No one’s ever really gone. Not in the movies, at least. And especially not in the MCU.
According to sources close to WGTC – the same ones who told us a She-Hulk show is coming to Disney Plus and the Guardians will cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder, both of which we now know to be true – Marvel is planning a pretty special cameo for Spider-Man 3. And it’s one that we certainly weren’t expecting.
After reportedly agreeing to terms to return for the planned Ironheart TV show, Robert Downey Jr. will also apparently show up in the third MCU Spider-Man movie. It’ll be as an AI, as he continues to mentor Tom Holland’s web-slinging hero, and will only be a brief appearance as he delivers some sort of message to him. Or at least, that’s what the current plan is. Things can always change between now and when production gets going, but we’re told that at the moment, there’s a cameo for him in the most recent draft of the script.
Personally, if I were a big Marvel fan (which I’m not), I’d be a bit miffed if one of the emotional high points of the franchise were undercut by shameless cameo-calling – though it does come with several caveats. One being that like we said above, this would be an AI appearance (think Tony Stark’s own father in Iron Man 2.) It doesn’t sound like anyone’s suggesting he come back from the dead, then, and Marvel have a decent track record when it comes to handling thorny issues with tact.
In any case, I remember my exasperated sigh when I heard they were going to reboot Spider-Man for the 700th time in Captain America: Civil War. Yet his reintroduction so cannily swerved around all the misgivings they were obviously well aware of, and I left the cinema with grudging approval. So yes, perhaps they can get it right again.
Drop a comment below though with your own thoughts on Robert Downey Jr.’s potential return to the MCU in Spider-Man 3. Would you be open to it, is it a terrible idea, are you nonplussed either way? The stage is yours, so sound off.
