James Gunn Doesn't Want to Bring Back Robert Downey as Iron Man

He might be one of the only Marvel fans alive that feels that way, but Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad director James Gunn says he doesn't have any interest in bringing Iron Man back, whether or not Robert Downey, Jr. was in the role. Not only is Gunn not looking to bring back Downey, but he also suggested that bringing back "Iron Man" in the form of another character is not on his radar. After all, he noted, that ten-year arc really paid off. The conversation came up, as you might expect, during an Instagram Q&A with fans -- something that James Gunn does quite a bit.

"Are you interested in bringing Iron Man back?" A fan asked Gunn. The director was...well...direct.

"Nope. I think Downey's arc was great, and he's an amazing Iron Man," Gunn told the fan.

During the same chat, Gunn revealed that he had a pair of other DC properties in his back pocket in case The Suicide Squad didn't come together, but that neither of them is (as far as he knows) in development with another filmmaker at this point. His talks with DC were pretty broad, as he has discussed repeatedly in the past.

"As has been reported many times, DC offered me whatever film I wanted to do, including some sort of Superman movie (not specifically Man of Steel 2 as I've seen reported)," Gunn said during another recent Instagram chat. "I chose The Suicide Squad because it's one of my favorite properties in the world. It's the story I wanted to tell more than any other."

Some fans are predictably taking his caveat that it was not "specifically" a sequel to Man of Steel as a sign that Warner Bros. is not interested in pursuing another Henry Cavill Superman movie. While that may be true (there have been other rumors to that effect for months), it seems like quite a leap to interpret Gunn's comments that way. The more reasonable interpretation is likely that he was invited to pitch for Superman and the door was left fairly wide open as to what that pitch would be. It appears as though that is what happened with The Suicide Squad (and even then, he kept members of the cast from the David Ayer Suicide Squad film).

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) in in theaters now. Upcoming DC films include Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, Black Adam on December 22, 2021, Shazam! 2 on April 1, 2022, The Flash on July 1, 2022, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.