Back in the days when Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark was alive (RIP!), whizzing around the Marvel Cinematic Universe, did you ever think that he reminded you of someone?
Well, if Iron Man's combo of bravado, tech ingenuity, and sheer eccentricity had you seeing shades of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, then you were right on the money. Officially. In a new interview with New York Magazine, Iron Man writer Mark Fergus got to talking about the formation of the MCU's first superhero. According to Fergus, Iron Man's creative team tried to conjure up the image of a modern-day Howard Hughes, but as he admits, "I think people don’t know who the hell that is." So, seeing as this brainstorm happened in the early 2000s, who do you think came to mind? Fergus says, "Elon’s name was definitely in the conversation as the guy who grabbed the torch."
Check out the rest of the writer's thoughts, which include a couple other choice names:
[Musk], Trump, and maybe a little Steve Jobs. Trump was fun before he became president — he was actually kind of a goofy celebrity. Steve Jobs was always serious and angry; he never quite had that gift of the bullshit, the working the crowd that Musk has a real natural talent for. Musk took the brilliance of Jobs with the showmanship of Trump. He was the only one who had the fun factor and the celebrity vibe and actual business substance. I’m not sure we talked about too many other people; there are not many people like that around. It’s dangerous to be a celebrity businessman. One scandal and it’s billions of dollars. People want their CEOs to shut up and be good, quiet figures who aren’t in the paper dating celebrities. Because shit can happen.
There you go. Tony Stark: man, superhero, Elon Musk variant. I guess that explains Musk's cameo in Iron Man 2, doesn't it?
