Without Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, would the Marvel Cinematic Universe have become such a global phenomenon? As the charismatic actor played a big part (perhaps the biggest) in the success of Iron Man, it’s easy to imagine the film crashing the entire franchise before it even began had another actor starred in it. While Downey Jr. bid farewell to the Marvel franchise with Avengers: Endgame, could he ever be persuaded to return as Iron Man?
“Happily. It’s too integral a part of my DNA,” Robert Downey Jr. told Esquire. “That role chose me. And look, I always say, Never, ever bet against Kevin Feige. It is a losing bet. He’s the house. He will always win.“
As the MCU isn’t in tip-top shape at the moment, the idea of bringing Downey Jr. back must be appealing, but Kevin Feige has said that they wouldn’t undo Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame. “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige said. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.” Of course, there would still be plenty of ways for Iron Man to return, either in a flashback or as a Multiverse variant.
After taking home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer, Downey Jr. is setting out on yet another stage of his career. While he doesn’t seem opposed to the idea of returning to the MCU, part of me feels like the franchise shouldn’t turn to Tony Stark to save it, but hey, I’m not the one in charge of a multi-billion-dollar franchise. There have been rumblings that Downey Jr. could return as a villainous Iron Man variant in Avengers: Secret Wars, and while you should take that with a huge grain of salt at the moment, that type of switch might be enticing for the actor.
Would you like to see Robert Downey Jr. return to the MCU as Iron Man?