Robert Downey Jr. in Talks to Join Captain America 3
Hey Folks! Wanted to keep it short and comment on the rumor mill this morning. So, Variety has been positing that Robert Downey Jr. (RDJ) is in talks to be in Captain America 3 to reprise his role of Tony Stark/Iron Man. Not only this, but the “news” they’re posting is that the movie’s story will be the Civil War plot line for the third installment of the Cap series. For those not as familiar Civil War is a Marvel comic series that centers on an introduced super human registration act, where all super-powered individuals would need to register with the government revealing their secret identities to the public. Captain America opposes this act, feeling as those it is a breach in civil liberties, while Tony Stark endorses it with the feeling that this act will create accountability for super-humans. The two opposing forces face off with various big names in the Marvel Universe (villain and hero alike) aiding each of them. Now, as much as I would love to see this on-screen it begs the question: is this really what’s going to happen?
Right off of the bat the article is reporting “in talks”, the only thing this leads me to believe is that this is Hollywood speak for nothing is set in stone. Unless Marvel Studios themselves puts out a release, this is just part of the rumor mill. We have to be this way because, as fans, we tend to lift a little too far off of the ground when we hear things like this. When that happens, we can get a bit whiny when things don’t go as rumored.
Out of everything that I’ve researched nothing has set this particular plot line in stone. The bulk of the conclusions being drawn right now have everything to do with Marvel Comics teasing that they will reboot the series in 2015. This teaser has nothing to do with the cinematic universe, but the printed comics universe. The Russo brothers, directors of Captain America: Winter Soldier, have gone on record to say that they would like to see this plot, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to happen. One major point being that the main character of the story, Peter Parker (Spider-man), is not currently owned by Marvel Studios. This key point doesn’t make the use of the plot line impossible, but it would require some work in its retelling. The other thing to keep into consideration is that the story itself is extensive, and would be, dare I say, a bit difficult to tell in two hours time without stripping too much for anything interesting or lasting.
Another point for your consideration is that this is a Phase 3 Marvel movie, meaning that the culmination of stories told in this phase will lead to the Avengers facing off against Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet. If the Civil War plot hasn’t been resolved by then, I would go as far to say it would hang in the wind seeing that it’s relevance would be brought into question with a threat of a galactic nature. Do you just hit pause on Civil War while we handle Thanos?
All that being said, where a Civil War story would bring up some questions and loads of difficulties, adding Iron Man to the story may prove interesting in other ways. Tony Stark as a character has always been an interesting foil to the character of Steve Rogers. Tradition vs. Innovation. While Stark pushes Rogers to embrace the new technological world that he lives in, Rogers, in turn, causes Stark to push himself beyond the limits of reliance on tech. It could be interesting enough just as a character study.
The Russo brothers have stated that they both want to make Captain America movies more grounded than others in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and have successfully set up his story as that as a political spy thriller. They want to keep it that way to give Cap his own mark in film. This makes sense, because, even though these films from Marvel are superhero flicks, they uniquely give you varied tastes in how that type of movie is shown. We’ve had a range of styles in these past few films that give you superheros, but in different takes on the genre. The news of RDJ being in talks does peak interests, but I don’t think it’s anything to jump the gun on with much else.