When the Nets host the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, Jan. 18, the first 10,000 fans in attendance will receive a special Spencer Dinwiddie as Iron Man bobblehead. The Brooklyn guard is a big fan of the character and the Marvel series of movies in which Tony Stark was a central character over the last decade.
Dinwiddie has seen every movie in the series, right up through last spring’s Avengers: Endgame, which marked the end of a phase in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and wrapped up the storylines of several main characters, including Tony Stark. Dinwiddie took a few minutes to chat about his movie and comic book fandom.
WHY IRON MAN?
“Someone I feel a connection with. It’s really his mind, obviously. He’s a super-genius. That’s his main quote-unquote super power. Well, debate on the Bleeding Edge armor when it was implanted in his body. Things could get a little dicey. But, bottom line, it’s moreso about his mind than anything else. He’s not born super-human physically and he kind of goes through this road of self-discovery that leads to him being more benevolent figure and I think in a lot of ways obviously my journey hasn’t been smooth and I’ve had to rely on my mind a lot to get to where I’m at. I am Iron Man.
WHAT WAS YOUR REVIEW ON AVENGERS: ENDGAME?
“It was a good movie. You know, I was hurt. I was hurt by the movie. I didn’t want to think it was true. Little baby tear in the movie. It was tragic. But it had to come. You knew it was coming. All good things must come to an end.”
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE TIME JUMP PLOT?
“All right, so you had to have the time jump and things had to get dicey because you had to not only, the heroes had to win to continue the story, but you also needed to bring certain characters back like Gamora so the Guardians of the Galaxy could continue to progress. There’s a lot of reasons why they had to mess with time, because if not, Thanos won. What are you going to do? Half the universe gone? You knew they had to come back and win obviously, but what other option did they really have, as writers.”
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MARVEL MOVIE AND WHY?
“I know technically The Incredible Hulk started it, but obviously Iron Man 1 really kicked off the whole thing and obviously him being my favorite character, that’s a pretty homer pick. I think the true beauty in Infinity War might actually make it my favorite because of the fact that they told it from the perspective of Thanos being this misunderstood hero, so when you watch it, you almost find yourself pulling for him in a weird way. Obviously, you don’t want him to snap half the universe away, but you kind of sort of end up pulling for him. And you know there’s two parts to the final Avengers movie, so you’re like, there’s no way he actually wins, there’s two parts and all that other stuff. But when he actually snaps at the very end, the first time I saw it, I was like, ‘Woah, he did win!’ You knew they were going to come back because there was going to be another Avengers obviously, but just to have that big snap moment and for him to actually win for that year time span while we waited for that next Avengers movement, I think it was pretty exquisitely written in that perspective. But other than that, the most well-written Marvel movies are probably the Captain America series.”
FOR THE CHARACTERS THAT HAD THEIR OWN SERIES OF MOVIES, WHO HAD THE BEST SERIES?
“Captain America, for sure. I don’t even think it’s that close. I think the First Avenger, they set it up obviously. Winter Soldier was a really good movie. And the Civil War, quasi-Avengers movie, and let’s call a spade a spade, Iron Man was whupping his ass, so it was great. They had to double-team my guy, which was unfair, because he was out here serving both of them folks. Iron Man would have whupped Cap’s ass, solo, easy call. Be reading all those punches. It’s over.”
ANY CHARACTERS MARVEL HASN’T USED YET THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SEE?
“I think it depends on how big they’re going. Obviously The Eternals are going to come out, so we’re going to start figuring out Thanos and some people more powerful than him. Really though, a character they should bring out, because he is a monster, Franklin Richards. Bring him out. Like, he’s crazy. For all you all comic book people that already know him, obviously you know, but all you people that don’t know, look up (Fantastic Four’s Mr. Fantastic) Reed Richards’ son. It gets crazy. It’s crazy. He’s out here making Galactus like his little homie, it’s big-time.”
WHEN DID YOU GET INTO READING COMICS AND WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITES?
“Just young and like that kind of fantasy and fiction world. Also big into anime, so really my favorite character overall would be Vegeta (from Dragon Ball Z) so it’s not just the straight-up Marvel Comics. I really, really like Vegeta. So there’s a lot of anime shows I like too.”