Robert Downey Jr Approves Of The New Female Iron Man

Is Robert Downey Jr about to be castigated as a SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR? He has seemingly offered his stamp of approval on Marvel's newest Iron Man, who is as far away from Tony Stark as reasonably imaginable.

Fair play to him, he's risking the wrath of thousands of extremely unhappy fanboys there. It happened almost immediately in his replies...

Inevitably, the revelation that a black, female teenager would be taking over the Iron Man mantle (if that is indeed what she's going to be called - let's hope so, because it's a cop out if not) has been met with a tidal wave of outrage. Such is the way of fandom - there are fans who seem to claim ownership of the thing they love, questioning output levels, creative directions and quality as if they are owed something.

This is the price of uniqueness and new exciting directions, guys: you're going to get a little butthurt at some of the decisions that make them possible.

The question here for all of the outraged fanboys is why? Were you only ever interested in Tony Stark because he was white and male and straight? Was it not because he's a compelling character written exceptionally well with depth, vulnerability and complexity? What about those things has anything to do with the colour of his face? It's a strange thing to be outraged about.

AND it's not like

What do you think of the new Iron Man? Share your reactions below in the comments thread.