Robert Downey Jr. helped forge the Marvel Cinematic Universe but now that he’s passed the torch, would he ever consider returning as Iron Man again?
For the better part of 11 years, Robert Downey Jr. was the center of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Tony Stark/Iron Man.
In 2019, the veteran actor said goodbye to a role of a lifetime after Iron Man perished in the closing moments of “Avengers: Endgame,” which went onto becoming the highest grossing film of all time.
Downey Jr. appeared in three separate “Iron Man” films, across four different “Avengers” movies and made sporadic appearances throughout the rest of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe including a memorable cameo in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
With the death of his character, Marvel has started to move ahead into ‘Phase 4’ in 2020 but Downey Jr. remains a massive part of the history of the franchise. so it begs the question — would he ever return to Iron Man one last time?
“To me, starting up again is off the table,” Downey Jr. told Joe Rogan on his podcast. “I feel I’ve done all I could with that character. There would have to be a super compelling argument and a series of events that made it obvious. But the other thing is I want to do other stuff.”
Considering the emotional resonance that followed Iron Man’s death in “Avengers: Endgame,” Downey Jr. also questioned if his return wouldn’t somehow ruin that iconic moment that closed out that particular chapter of his career while also signifying the end of the “Infinity Saga” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He added that following the huge opening and the fanfare that followed the film’s release, Downey Jr. hadn’t really got the chance to sit down with some of his nearest and dearest from Marvel and just talk as friends. That happened this past week and he felt like that finally gave him the closure he needed to say goodbye to Iron man forever.
‘I got to go have dinner with a bunch of the Marvel folks last night and kind of have just a little bit of extra closure,” Downey Jr. said. “You know the movie came out and it was bananas and the directors are sending me pictures of people flipping out in theaters when Tony snaps and I was like ‘whoa’ this is kind of a big cultural thing.
“It’s really interesting being here today because last night was this felt like this closing the circle on things a bit.”
While it appears Marvel is in his past for good, Downey Jr. isn’t lacking for work these days. His new film “Dolittle” opens in theaters this week with a third film in the “Sherlock Holmes” series expected to get into production in the near future.
