy who suddenly comes out of nowhere and has a career year that he is able to parlay into another career year–which is a lucky thing for all audiences.
