'New Retro' Mr. Peanut Will Sound a Lot Like Iron Man (Updated)

Update: Now with video of the new Planters commercial.

Mr. Peanut – the top hat-wearing, monocle-sporting legume that has been the face of Planters for nearly a century – will speak for the first time in animated advertisements that will hit Facebook this Tuesday.

The voice of the ritzy peanut in these "new retro" ads? Robert Downey Jr., better known as Iron Man in Marvel's hit movies.

Downey got the gig because of his "everyman suaveness," Kris Wixom, a creative director at ad agency Being, told The New York Times. Plus, the actor possesses "a voice that could wear the top hat, monocle and cane and still feel contemporary and cool."

In the ad, Mr. Peanut gets a makeover that will roll back the years on his currently bright-yellow look and make him old-school – "from an earlier era and worthy of respect" – rather than old-fashioned, according to the Times:

The humorous commercial will also unveil a new look for Mr. Peanut, meant to give him a more authentic appearance by evoking designs of the character that date to the 1930s and 1940s. He is now brown, rather than yellow, and sports – appropriately for a spokes-character – a gray flannel suit.

The ad will feature Mr. Peanut and his new single-nut sidekick, Benson, hosting a holiday party attended by cute little animals and crashed by a nutcracker, the paper says.

[via Vulture]

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See Also:

• Review: Iron Man a New High for Robert Downey Jr.
• Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock — Faithful or Flawed?