Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr. Shut Down Meta Joke About Marvel Sets

This has been openly noticed by many Marvel Movie fans around the world Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) are very similareven to their origin story. Once upon a time, Iron Man was a cocky, overconfident playboy, skilled in engineering, and a willing womanizer. However, after being kidnapped by terrorists, he had the opportunity to reflect on his selfishness and used his isolation to invent high-tech armor that, if deployed correctly, would rid the world of weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, Doctor Strange was once a cocky, overconfident playboy skilled in surgery and a womanizer. However, after a terrible car accident, he had the opportunity to reflect on his selfishness and used his isolation to study the mystical arts.

Strange set out to find his redemption while Iron Man stumbled upon it by accident, but their redemption arcs run parallel. Also, Iron Man was a technology-based character while Strange used magic, but technology and magic have become quite friendly in the superhero world. Notably, both characters have creatively shaved goatees, which invites more comparisons.

It just so happens that actors Downey and Cumberbatch also have something in common: they both played Sherlock Holmes in the famous adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s greatest work. Downey played the role in Guy Ritchie’s 2009 film Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Meanwhile, Cumberbatch played an updated version of the character in the 2010 BBC series Sherlock.

Both are actors appeared together in the 2018 film Avengers: Infinity War.and they were quick to acknowledge their shared past as the famous detective. Of course, once they both realized what they had in common, they had to stop constantly joking about it. Yes, at least it was that Cumberbatch said in a recent interview with Variety.

According to Cumberbatch, Downey was a professional, but he also knew how to keep the mood light on a large-scale, multi-hundred-million-dollar production like Avengers: Infinity War. Downey was known to joke and gently bully his colleagues. He referred to Cumberbatch as “Mr. Shakespeare”, alluding to the fact that the Briton has acted in Shakespearean productions throughout his career. That was a lot, coming from Downey, who appeared in Richard Loncrane’s Richard III in 1995. But be that as it may, the joke remained.

Cumberbatch also noted Downey’s jokes about Sherlock Holmes and addressed a line of dialogue that ended up having to be changed. He said:

“We had the irritation of being two Sherlocks on set. (…) But there was some line of dialogue where someone turns to us and says, “No hell, Sherlock.” Well, we removed all that meta stuff, we just said, “No, no, it’s better to leave it for fan fiction.”

Indeed, it would be too cheeky – even in a series as famously cheeky as the Marvel Cinematic Universe – to include meta-jokes about both actors playing Sherlock Holmes. Such things are better left in the movie “Deadpool”, in which the main character constantly jokes about Hollywood.

In another fun Sherlock-related synergy, Cumberbatch starred in the National Theater production of Frankenstein alongside Jonny Lee Miller in 2011. The gimmick of the production was that Miller and Cumberbatch alternated playing Dr. Frankenstein and the Monster. coincidentally Miller too played Sherlock Holmes in all 154 episodes of 2012’s Elementary. Cumberbatch seems to find Sherlocks like him.