Random Thought of the Day: Which MCU character would Robin Williams have knocked out of the park?
DiscussionThat movie is so good. Not enough people have seen it.
It is axiomatic that not enough people have seen any single one of Robin Williams' movies. So of course I've updooted you.
I've downvoted you for using the word "updoot"
It's pronounced downdoot
I don't downdoot. Mom says itll make me go blind.
What’s updoot?
Nvm doesn’t really work
I'd agree, but only in a world without Kurt Russell.
Yeah Kurt Russell has the dudebro vibe that Robin Williams just doesn’t. That casting was inspired.
My thought, too.
He probably could have been a great Yondu, but Michael Rooker did so good I wouldn't want to see a different version.
Obadiah Stane? I think that would have been a prime flip. Everyone loves Robin so him being Tony's likeable pseudo uncle before HOLY SHIT HE'S EVIL would have been great.
Although, if he had been around for Ragnarok or L&T, the zanyness would have destroyed the MCU outright. Tanked those movies from too much. He would have been a good Zeus ala Crowe.
What? Raganrok is widely considered the best Thor film and highly regarded as an MCU film in general. It didn’t tank by any stretch of the imagination.
L&T though…
Very good suggestion
He could’ve been a particularly tragic Otto Octavius.
Edit: Octavius
Oh man, imagine if he played Otto like the Insomniac version
You've no idea how much I want MCU Peter to meet his new Professor in SM4, a name he recognises but can't tell him why. Slowly, this kind mentor begins to debilitate and seek out various means to aid himself all while Peter does his best to prevent him from turning out the same way as the multiverse version he saw.
Now imagine the same thing happens when he meets his new roommate's father.
Initial fear and distrust, followed by attempting to determine if he's a genuine good person. I'd love it if they took from Spectacular Spider-Man by having Harry initially appear as the Goblin as a redherring, before later revealing it was Norman the whole time - as a way to make it seem like MCU Norman isn't the same as Raimi Norman.
Honestly, I'd love it if they held off on Norman becoming the Goblin for as long as possible, if ever. Norman doing his best to be a good father, mentor and politician.. and yet he can feel that Peter has this inherent hatred towards him that drives a huge divide between him and Harry.
Hi I'm Otto Octavius
MCU Peter: oh okay well I already know this guy is going to make 4 robot arms and turn evil and then turn good
Especially if the relationship between Otto and Peter was similar to the Insomniac version and we get to see him as a friendly father figure to Peter. That would have been so good. I miss Robin so much.
*Otto Octavius and yes, that sounds very compelling.
Hank Pym
If he insisted on an acting role and not voice acting a CGI character (which is where I would cast him), Hank Pym is the answer.
So, Korg, then?
He’d be a fine Vision. Also if it was a more integral part he could’ve done a great Mr. Minutes.
Wasn’t Vision already cast when he was still alive though?
Kinda. Jarvis was cast in pre-production on Iron Man 1 back in 2006, but the decision to have Bettany play Vision as well wasn't made until late-2013 at the earliest, less than a year before Robin died.
Oh god Williams could bring the tortured genius and mental illness parts of his character to life so well.
Damn it, now I want to see this.
This is exactly where my head went
Excellent choice.
Just came here to say the same!
Beat me to it. He's was tailor-made for Hank Pym.
Damn it beat me to it. My first thought was Hank Pym!
perfect, exactly what I was gonna say
Hank McCoy
Oh man that’s so good
Oh my stars and garters
ftfy
But he isn't blue. It's just Robin Williams with his shirt off hanging from the ceiling.
OG Hank. It's actually perfect casting.
I think he could have done wonders with Hank’s very gradual slide into awfulness.
Well of course, there is no other option. CGI Williams? Even if perfect, nothing is more perfect than Robin himself was.
Perfection.
I read that in his Aladdin’s genie voice
Yeah, that feels right
He was already hairy enough. Just need to dye him blue.
Kelsey Grammer was so perfect as well
A little blue hair dye and that hairy bastard would be all set.
Uncle Ben
For some reason this was my first thought too. I think he’d really nail the great power/great responsibility speech.
Multiple generations regard him as a bastion of kindness, so seeing him die would hurt so much more than a typical actor. We might actually hate Peter as much as he hated himself for not saving Ben.
It did hurt so much more than a typical actor.
I meant on screen, but yes.
I know. He might the only person I’ve never met that I still miss. What a treasure.
Him and John Candy for me.
Tim Bergling (Avicii) for me
Add in Phil Hartman for me
It's not your fault. It's not your fault...
Why you do this to me 😭
Matt Damon broke after six of those, I broke at two 😢
I just got chills thinking about him saying it.
Robin would be the greatest uncle Ben of all time
This would be great, I love Genuine Robin much more than the frenetic Genie persona.
I was thinking about this question about a week ago, and I’m mad I never thought of uncle Ben. It would’ve been perfect. I’ll never be able to die happy now.
i kinda love the idea of blending the outta pocket side of robin williams with his gentle side and having that all be part of the uncle ben character
I'm starting to cry even thinking about him giving the "With great power comes great responsibility" speech, and then him tragically dying in Peter's arms... Fuck you for putting this beautiful and tragic image in my head.
Yup, first character that came to mine
This is the correct answer
I could see him doing a serious turn at Dr.Erskine. He’s played a doctor before and knocked it outta the park. Or Yinsin - even though Shawn Tawb was excellent - could the role have been rewritten to accommodate him? Maybe. Anyway, I’d like to have seen him in a tragic turn.
Him as Dr Erskine would have been really neat. Not a huge role, but very impactful. Good choice!
And then we get to cast Stanley Tucci again as someone else, which I see as an absolute win
The Impossible Man would be the perfect fit
This 1,000%
Given his tendency to go off on several tangents at once he was born to be the impossible man
BEAST
No CGI or makeup necessary.
real talk for a second, during covid i saw a cam girl do an INCREDIBLE she-hulk. sat back and wondered "wait, how did she do this for so long" (have perfect, perfect full body green makeup, for just 1 hour. even amazing makeup starts to rub off after a little while). then found out she just color corrected her camera to make her skin green colored the entire time. realized it because some background poster or something on the wall behind her looked slightly odd and realized it shouldn't look that color.
so i wonder if they could do something like that. just do a color correction on robin to shift him all blue instead of makeup for 2+ hours each time.
Faster to film, longer to edit. Well, not really since they already have to go through and add all the special effects, but during the whole post film editing, there would have to be a person or team who makes sure he is changed to blue, and then make sure the hue is correct for the lighting that the other special effects cause. So, faster to film, but a heap more editing needed to make him blue in post.
Not sure how that would pan out for the budgeting and whether it would be more cost effective or not.
Mojo! He could’ve really let it roll with a crazy character like that
My pick is Jason Mantzoukas. His voice is perfect.
I think you mean Jeffrey Character Wheaties, Jason Mantzoukas is just a character he plays.
His name is Derek and he has wind chimes where his ding dong should be
Thought he was Hey Nongman
MY PEOPLE!!!! Marvel and CBB combine, my heaven.
I need to read Scotty D's Spider-Man comics when I can.
Yes, I would have loved to see his brand of mayhem brought to a character like Mojo. Unfortunately we are unlikely to see Mojo anytime soon in the MCU. The audience is not ready to have the mirror reflecting back at them like that.
My pick for Mojo has always been Mike Myers.
Bruce Banner
Ok man I had to scroll so far to find this! Came here to say BB. I KNOW it’s a hot take, but the juxtaposition between brilliant, lovable, eccentric father figure scientist and raging machine of death and destruction would be terrifying.
No shade to Mark Ruffalo.
Honestly I feel like Ruffalo has gotten screwed over in the writing department. His Bruce Banner basically didn't even have an anger management problem.
In Avengers he needed Loki or Scarlet Witch's manipulation to cause trouble and lose control. Most of the time he's just played for comedic effect which is such a waste of a potentially complex character. Now he's just zenned out as Prof. Hulk which isn't particularly interesting. Marvel effectively killed the Hulk as a character since Banner says he merged them together but in practice all we see is 100% the Banner personality.
Honestly there's so much more they could do with the character but an angry and egotistical scientist/academic is pretty hard to make likeable. Remember this is the guy who apparently was arrogant enough to try to recreate the Captain America super-soldier serum and test it on himself. I don't see anything resembling that attitude in the material Ruffalo has to work with.
Uartu the watcher. Him improvising his lines would be so amazing.
I’d like to have seen him do Arcade.
Hell ya.
I’ll go against the grain and suggest Obadiah Stane. I think Williams would have matched Downey’s intensity and created something special.
This is actually brilliant. I went into Iron Man knowing nothing of Stane, but suspected he was the villain in part because they cast Bridges in the role. Williams would've been completely believable as an empathetic father figure.
Uncle Ben
The Collector or the High Evolutionary. Both are a bit unhinged but not completely bouncing off the walls. I bet Williams would temper his normal style a bit and come off as pretty scary and unpredictable.
Came here to say that. The Collector, even though Benicio did a great job, Williams would have brought a somewhat psychotic angle to the character.
Owen Reece, the Molecule Man. Ain’t nobody gonna convince me otherwise.
Doc Sampson
This was my first pick, too. Have him play the superhero therapist for the rest of the MCU.
I love his comedic work, but I really think he shines in the darker roles. I think he would have been an amazing Ultron or Kang. I also think he could have brought a weirdness to Dr Doom or Reed Richards that would have been really fun. Baron Zemo would have been fun. Red Guardian aka Captain Russia. Oh man, he would have crushed it as Ego. So many good choices. Hell, old man Mork from Ork could have just shown up in the background of GoG and I would have been happy to see him
MODOK
As much as I enjoy Michael Douglas in the role, Robin Williams would have crushed it as Hank Pym
A super eccentric cosmic villain. Not sure which tho.
Molecule Man
Following suite, probably one of the Elders, let's say the Gardener, Architect, or Father Time.
Totally the Gardener! See my comment :)
Tbh if they’d written Malekith right, he’d have been a great Malekith.
I think I’m gonna go cry now
Mr. Hyde
Ego The Living Planet.
I could have pictured him as a Doc Ock variant...
Hulk of course.
Mephisto
Mole Man
Mojo
Hank Pym, Ego
The one above all.
Kang and his variants
Norman Osborne could have been an interesting role if he wanted to be a villain. Think he could have done a killer switch from Norman to the green goblin. Hard to say for sure but I think he could have pulled a similar character to heath ledger with his joker. That’s just me. Would have been nice to see, just wish he was still with us regardless. Sad what depression can do to people.
Ego would have been a great role for him
Oh Jesus. Visually? Or by talent because truly SO many missed opportunities
Any.
A bit of a weird take, but Hela. Not a genderbent Hela. He's playing a female middle aged Asgardian that wears tights and a weird headress.
Immortus.
At least the version that was in Season 4 of the X-men animated series if they brought it to live action. His custodian alter ego was obviously inspired by the Genie in Aladdin.
I was JUST thinking about this the other day. He would make a hilarious take on JARVIS
Non serious answer: Thanos.
Can you imagine a comedic Thanos bouncing off the walls in every scene, while everyone around him plays it 1000% straight dead serious? I'd pay good money for that.
Serious answer: Howard Stark.
Tony with a father who was kind and funny and smart, but also a hard ass, a guy who everyone loved, but who could also be mean and cold in private. Imagine that scene from Civil War where Tony recreates his younger self and his dad with technology, and watches that interaction, except Howard gives as good as he gets, and they both laugh. Imagine other scenes with the two of them, or a younger version of Howard in the original Captain America played by Williams.
All of them
Hear me out: Wolverine.
In the 70's or early 80's (Mork and Mindy years), I would say Iceman (class clown type). In the 90's (Good Will Hunting or Dead Poet's Society), I would say Hank McCoy (deep, troubled soul who uses dark comedy as a shield). But after X-Men '97, I would say Morph (a mix of both).
The Beyonder.
I think he actually would have made a great Odin, he could really bring that emotional connection to his sons that I felt was just barely lackluster with the original actor. Williams definitely could have made Odin's death much more meaningful and heartbreaking in the beginning of Ragnarok.
Idk. Odin is a stern figure, I think Hopkins can sell that better then Williams.
Now, MCU Zeus maybe...
Man could play MCU Zeus and Disney’s Hercules Zeus.
Just imagine Williams saying the line, "That's it.. YOU aren't invited to the orgy."
“Original actor” - you mean Anthony Hopkins, one of the most decorated actors of all time who was literally knighted by the Queen of England for his contributions to drama?
Black Bolt. Would be fun to watch him try to act without being able to say anything.
I don’t think most would agree because he doesn’t really fit the role visually, but I was imagining him as Kang in Quantumania delivering some of those lines to antman and just all the scenes in Loki with he who remains just talking to Sylvia and Loki, I think robin would have been amazing but totally unconventional choice
Pym
Beast
Uatu
Vision
Uncle Ben
Molecule Man
The Leader.
I feel like robin couldve farmed a very unique terror playing Ego
Elder of the universe, Ord Zyons - “The Gardener”
Imagine Williams as an ancient immortal being that is creating life and leaving natural beauty everywhere he goes with the aid of an Infinity stone. Let the Guardians bump into him for some zany fun and then later have Thanos confront him for the stone and the dramatic philosophical debate.
Rocket i think if his mental health had improved he would have been cast instead of Bradley imo
I’m not sure if I’d call dementia mental health.
Yeah. His mental health was a biproduct of his disease. Couldn’t stand to see himself wasting away like that. My Grandpa had something similar.
He would have been a fantastic rocket
A Hank MCoy or an Uncle Ben
Uncle Ben
Uncle Ben.
Gonna buck the Uncle Ben trend and say Doc Ock
An eccentric alternate Magneto for extreme comic relief
Beast
He would have made an interesting Howard Stark
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Loki
The One Above All as a homeless dude in an alley that Spider-Man runs into at random.
Rather than the MCU, would have loved to see him in Matt Reeves' Batverse as Hugo Strange
Ego. Imagine him rolling up. “PETER, IM YOUR DAAAAAAD!”
And then turning real quiet and dark during his mission monologue.
Doctor Otto Octavius
Mxyzptlk
A What If episode where he voices every single MCU character
Any of them man i miss him so much....
Beast from X-Men would’ve been cool. He’s got enough hair lmao, no make-up needed. Just dye him blue 😂.
The Molecule Man.
Plastic Man.
I know but come on it’d be rad.
Well this really depends what version of Robin we want, because I’m fairly certain he could nail most of the characters depending on age etc (maybe not Captain America though).
I could see him doing a great job as Rocket Racoon. I’d also love to have seen his take on JJ Jameson
The guy who helped Tony Stark out in the cave at the beginning of Iron Man
Anyone say Morph yet?
Hank MCCOY, actually…
If you want Robin Williams being Robin Williams, then I'd say Deadpool, Madcap, or the Impossible Man (CG Motion Capture).
Uncle Ben if you absolutely, positively want to break my heart. But it could work in another direction as well. Make Ben a bit of a jokester, telling lame jokes that makes Peter groan & May embarrassed. Then, in the middle of some fight, Peter cracks one of Ben's jokes and it throws off the villain badly enough that Peter starts peppering him with Ben's greatest hits and we end up with the wisecracking Spider-Man we all know and love.
Wolverine!!!
Deadpool
Beast, but he'd make a great nonfurry Beast at that.
Spiderman at one point.
But Robin Williams as himself could stop the Hulk.. Just sayin
Deadpool’s brother Deceasedlagoon
Porcupine.
Grandmaster or the Collector
Doc Samson, imagine him just Good Will Hunting everyone like Bucky and Natalya.
Abraham Erskine.
Hank Mcoy
Xavier
Dr Erkstine The scientist that created super soldier serum and turns Steve into Captain America
Either Hank Pym or Beast.
Not in the MCU yet but Mojo
Beast (Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy)
Moleman. Absolutely Moleman.
Idk his name but the doctor that created the super soldier serum and was nice to Cap.
Werewolf by Night
Victor timely.
Mojo
Ego
Hank pym Uncle ben Professor X
Doom, seriously. He could play a really strong egotistical dick that you can’t help but kinda sympathize with as well
Mister Sinister maybe.
Doc oc, green goblin, uncle Ben, … modok? Lol
Hank Pym for sure but also see Henry McCoy
Hulk
I feel like he could have nailed Ego. He’s shown he could play a very dark character with an innocent facade during One Hour Photo