Avengers: Endgame Directors Explain Why Robert Downey Jr. Should Win An Oscar

It’s hard to deny that Avengers: Endgame has had a prolific impact on our pop culture in recent months, with some hoping that that culminates in awards buzz. The film’s directors, Joe and Anthony Russo, recently Endgame‘s chance at an Oscar nomination in a new interview with The Daily Beast. In particular, Joe Russo echoed a statement already made by plenty of fans, which is that Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark/Iron Man deserves serious consideration for the Oscars.

“We don’t make movies for awards.” Joe Russo explained. “Yes, making this was exceedingly difficult. We made the two most expensive movies ever back-to-back. But I just want to stump for one thing, and that’s Robert Downey.”

“I don’t know if I have ever seen—in movie history—a global audience react to a performance the way they did to Robert Downey in that movie,” Joe Russo added. “There were people bawling in movie theaters, hyperventilating. I mean, that is a profound performance, when you can touch audiences all over the world to that degree. We’ve never seen anything like that, and if that doesn’t deserve an Oscar, I don’t know what does.”

The Russos have previously made comments about Downey potentially getting an Oscar, as have Endgame producers Jon Favreau and Trihn Tran.

“I mean that would be great, right?” Tran told ComicBook.com earlier this year. “I think, with RDJ, he spent the last decade bringing this character to life since the first Iron Man. To pay tribute to him in Endgame and where his journey ends, I hope everybody embraced what we felt emotionally was impactful to his character. I think that the Russos mentioning that it would be great that he gets acknowledged for the endeavor that he did.”

“Just speaking to any directors being able to put all these characters on screen, it really just … It couldn’t have happened in Phase One,” continues the producer. “We obviously couldn’t have started a movie like this and dump all these characters in and have people actually know who they are. It took time. I think that’s the biggest thing is it time allowed us to be able to get to the point to be able to make this movie because we were allowed the time and the opportunity to tell each and every one of their stories separately before we gathered them all together.”

Do you think Robert Downey Jr. should get an Oscar nomination for Avengers: Endgame? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022.