….
"...will I be in the film? You won't edit my part later, will you?"
Robert's voice carried that half-joking, half-suspicious tone he often used when he wasn't entirely sure of someone's intentions.
"Why would I do that? That would be a waste of my time." Regal leaned back, calm, almost amused by the doubt.
"You know… maybe you are giving me a small part just to say, 'I kept my word'. And then later you trim me out, like I was never there. I don't know you yet."
"Robert." Regal said firmly, not losing the ease in his tone. "I promised I would do a film with you—"
"Not as a main lead, right—"
"As in, you are the main lead, the protagonist."
"...." That made Robert pause.
His silence lasted long enough that Regal could hear the faint vibration of the city outside his own office window.
Then Robert exhaled, a mix of surprise and surrender. "…alright, I am ready to hear you… So could you explain the idea."
"Aha… that arrogant tone of yours? As you have a choice to begin with."
That exchange between Regal and Robert - RDJ - is regarding the cameo role Regal asked him for [Spider-Man: Web of Desitny].
Obviously, RDJ thought Regal was planning to get rid of him with a small role.
However, he understood that wasn't the case.
Regal hadn't called RDJ to toss him a bone - he was handing him the weight of introducing Iron Man into his MDC Universe from the Spider-Man film.
Right.
Tony Stark will be in Spider-Man.
No, maybe it would be more appropriate to say - Iron Man - will be in [Spider-Man: Web of Destiny].
An already established superhero in a superhero film.
Regal's plan for [Spider-Man: Web of Destiny] was never to only focus on the origin story of Spider-Man.
It was structured more like a continuation, a sequel, as though audiences were stepping into a world already consisting of multiple superheroes.
By the time Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man - there would exist many more supernatural phenomena in a world already shaped by heroes.
Iron Man was the proof of concept, but not the only thread Regal was weaving.
In background shots and throwaway details, the kind only sharp-eyed viewers would catch, Regal planted the seeds:
– A newspaper headline barely visible on a newsstand, talking about "a mysterious figure saving an island city across the Atlantic." (Aquaman, implied but not shown.)
– Graffiti on a wall in Brooklyn, spray-painted in red and gold, resembling a lightning bolt (a reference at Flash).
– A child's toy lying abandoned in a park, a plastic shield with a star painted off-center (a reference toward Captain America's legacy in this world).
Each of these details will be in the background of the film - carefully set to give the sense of a living universe.
The audience wouldn't need exposition dumps or forced cameos to prove these heroes existed - they would simply feel their presence in every corner of the world.
Regal's philosophy was simple: Don't announce the universe, live in it.
Unlike franchises that dropped their biggest players suddenly in the middle of their run - like Wonder Woman showing up out of nowhere - his world would breathe from the start.
Viewers would sense, right from Spider-Man's first swing, that this was a city within a larger map, that beyond the skyline there were other legends already shaping history.
And with Iron Man stepping in so early, the message was clear.
This wasn't just Spider-Man's story.
This was the opening of a much larger canvas Regal was painting - layer by layer, detail by detail - without ever needing to hold the audience's hand.
….
Once RDJ's concern was finished, the duo dived into the main topic - the cameo scene.
Robert asked. "So you are saying… I am Iron Man. In your Spider-Man movie."
"Well… not just in this film, you are Iron Man in every MDC film."
Robert raised an eyebrow, testing him. "Everny film."
Regal understood RDJ's confusion - there is still yet to be a franchise like Regal is planning to build.
So the uncertainty is inevitable.
That was the part Regal pressed. "Iron Man isn't the only one, he is the first face the audience will recognize in flesh and steel, but the camera will catch more than they realize. Backgrounds, newscasts and stark logos on tech companies. An offhand line about a green monster tearing up Harlem. The audience will connect the dots, even if they don't see the full picture yet."
Robert laughed under his breath, shaking his head. "Are'nt you basically wasting time and resources? What if the film fails? All the work, the planning, the world building will be for nothing."
"...that would certainly be a problem if the film fails." Regal admitted.
"Righ–"
"But, I know it wouldn't."
"...." - "...."
A silent staring between Regal and RDJ.
"I give up."
"Cool, also why are you only thinking about the downside?" Regal pointed out. "What if the film succeeds? And not just the first film. Maybe the second, and even third."
"...I am sure people would notice what you are doing." Robert gave out his thoughts.
Regal added. "Yep, by the time the second or third film lands, they will look back and realize it was all there from day one."
Robert tapped the armrest, serious now. "And Iron Man? Where does he go from here? Don't tell me you are tossing him away as a glorified mentor."
Regal leaned forward, his voice low, measured. "No, Iron Man will stand as the first of the new age. He is not Peter's babysitter, he is the one who shows the kid the price of wearing a mask, the sacrifice and the paranoia, when his arc comes, it will hurt - not just because of the man, but because the audience already saw the foundation here. This Spider-Man movie isn't his introduction, it's his legacy in motion."
Robert fell quiet, eyes narrowing as the weight of it settled.
He had worked with directors who fumbled over even one character's arc.
However, he is a kid who was talking about planting decades of payoff in a single scene.
"…alright." Robert finally muttered. "You got me, if you are promising me the protagonist role in a story this layered, then I am in."
Regal nodded once, the kind of finality that left no room for doubt. "Nice… because once this film hits, there's no going back, people won't just be watching Spider-Man, they will be watching the start of the universe that changes everything."
"Now… tell me what the scene will be." RDJ couldn't hide his excitement anymore.
Regal slid a slim bundle of pages across the table. "Why don't you read it."
….
Robert's brows rose - shortest script he had ever held.
Still, he skimmed through, eyes widening with every line, and strangely, the brevity only made his pulse race harder.
The first words out of his mouth weren't praise, but shock -
"You are revealing Iron Man's identity?"
The scene where Regal is having RDJ do a cameo is the iconic post credit - press conference scene of Iron Man's first film.
Robert's voice carried genuine disbelief. "Aren't superheroes supposed to keep that under wraps?"
It was a fair question.
In the biggest franchise of the moment - Power Rangers - the heroes never took off their helmets on screen, not once across all the films.
Mystery was considered the golden rule.
Even the handful of lesser superhero flicks stuck to the same formula: masks on, secrets safe.
But here was Regal, breaking the strategy wide open.
Not in Iron Man's own movie.
Not in some dramatic sequel.
In a cameo?
Regal was turning the entire idea of superheroes on its head from frame one.
"That's exactly the point." Regal said. "Every superhero film so far plays it safe, they all treat the mask like it's sacred. I don't want to be safe, and the shock factor.. The headlines the next morning screaming 'Marvel throws out the rulebook.'"
RDJ set the pages down, tapping the cover with his finger. "So you are telling me… instead of building up to it, you are ripping the mask off in the very first appearance?"
"In a world this grounded." Regal replied, his tone steady. "Secrets don't last, cameras are everywhere. Governments watch everything and people talk too you know? A guy in an iron suit blasting through New York skies can't just walk away and pretend no one noticed, it's absurd."
Robert chuckled, shaking his head. "You sly bastard, you are not making a superhero movie, you are making–"
"A world." Regal finished for him, his eyes locked on Robert's. "One where choices have consequences and where a mask won't always protect you, and lies catch up faster than fists."
Silence lingered for a beat, the weight of it sinking in.
RDJ wasn't just reading a cameo anymore - he was staring at the start of something bigger than any role he had taken.
Finally, he leaned back in his chair, the grin returning, but sharper this time.
"Damn, you are really going to piss a lot of people off."
Regal's smile was thin, deliberate. "It is not my intention…"
But what came after was anything but smooth for Regal, or for Robert Downey Jr.
When Regal first brought the name to Stan Lee, the old man barely hesitated, he leaned back, gave a small approving nod, and said simply.
"If you believe he is the guy, let's see him do it."
That was all there was no fuss, or a lecture.
Tolliver Lee and Carrow Seagal, however, weren't nearly as forgiving.
The moment Regal opened his pitch, they cut him off.
Not rudely, but decisively, like businessmen closing a deal before it even starts.
It wasn't personal.
They had nothing against Robert, but this wasn't about sympathy or second chances.
This was about money, and money meant packaging.
"Iron Man isn't Spider-Man." One of them said flatly. "He doesn't have that built-in recognition."
And truth be told, even Spider-Man wasn't a household name for this younger generation anymore.
Their solution was simple: if Iron Man was going to stand a chance in theaters, he needed a face people could trust instantly.
Someone clean, reliable, bankable, the kind of actor studios could slap on a poster without hesitation.
Definitely not a man whose history was written in police reports and rehab check-ins.
To them, Robert wasn't a gamble, he wasn't even an option.
But Regal didn't flinch, he leaned forward at the table, meeting each of their eyes in turn, and spoke with a steadiness that cut through the room.
"Robert is Tony Stark."
The conviction in his voice startled everyone, Robert most of all, he had come into the meeting braced for polite skepticism, maybe a few veiled jabs, and even pity.
What he got instead was something rare: someone staking their own reputation on him without a second's hesitation.
The resistance didn't vanish, but Regal's certainty dulled it.
The arguments dragged, voices cooled, until finally Stan's son exhaled sharply and shrugged.
"Fine, a post-credit scene? That's it… If it bombs, we replace him, it's as simple as that."
Regal gave a small nod, but inside he had no intention of replacing Robert, not then, not ever.
Because Regal saw what they couldn't.
Robert Downey Jr. wasn't just an actor filling a part.
He was about to fuse himself with it, body and soul, and when audiences looked up at that screen, they wouldn't see the scandals, the mugshots, the recovery headlines.
They would see Tony Stark.
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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