that's a negative thing in my book. my whole thing is, I don't want to constantly see the face of the live action versions of these superheroes constantly changing. I bet during phase 1 or 2 of the MCU, Disney might have been thinking that if something goes wrong with the actors or if the actors just get too old, they'll just recast them in future phases. But they did neither with Tony Stark. RDJ played the character for over a decade and that's one of the reasons why the character is so beloved and why the MCU is so successful. They retired the character by tastefully killing him off.
A reboot should only be done if it is necessary, in my opinion. Only if what came before it needed to be rebooted. In the case of Batman, in the 2010s the Nolan trilogy back then and even now is generally regarded to be a great comic book movie series. But instead of keeping the series canon, WB decided to reboot and recast Bruce Wayne, when an already popular incarnation of the character existed. For that reason I think casting Ben Affleck or any other actor for that matter was a terrible mistake.
Imagine if Disney recast RDJ in IM3 or Av2. Yes I understand he's portraying the same incarnation of the character throughout but 1) that hasn't stopped recasts in the MCU and 2) either way for whatever reason if they recast RDJ I guarantee the character would not have been as well received. Keeping Bale as Batman in BvS might have made the Nolan series canon but that to me is a better idea than rebooting Batman. Again, that should only be done if the character needed to be significantly improved upon.
And in the case of Spider-Man, I wouldn't say Andrew Garfield's portrayal or series significantly improved upon the original trilogy.
The thing is , there always going to change no matter what.
There's always going to be a new actor playing Clark, Bruce, Peter, Sherlock, etc.
Over different years and generations the role is passed on to someone else.
The same way Kirk Alyn didn't play Superman forever, Adam West didn't play Batman forever, and Chris Evans wasn't the first actor to play Captain America
, he was the 4th, behind An actor who played him in the 40s, an actor who played him in the 70s, and an actor who played him in the 90s.
These roles change hands over time. They get rebooted.
That's how it's always been and that's how it always will be with alot of these iconic characters.
I don't see that as a negative at all in principle at least.
The question for me is really,
when and
how it's done, and whether the product is good.
While I agree you shouldn't reboot every time there's a stumble, you shouldn't also stay with weak or bad interpretation for the sake of continuity. If the stories in that continuity have run their course or have just gotten bad, you've got to move on and let someone else run with the ball for the sake of the character if anything else.
Now the
frequency of reboots is another issue, i.e rebooting after 2 years or 3 years. That's where things get iffy and problematic.
But the idea that there would be a different actor ,with a different continuity playing Bruce Wayne, in a decade or a couple of decades after a prior actor is inevitable.
The torch is gonna be passed , and Holland isn't gonna play the role forever, and
that version of Peter Parker isn't gonna go on forever.
Eventually, they'll be a new Peter Parker who hasn't fought in the Infinity Conflict, and who won't have a best friend named Ned. When that will be , I don't know. But it's gonna happen.
There's a child out there as we speak, watching these films ,who's gonna grow up and end up directing
his or
her own version and vision of the Peter Parker story, and that's how its supposed to be.
The story is passed on, reinterpreted , etc, and another group will put their own spin on Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Sherlock etc.
I accept that different artists, creators, directors, actors, etc are going to take on these characters and want to tell different stories in different continuities for different generations.
This is a creative medium being adapted by a creative industry , so things are going to change depending on which group is handling a given property.
Now of course they have to be good. I wouldn't want to see mediocrity on and on when these stories are rebooted.
But in terms of the principle of having different versions of these characters, I'm very much for, and we may disagree on that. That's fine.
Now of course, Marvel is gonna do what Marvel is gonna do in terms of their own strategy, and they've done well with their own strategy.
They've clearly done their own thing which is great, and they excelled at it.
That doesn't mean I want everyone to do what Marvel does, since I don't .
But I certainly want studios to strive for the same respect for the characters, high quality of films, and good collection of actors that the MCU has.