For the uninitiated: This is a new weekly feature on the blog wherein I, I’m Jeffrey Rex, discuss all things Marvel.

On this, the third ‘installment’ of I’m Jeffrey Rex’ Marvelous Monday, I’ve decided to take a look at the characters in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe – and see if any of the characters can go the James Bond-route, and if any character could switch both actor AND character without losing comic book logic.

This discussion is based on the fact that Kevin Feige was asked, by Badass Digest, about the possibility of making Tony Stark into a superhero James Bond. Here’s Feige’s response:

“I think Bond is a good example. Let’s put it this way: I hope Downey makes a lot of movies for us as Stark. If and when he doesn’t, and I’m still here making these movies, we don’t take him to Afghanistan and have him wounded again. I think we James Bond it.” – Kevin Feige.

Now, Robert Downey Jr. won’t be making Iron Man-movies until the end of time – sadly – but, thankfully, he’s still here. I fear what a Downey-less MCU means to the survival of the Superhero genre. It’s not that Marvel hasn’t survived a switch in actor (Norton -> Ruffalo), but this would be a much bigger change. Not only was The Incredible Hulk not much of a success, but the Downey-led films are the most successful for Marvel.

The Hemsworth films aren’t making enough money for Marvel to let Downey go – sooner rather than later the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be much different. Which, obviously, is why they’re adding all these new characters in Phase 3.

I don’t consider the Tony Stark as James Bond-idea to be viable for Marvel, seeing as you’d have to get an actor at the same level of talent – or his stock would plummet. I’m not saying that you kill the character when Downey leaves, but maybe it’s time for Stark to leave his suit at home, and lead a new generation of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Give Downey a Samuel L. Jackson-like workload.

Similarly, you could just have Stark be the leader of the Avengers – the brains of the operation – and have him appear in a handful of scenes in every Avengers film, and every other solo-film.

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There are, however, two characters that can easily survive a new actor or actress. A simple answer would be Thor. Recently Marvel Comics made Thor Odinson unworthy, and gave Mjolnir to a female Asgardian. I would love to see this happen one day, when Hemsworth needs a break. But there’s a much easier answer to the conundrum.

The real answer is, of course, Captain America. To my knowledge 9 different characters have been Captain America – the symbol – the leader. Our current Cap, Steve Rogers, is of course the most recognizable – but the MCU can already give Chris Evans a break. They already have two future Captain America-characters in the MCU SPOILERS Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson.

Some people even recognize Agent 007 as a symbol, a codename, more than a single person – so yeah, to me there is only one James Bond in the Marvel Universe, and his rank is ‘Captain’.

Stay Marvelous!

– I’m Jeffrey Rex.