Robert Downey Jr. on His Tenure as Iron Man

Avengers: Endgame finally hit theaters last week, and the actors involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been reflecting on their time with the iconic franchise. Robert Downey Jr. has portrayed Tony Stark/Iron Man since Iron Man was released in theaters 11 years ago, making him the original face of the MCU. In the new book, Avengers: Endgame – The Official Movie Special, Downey Jr. reflects on his tenure as the beloved character.

Warning: some spoilers for Avengers: Endgame below.

“What has it meant to sit in this character for so long? I can make a couple of comparisons,” he notes. “Not to compare myself to Charlie Chaplin, but people wanted to see him play the tramp. He did Monsieur Verdoux, he did Limelight – he had successful forays into not just being his most beloved character. But ultimately, in his autumn years he surrendered to the will of the people and re-found his joy and his acceptance in the fact that he’d been fortunate enough to have channeled and created that character to begin with.”

Chaplin was the perfect person for Downey Jr. to draw comparisons to considering the actor portrayed him in 1992’s Chaplin.

Downey Jr. continued to talk about his role as Tony, and attributed the success of the MCU to multiple people.

“Tony was out there for me to begin with. But you don’t think of the two separately. I think if you’d done as many of these films as I have and the first one was so definitive and game-changing – not because I’m so great, but because everybody did their job so well – what [director, Jon] Favreau did and what Gwyneth [Paltrow] did and everybody… It’s just like having a great football team, a great group of folks,” he concluded.

While it’s likely Avengers: Endgame is the last we’ll see of the actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he will be teaming up once again with Tom Holland (the MCU’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man) in the upcoming film, The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle. He’s also in development to play Geppetto in Ron Howard’s adaptation of Pinocchio, and is expected to reprise his role of Sherlock Holmes in a third installment to the franchise in 2021.

In addition to Downey Jr., Avengers: Endgame stars Chris Evans (Captain America), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), and Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon).

Avengers: Endgame is now playing in theaters everywhere. You can purchase Avengers: Endgame – The Official Movie Special on Amazon here.

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