Over the weekend, “Black Panther” co-writer Joe Robert Cole was speaking at a “Superhero Science” panel at SXSW, and he had some surprising things to say about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to the writer, if “Iron Man” was released today, we probably wouldn’t have the MCU as we know it.
According to a report from Indie Wire, Cole said, “Think about where we are now, with this very vapid, unintelligent president and our world is crackling on the edges because of that. Think back to Tony Stark, him being douchey and being okay. If that character, Stark, was created in a movie today, I wonder if the response would be like, ‘Oh, it’s cool that he’s douchey and disrespectful to women … That’s fine.’ I think we’re at a different place. I think it’s a better place.”
Whether you agree or not with his politics, there’s no denying that Cole is onto something with this statement. Looking back at 2008’s “Iron Man,” fans were all too eager and happy to root for Tony Stark, a boozing, womanizing, billionaire weapons maker. Ten years later, can you think of a worse person to root for?
Of course, that description of Tony Stark is very reductive, and doesn’t include the whole character arc that leaves him a changed man. However, even in later appearances, Tony Stark has been shown to be a rich, loud-mouthed, douchey billionaire. The only reason we give him a pass is because we know that Iron Man is a great character and we’ve grown to accept his flaws over the last 10 years.
With “Wonder Woman” and “Black Panther” giving future filmmakers the blueprint for making socially relevant, crowd-pleasing superhero films, it’s probably for the best that Tony Stark, and the old guard of characters, are exiting soon enough, ushering in a new crop of heroes.