….
The announcent of Regal's next project - [Iron Man] with Robert Downey Jr. as the lead, definitively beca the talk of the industry.
Though the news was already being circulated for months, it was easy to think they would replace him following the magnanimous success of [Spider-Man: Web of Destiny].
They would be a fool if they didn't.
So what followed was criticism, headlines, digging over RDJ's past - trying to prove how wrong of a choice he will be.
Regal absorbed the storm with the sa indifference he always did.
Nobody can even fathom RDJ's portrayal of Tony Stark.
So, he kept all his focus on the script.
Without a doubt, [Iron Man]'s script, imported directly from Regal's system, was already strong.
Too strong, in fact, to be casually tinkered with.
The screenplay of the story was flawless - origin, transformation, redemption - like a legend draped in tech and arrogance.
It was a hero's journey wrapped in tal.
But Regal wasn't content with being strong.
Strong was safe. Strong was rembered.
He wanted sothing unforgettable.
He leaned over the spread of pages, eyes narrowing.
First of all, he need to make sure the script maintain the consistency of being a prequel to [Spider-Man: Web of Desitny].
He can't be discarding the tilines and rules he had already established.
….
anti, Regal contacted Kishimoto - mostly it was about moving into a professional space, and hiring more team mbers for the final manuscript to be submitted.
Surely, he can't continue to work alone.
Still he left that completely to Kishimoto and requested Nanami to pass by occasionally to assist with any necessary things.
….
Once that was done, Regal moved onto the actual rewriting of the script.
The first act worked: Tony's playboy swagger, Afghanistan, the cave.
But even here, Regal saw room for sharper edges.
The film, as written, sotis leaned too heavily on cody to soften Tony's arrogance.
Regal wanted that arrogance to bite.
The audience had to resent Stark before they could love him.
Every quip, every dismissive wave of the hand, should carry a sting of truth.
Enough to make people mutter, God, what an ass.
Only then would the redemption land like thunder.
The second act: the escape and the birth of Iron Man was brilliant in his opinon…. but a tad rushed.
Maybe, due to shortening the length or playing it safe by Marvel Studio, the progression was too montage-heavy.
Regal wanted the audience to feel the darkness Tony had brought to the world.
He imagined longer silences in the cave, monts where Yinsen and Tony sat in the dark, smoke curling from dying embers, speaking quietly about their families.
Not a lecture, not exposition, but confessions whispered because tomorrow wasn't guaranteed.
Yinsen couldn't just be the wise martyr - he had to feel like the soul Stark lost when the bullets hit.
The audience had to walk out of the theater rembering him as much as the armor.
So, Regal rewrote the cave sequence as a brutal act of survival - almost pushing the boundaries of getting children safe.
Then ca the transition to Stark Industries and Obadiah Stane.
Regal scowled.
Obadiah worked as a corporate villain, sure, but he was thin - too cartoonish in parts.
Regal wanted layers.
A ntor-turned-traitor who genuinely believed Tony was wasting his potential.
A man who saw himself not as a villain, but as the one willing to get his hands dirty to keep the empire alive.
Regal scribbled in the margins: "More father than foe."
The final act: the rooftop battle.
Again, it was spectacular.
But Regal isn't satisfied with that.
He wanted weight behind every punch.
Not just armor smashing armor, but teacher and student colliding, ideals shattering with tal.
He thought of ways to ground the fight - Stark's suit glitching because it was unfinished, forcing him to think, improvise, be human.
Not invincible, not untouchable. Just a man in a shell of his own making, desperate not to let it beco his coffin.
And then, the declaration:
"I am Iron Man."
Regal sharpened the famous press conference into a statent not of bravado, but of philosophy.
Yes, he had already shown it once, tucked into the end-credit stinger of Spider-Man.
A sly wink, a breadcrumb for those paying attention.
Because of that, so might argue the magic was gone, that the impact would be reduced, the shock dulled.
And Regal agreed, at least in part.
The elent of surprise had been compromised.
But surprise, he knew, was never the true core of that mont.
The power of those words wasn't in the twist - it was in the inevitability.
He thought back to his past self, watching that scene for the first ti.
Even knowing every beat by heart, even after countless replays, he still felt his pulse quicken when Tony delivered the line.
Not because it shocked him, but because it felt right.
It carried an honesty so raw that it cut through all the smoke and mirrors of superhero cinema.
"No matter how many tis I have seen it." Regal muttered under his breath. "That rush never fades." Nostalgia had its part to play, yes, but the core was deeper than that.
It was catharsis.
This ti, in his world, the audience would arrive at that conference differently.
They had walked with Stark through his crucible: the arrogance, the trauma, the reinvention.
They had seen him bleed, sweat, laugh, and posture.
They knew him - not as a myth or a faceless savior, but as a man who wore his contradictions on his sleeve.
By the ti the reporters pressed him with questions, half the theater would already be whispering to themselves, nudging their friends, predicting what was coming.
So would even sit forward in their seats, eyes narrowing, anticipation prickling across their skin.
And then Tony would smirk, pause, and drop the words.
I am Iron Man.
In Regal's mind's eye, he saw it play out: a ripple through the audience, so laughing in disbelief, others exhaling in awe, a handful unconsciously mouthing the words along with Stark.
Definitely not a surprise or a shock.
But recognition.
A shared heartbeat between character and audience.
That was the alchemy Regal was chasing.
One more character for the world to fall in love with.
One more anchor.
He capped his pen, staring at the words as though they were prophecies.
Yes. He was going to make it happen.
The work stretched over two long months.
Nights blurred into mornings, pages were scrawled over and reprinted, dialogue rewritten until it sang.
But slowly, line by line, scene by scene, the story revealed itself.
By the ti Regal set down his pen for the last ti, [Iron Man] was no longer just a film.
A story that promised the audience not fantasy, but a mythology being born before their eyes.
….
RDJ sat opposite him, script in hand, glasses slipping a little down his nose.
For a long while, Regal said nothing. He wanted to see what Robert's face did when the words started sinking in.
RDJ flipped, occasionally chunking in a few peanuts slowly reaching the end.
A few minutes later, he let out a low whistle.
"Damn, I already expected this from the small cao I did. But for real, this is how a superhero ant to be? Egoist, sarcasm, booze, won–
"...and I still wonder why I feel so connected to playing him. Even his eating habits are the sa as mine."
Regal smirked. "Hhaa…"
Obviously, Regal having knowledge of watching the movies, he simply integrated the extra 'traits' RDJ added to Tony Stark character.
Robert looked deadpanned. "That's not exactly a complint… I said it in a creepy way…"
"Whatever…" Regal waved his hand away from the accusation. "So are you on board?"
For a beat, RDJ just stared at him.
Then he leaned back, arms folding across his chest, a defensive grin spreading. "So, let get this straight. You want to walk out there and, what, just be the asshole I have always been? You think people will buy that as a hero?"
"Nope, definitely not, at least at first…" Regal admitted, voice steady. "They will hate you and even laugh at you. They will think you're irredeemable, and then…" He leaned forward, voice lowering like a secret. "Then we show them what happens when a man like that decides to change. Not because soone told him to, or because the world begged for it. But because he finally saw what kind of man he didn't want to be anymore."
RDJ tapped the script against his thigh, restless.
His eyes flicked back to the page where Tony refused to let the soldier share his water in the desert, where he dismissed Pepper with a lazy wave.
Regal had written the arrogance so close to the bone it stung.
"You even put in that bit." Robert muttered, half amused, half appalled. "The one where he won't hold soone's coffee for two seconds. God, you really think I am that guy?"
Regal didn't flinch. "I know you are that guy, or at least, you have been him. But here is the thing - when the sa man, the man too proud to hold a stranger's coffee, decides to put his entire life between Earth and annihilation…" He let the words hang, heavy. "That's not just a hero. That's a legend."
Robert let out a sharp laugh, then dragged a hand over his face. His smile didn't reach his eyes this ti. "You are insane… and completely delusional."
"Might be.." Regal said evenly. "But if I am right, we will be making one of the greatest superhero arcs ever written. A man who had no right to be anyone's savior… becoming the only one who could."
RDJ picked up the script again, flipping to a later scene where Tony addresses the dia after his rescue. "This press conference... he is still arrogant here, but it's different. More... grounded?"
"That's the arc, he doesn't beco humble - humility isn't Tony Stark. But he learns to use his arrogance for sothing bigger than himself."
"And you think I can sell that transformation?"
"With the right actor? Soone who isn't afraid to show their worst parts first?" Regal shrugged.
After this Regal was quiet for a mont, watching RDJ trace his finger along the dialogue.
In his head, questions multiplied: Could this man, this walking embodint of Hollywood excess, really beco a hero audiences would believe in? Was it possible to take soone so disconnected from ordinary human experience and make him relatable? And if it worked, if they could pull off this impossible character arc…
RDJ looked up from the script, and for the first ti since entering the room, his expression was completely sincere.
"When do we start?"
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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