Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel developed another joint project that we never saw (Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
It's hard to imagine a multiverse reality in which Robert Downey Jr. I wouldn't have played The man of Hierro and taken away Marvel Universe to success, but this possibility almost came to pass. The actor who wore the armor from the beginning of the franchise in 2008 to Avengers: EndgameHe had other plans in superhero films that could get in the way of his signing as Tony Stark. But not only that, because Marvel itself was also involved They were able to change the fortunes of one of the most successful franchises of all time.
Between the 90s and 2000s, when the superhero genre emerged and Hollywood studios fought for the rights to comics, the idea of adapting the adventures of superheroes arose Deathlok with Robert Downey Jr. as the protagonist. His name may be unknown to those outside of the comics, but he was a powerful figure in the line of cinematic icons such as Terminator, Robocop or even Iron Man himself.
His story, created in the 1970s, turned around an American soldier named Luther Manning who resurrects as a cyborg after his death in battle. The idea was to use his body as a deadly machine in battle, but the plan goes awry when the character's human soul rises above the metal and resists cruelty and violence.
The film adaptation should be carried out by Paramount Pictures, the same studio that worked with Marvel to develop Iron Man in 2008 before Disney took over. The management was in the hands of Paul McGuigan, responsible for films like Hitman and series like Sherlocko Luke Cage; and the script was signed by David Self, to which we owe celebrated titles like “Road to Perdition”. While not many details of the project have been revealed, over the years those responsible have provided interesting information to put their teeth together.
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“It wasn't a rumor, it was true. I had been working on the film with Marvel and screenwriter David Self, but then the studio shelved it.” I was very interested, but Marvel changed their mind“Director Paul McGuigan told Gizmodo about Robert Downey Jr.'s Deathlok. “The script was really good.” David Self isn't far behind, he's a great screenwriter. And the idea of nanotechnology was fascinating. “It would have been a good film.”
A film about the fear of technology in the 2000s
Producer Avi Arad, a Marvel manager who was already behind titles such as “Daredevil”, “Hulk”, “Spider-Man 2” and “Elektra” and actively worked on “Deathlok”, also spoke to “The Hollywood”. Reporter” about this technological idea that the director mentioned. Due to the way cell phones began to take over society in the 2000s, thought it appropriate to talk about technological dependency through a robot character like this.
“We're all becoming more and more dependent on technology,” Arad told THR (via The Guardian). “One day it will be within us. For example, we no longer need a cell phone, it is built into our ears. Is this a cool thing or will it destroy us as humans? Deathlok investigates what consequences this will have.”
We could see too some of the sketches of what Robert Downey Jr. would look like under that robot armor. Marvel visual artist Constantine Sekeris shared illustrations on his Instagram of the first and only designs he made for the superhero. He admits that he abandoned a lot of guidelines in the process, as Deathlok never got past the early stages of development and there was no clear picture of where they would take the film.
“[Deathlok] Beyond that it never went any further,” Sekeris wrote alongside the release. “Other than character mentions, we never get any important notes, so I made it with a crazy design aesthetic. I don't really know why, but it was “cool” at the time, probably influenced by other films of that era or by the mentality of the other projects I was working on.”
We don't know what happened that prevented the project from continuing, but Had it come to pass, Marvel's fate likely would have been different.. If Robert Downey Jr. had played Deathlok, it's unlikely that the studio would have hired him again as Iron Man, and we can't deny that the actor's charisma was one of the virtues on which the Marvel Cinematic Universe was built in 2008 started. But who knows, maybe the star of Oppenheimer, Sherlock Holmes or Chaplin would have conquered us with that other superhero and the franchise would have been cemented with Deathlok in Iron Man's place.
This article was written exclusively for Yahoo en Español by Cine 54.
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