5 Characters That Should Get A Gender Swapped Adaptation (And 1 That Really Shouldn't)
2. Iron Man
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe prepares to enter its Phase 4, question marks remain over the future of its original, and arguably most popular, character and franchise. Clearly the studio would love to keep the Iron Man name and brand going, even as Robert Downey Jr. becomes both too old and expensive to keep donning the armour indefinitely.
Fortunately, the nature of comics and their fondness for heroes assuming legacy titles gives Marvel some existing grounds for an ongoing Tony Stark-lite Iron Man series. Spider-Man: Homecoming has already shown a potential future for Downey and Stark as an older mentor for a bright teen hero, why not make that the focus of his own series going forward?
Marvel comics have already given us the perfect successor, one who fits neatly into the movie studio's more diverse universe going forward and is young enough to take on the Iron Man mantle for many years to come: Riri Williams AKA Ironheart.
Marvel have already enjoyed success with adapting Riri creator Brian Michael Bendis' Jessica Jones, not to mention a black teenage science genius proving one of the MCU's most popular new characters in the form of Black Panther's Shuri. So the precedent for movie-Riri is definitely there.
The studio's series of animated Marvel Rising movies (which have previously featured MCU actresses reprising their live action roles, including Chloe Bennet's Quake and Milana Vayntrub's Squirrel Girl) have an Ironheart feature on the way. Could this be preparing the ground for the character's live action debut?
Who Should Play Her?
Amandla Stenberg is a young black woman with screen presence and outspoken smarts. Already used to silencing the more critical of die hard fans by delivering an engaging performance, thanks to her turn as Rue in The Hunger Games, Stenberg should be more prepared than most for the inevitable backlash to a black girl Iron Man that would appear amongst more unpleasant fandom corners.
Picking up glowing early notices for her leading role in hard-hitting young adult drama The Hate U Give, Stenberg's star is about to be on the rise in a big way. So Marvel would do well to sign her up quickly.