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Black Panther Writer Says That Douchey Iron Man Wouldn’t Find As Much Success Today


Marvel's Iron Man might have been a pretty big hit when it made its way to theaters back in 2008, but Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole believes that audiences might have responded to the old version of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) had the playboy billionaire's standalone movie released this year.

Cole was present at the Superhero Science panel at SXSW 2018 (via Indie Wire) with MCU creative Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer and Captain Marvel) and there the writer opened up about the changing face of the comic book movie genre.

"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."

Moviegoers have become more aware of the value of representation and films like the DCEU's Wonder Woman and MCU's Black Panther have both made waves in comic book movie history. It definitely makes sense that a disrespectful Iron Man would find trouble winning in a world where fans now look for authenticity and inclusivity on the big screen. Of course, characters change, and over the years fans have seen Tony mature and change his values.

We can't wait to see what Tony has to go through when Avengers: Infinity War hits the big screen on April 27.

Read: Josh Brolin on Deadpool 2 Possibly Making Fun of Thanos

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