Avengers: Endgame Director Addresses If Robert Downey Jr. Will Return as Iron Man

Avengers: Endgame gave quite a few Marvel Cinematic Universe characters some pretty epic final chapters, but fans are still curious exactly what the future has in store. But with regards to one of the film’s most significant endings, it sounds like there’s no undoing things going forward.

During An Evening with Joe Russo, a live Q&A hosted by ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis live from Russo’s Los Angeles-based restaurant Duello, Joe Russo was asked about the fates of those whose deaths were not ultimately tied to Thanos’ Snap. With Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), who died from the power of using the Infinity Gauntlet to kill Thanos and his army, Russo claims there is no way that the character will return in the foreseeable future.

“Tony’s dead, you know?” Russo explained. “That’s it for Robert. He’s done.”

Granted, fans who have seen Endgame probably figured as much, considering the emotional weight that was put on saying goodbye to Tony. But even then, some have speculated that Downey could still make a cameo as artificial intelligence or otherwise — but it sounds like that won’t be the case.

“We had the opportunity to give him the perfect retirement life, within the movie,” Avengers: Endgame co-writer Christopher Markus said in a recent interview.

“He got that already,” Avengers: Endgame co-writer Stephen McFeely added.

“That’s the life he’s been striving for, Markus said. “Are he and Pepper going to get together? Yes. They got married, they had a kid, it was great. It’s a good death. It doesn’t feel like a tragedy. It feels like a heroic, finished life.”

“What has it meant to sit in this character for so long? I can make a couple of comparisons,” Downey said of his Iron Man tenure in a recent interview. “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.”

Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame are in theaters now. Spider-Man: Far From Home will land in theaters on July 2nd.

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