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You’d think that after signing off on more than 20 years of Marvel films, Robert Downey Jr. would want to stop doing franchise films for a while. What’s odd is, he’s ready for more, and he wants to build it around Sherlock Holmes this time around.
Talking to Fast Company, RDJ explains how he would like to build a Sherlock Holmes cinematic universe. He says:
“At this point, we really feel that there is not a mystery-verse built out anywhere, and Conan Doyle is the definitive voice in that arena, I think, to this day… So to me, why do a third movie if you’re not going to be able to spin off into some real gems of diversity and other times and elements?”
Producer Susan Downey also added, “We think there’s an opportunity to build it out more… Spin-off characters from a third movie, to see what’s going on in the television landscape, to see what Warner Media is starting to build out, things with HBO and HBO Max.”
Admittedly, what Marvel had achieved with their MCU is nothing short of lightning in a bottle, and even now franchise fatigue is starting to hit the general audiences. Seeing that several other cinematic universes tried and failed (e.g., Dark Universe), it seems ill-gotten that RDJ would attempt something with Sherlock Holmes. Then again, the existence of HBO Max and other streaming services does provide a sort of safety net for big projects like this.
Personally, I think Downey should take a break with his choice of films. He hit a new Renaissance after Iron Man, but his latest projects like Doctor Dolittle have just proven to be bad creative choices for the actor. Fingers crossed this isn’t the start of some kind of RDJ “fall”.
Sherlock Holmes 3 is set to come out on Dec. 22, 2021.
