I love the multiverse but the downside of it is exactly this. If you recast major roles and it's like "James Bond" it's going to cause confusion. Fans won't know without some thematic exposition if it's a multiverse character or a recast.
Right??
with Bond it is pretty screwy... they could technically switch actors mid movie...
James Bond, Agent 007...its a position. Not a Person.
I could see it with "Iron Man"..its whoever is in the suit...but Tony Stark was an entirely separate entity with his own qualifications. Easy enough to fill the suit but replacing Tony Stark is near impossible.
"Cap" is an idea more than a man. Technically anyone could uphold that idea and assume the mantle of Cap... but the multiverse theory hits a snag... at some point there is bound to be a man in the suit that isnt all about Truth, Justice, The American Way, and doing what is right no matter what..at some point there will be a Steve Rogers thats a crap stain...and that aint Cap rather he is wearing the suit or not.
I recently watched the extended.. No Way Home?... Multiverse Spiderman. They addressed it pretty well. we tend to go along with the theory that each iteration in the multiverse has the same face but just developed with different circumstances. But they acknowledged that they can all have their individual identities while being the same person....that tends to be counter to most multiverse theories....but they should have thrown in Macauly Culkin as a Peter Parker that never became Spiderman.
I think in the long run digging too deep into the multiverse hurts the character and the IP.
We, the audience, loved Tony Stark as Iron Man. But moreso we loved Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark as Iron Man... Chris Evans as Cap... and while the initial casting was met with trepidation,...Hugh Jackman embraced and embodied Logan. He became Wolverine on and off screen.
Plugging in different actors movie after movie removes the attachment fans have for the character. we can still love X Men, and Wolverine...but it will never develop into the fan acceptance and attachment of having a single person identified as a particular hero.
I think we would rather see Chris Evans as a crap stain version of Cap, and hate that version, than see different versions played by different actors....which of course then invalidates the ground they covered with Spiderman.
Studios of course would prefer plug and play. It keeps down the cost if they never have to pay an actor like they paid Robert Downey. But in the long run they will see reduced profits versus having a particular actor embody the character...own that identity. we need that recognition of the hero in order to keep filling up theaters.
