Robert Downey Jr. won’t reprise Iron Man again

Casting Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in Iron Man was one of the riskiest moves imaginable. A legal liability and far from being a box office catch, it made no sense to name him the lead of a $140 million production. Until, of course, it did, with the movie launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe into what is now a $30 billion worldwide franchise. And while rumors began swirling that Marvel would try to reunite The Avengers, it seems as if the superhero himself is officially done with the character.

In a new profile on Robert Downey Jr. by Vanity Fair, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said the resurrection of Tony Stark / Iron Man – who died in Avengers: Endgame – is off the table. “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again…We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”

Joe Russo, who directed Endgame, recalled a moment that Downey Jr. had to come back in for a quick reshoot for one final line as Iron Man. “We’d already said tearful goodbyes on the last day of shooting. Everybody had moved on emotionally…We promised him it would be the last time we made him do it—ever.” Not exactly a farewell with pomp and circumstance, but it got the job done.

Previous Avengers alumni Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans previously commented on the Avengers reunion news, with both casting doubts since, a) Black Widow was killed off in Endgame, and b) Evans hasn’t even been contacted by the studio.

But clearly Robert Downey Jr. will be just fine without donning the Iron Man getup. OK, his first post-MCU outing was Dolittle, but he has also leant time to the terrific documentary Sr. – about the relationship between himself and his father – and Oppenheimer, for which he could very well earn his first Oscar win after two previous nominations (Best Actor for Chaplin and Best Supporting Actor for Tropic Thunder).

Do you want to see Robert Downey Jr. reprise Iron Man once more or is it time for Marvel to move on? Let us know below!