why do you think Tony is so beloved in asia? I agree with you btw, just curious what you think
honestly, i can’t really say. i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he’s a self-made hero. he wasn’t born with superpowers, or given his abilities through science or mutations or radioactivity. he built himself from the ground up, used what he already had to become better.
but then again, that’s something that a lot of people would appreciate about him, not just asians.
i also think it has to do with the hype of iron man. asia didn’t really get a lot of exposure to huge hollywood films before, so whenever something happens in our countries, we make a huge deal out of it. i remember when the dark knight filmed for a few days in hong kong, everyone was so damn excited about it. when the movie came out, everyone was rushing to see it just to catch a brief glimpse of our city in a huge superhero movie.
so i’m not too sure when hollywood started getting so intense with press tours, when they started hitting up asian cities. but i do remember iron man was one of the first really big ones, and they went to tokyo for that. then rdj and kept coming back to asia almost every time he needed to promote his marvel films, especially china and korea. singapore too. and those are some pretty big markets in this region. our cities are getting attention from hollywood, and from this one actor in particular. of course we’re going to love him and his character for that, you know?
and one thing i’ve noticed is that a lot of the merch is manufactured and distributed by asian companies. sure, america has their funko pops which are cute as hell, but the hardcore figurines and the super cool tech products? those are all asian. hot toys is based in hong kong. infothink makes all the snazzy usb drives, bluetooth speakers, and phone accessories, and they’re based in taiwan. tsum tsums and a majority of other toys are japanese. i honestly think that here in asia, we get access to a wider variety of merch. in fact, everywhere i’ve traveled in asia, i’ve come across different types of merch. and the more merch we see, the more we’re inclined to like a character. and we produce a ton of iron man merch. just look at my room. i have everything from plushes to pillows to stationery to phone cases. i even have iron man face masks from japan to keep my skin nice and hydrated.
so those are just a couple reasons why i think tony and rdj are so beloved in asia. i’m sure there are a ton of other reasons though, and everyone loves them in their own way. but for sure, rdj’s well-regarded here. he’s always the one we want to see.
