Iron Man’s Robert Downey Jr. Says Marvel “Let the Lunatics Run the Asylum” With First Movie

Robert Downey Jr. is having a busy awards season thanks to his role as Lewis Strauss in the Christopher Nolan-directed film Oppenheimer. Downey Jr. is currently one of the frontrunners for the Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscars, in fact, he just took home the prize at the Golden Globes over the weekend. Downey Jr. recently took part in The Hollywood Reporter‘s actors’ roundtable alongside Colman Domingo, Andrew Scott, Mark Ruffalo, Jeffrey Wright, and Paul Giamatti. During the discussion, Downey Jr. brought up his time making Iron Man back in 2008. 

“No,” Downey Jr. said when asked if he hesitated when signing on to make a big studio film. “Because anyone who knows [Iron Man director] Jon Favreau – I remember seeing Swingers, and that monologue he has, and I was like, ‘And he wrote this? Who is this guy?’ Also, he went to Bronx Science, and he was doing the Improv in Chicago, and we’re both from Queens? We were meant to do this thing. Also, there was no real certainty that this was even going to take off. Iron Man was a second-tier hero. They [Marvel] let the lunatics run the asylum for a little while, so it was completely an indie approach to a genre movie to begin with.” 

Will Robert Downey Jr. Play Iron Man Again?

Downey Jr. played Tony Stark/Iron Man starting in 2008 until the character’s death in Avengers: Endgame in 2019. There’s been a lot of speculation about whether or not the MCU will revive Downey Jr.’s character with rumors swirling that the original six Avengers will once again return to the franchise. Previously, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said Downey Jr. was “part of the family,” but when it comes to his return, “we’ll have to see.” However, the producer sang a different tune in a recent Vanity Fair profile on the actor. 

“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige shared. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”

“We’d already said tearful goodbyes on the last day of shooting. Everybody had moved on emotionally,” Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo added. “We promised him it would be the last time we made him do it-ever.”

While it’s not surprising to hear there are no plans to resurrect Tony Stark, that doesn’t necessarily mean fans won’t be seeing Downey Jr. in the MCU again. There are plenty of rumors and theories about Avengers: Secret Wars, including the idea that an alternate version of Tony Stark from another universe could appear in the film. Of course, it’s also worth noting that when it comes to the MCU, many of the people involved are known for lying, so you never really know who could be popping up.

Are you rooting for Robert Downey Jr. this awards season? Tell us in the comments!