This is by far the biggest bullshyt I've ever read on The Coli.
Iron Man was not a popular character before the movies, he was always a B/C-lister in the Marvel Universe with only a handful of memorable stories. During the 90's his cartoon couldn't even touch the shadow of the popular superhero cartoons. I'm not gonna say that Dr Strange was on the same level of popularity as Iron Man, but neither were popular comic book characters.
RDJ had barely started his up-swing, seeing that the only memorable film he did in the years before Iron Man was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which was a great role for him but the movie didn't reach mainstream audiences at all. If people knew RDJ, it was because of his past as Hollywood's biggest junkie/alcoholic. Hell, when he was announced to play Iron Man people were literally making sarcastic jokes like "Oh, we're getting an alcoholic superhero now? Ha ha!" in reference to RDJ's past, completely oblivious to the facts that Iron Man's most famous story had him struggling with alcoholism, and RDJ had been steadily building his way back up with great performances in smaller movies.
These people knew absolutely nothing about the character and nothing about the actor. And you know why it became a hit? Because it was a great movie that caught lightning in a bottle. They got everything right in a way Hollywood hadn't managed to pull off since the original Pirates Of The Carribean.
The only reason why Dr Strange in my eyes needs a bit of a recognizable actor is because the magic stuff will make the movie very different from the other Marvel movies, in the sense it can't be a straight up superhero movie. That's what makes Dr Strange a bit harder to sell, not the character's popularity.
Iton Man is not popular, but he is a B or C list character in the Marvel Universe? So if you are not an A list character you are not popular? How did the Avengers make money then, it is comprised of nothing but B list characters in the marvel universe.
Barely starting an upswing...is still starting an upswing...or did I miss something here?
These people know nothing about the character and nothing about the actor, yet they somehow got a director in John Favreau who completely nailed the entire marvel and Iron Man universe and feel, and got RDJ, who is now so synonymous with being Iron Man that he was able to renegotiate his deal with the studio for back end points on the movie, very difficult to do, and even get the others actors some more money in the next avengers movie, nigh impossible to do. Also, these guys came up with the marvel movie formula...literally ever marvel movie after Iron Man has followed the format, setting, and tone, of Iron Man, outside of the X men movies which are a world unto themselves.
So somehow Iron Man was not popular, somehow RDJ was a nobody, somehow the studio had no idea what they were doing, and somehow in spite of all of that they got lucky and made a ton of money on a movie that they have built a mulit billion universe out of, where other studios have been failing epically at it forever...ok
Dr Strange is popular? When...Where? Show me some Doctor Strange comic books that sold a ton. Show me the ratings for the Dr. Strange show. Show me something that Doctor Strange did that sold me than something that Iron Man did. If Iron Man is B/C list Strange has to be down in J's and K's.
The characters popularity is the only thing that matters. People went to see Iron Man because it was Iron Man, a recognizable star. People went to see Batman Begins because Batman is a recognizable star. Dr. Strange is recognizable? If you went outside right now wit ha picture of Doctor Strange and asked people "who is this" you telling me the majority are going to say "Easy, that's Doctor Strange?" You need a borderline major star to sell this movie.