The Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has confirmed that Robert Downey Jr. will not be resurrecting as Iron Man in the MCU. He said that the end of Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame was a work of years and that they won’t be undoing it in any case.
Robert Downey Jr. has had his run as Iron Man in MCU
Disappointing millions of Iron Man fans worldwide, Kevin Feige has confirmed in an interview that Robert Downey Jr. won’t be returning as Tony Stark/Iron Man in Marvel Cinematic Universe. He stressed on the fact that Iron Man’s final scene was the result of years of work and that undoing it would take the magic away.
“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige spoke with Vanity Fair. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”
MCU director Joe Russo added further. “We’d already said tearful goodbyes on the last day of shooting. Everybody had moved on eventually. We promised him (Downey) it would be the last time we made him do it – ever!”
Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t the first choice for Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr., however, was not the first choice for the role of Iron Man given Downey’s history of legal issues. Timothy Olyphant was the first choice.
“It purely came down to the Marvel board being nervous at putting all of their chips in their future films on somebody who famously had those legal troubles in the past. I wasn’t very good – and I’m still not great – at taking no for an answer. But I also don’t pound my chest to try to get my way. I try to figure out ways to make it clear to other people why we should head in a direction. And that’s when the idea of a screen test came up.” Feige told Vanity Fair.
Marvel Studios’ ex-president David Maisel revealed that he had a pivotal role in convincing the Marvel board to go with Downey.
“My board thought I was crazy to put the future of the company in the hands of an addict. I helped them understand how great he was for the role. We all had confidence that he was clean and would stay clean.”
Robert Downey Jr. became the team cheerleader
Downey came on board and won his co-workers’ hearts. He even used his first Avengers contract to negotiate a higher pay for his co-workers.
“We used to joke that Robert was the head of the acting department because everybody there looked up to him,” Feige recalled fondly. “He took them all under his wings but not in a subservient sense. He just became their cheerleader.”
As for other original Avengers, Feige said they would be returning in one form or another in a future MCU phase.
Spoiler Alert: Iron Man’s final scene in Avengers: Endgame
Iron Man took his final breath in Avengers: Endgame (2019) while fighting against Thanos. The final scene leading up to Tony Stark’s death will always remain etched in our minds.
“I am inevitable,” says Thanos, snapping his fingers. But when everything around him remains the same, he looks at his hand. Just then Iron Man rises, with all infinity stones slipping to their positions in his hand, and snaps his fingers.
“And I’m Iron Man,” was the iconic last sentence that Tony Stark/Iron Man ever breathed on the fine canvas of the ginormous MCU. Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man in 9 films over 11 years.