Howard Stern Accuses Robert Downey Jr. of Turning Into Tony Stark in Real Life

Robert Downey Jr. took his bow from playing Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Endgame. Downey performed Tony's death scene after Iron Man sacrificed himself to save the Earth. Despite stepping away from the role of Tony Stark, radio host Howard Stern suggests to Downey in a recent interview that he is becoming more and more like the Marvel hero in real life. In the video above, Stern points to Downey's work with artificial intelligence and his attempts to "save the world," as Stern puts it, through environmental activism as proof of Downey's transformation. "This saving the world thing, it's so cavalier," Downey says. You can watch the full discussion above.

While Downey seemed born to play the role of Tony Stark, he explained in an interview how he tried to create distance between himself and the character. "Initially, by creating and associating and synergizing with Tony Stark and the Marvel Universe … and being a good company man, but also being a little off-kilter, being creative and getting into all these other partnerships, it was a time when … what do they say? Owners start looking like their pets," Downey said.

"I am not my work," he continued. "I am not what I did with that studio. I am not that period of time that I spent playing this character. And it sucks because the kid in all of us wants to be like, 'No. It's always going to be summer camp and we're all holding hands and singing 'Kumbaya'."

With Iron Man making his grand sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, it's time for Downey to move on to new challenges. "I have not been forced to explore the new frontier of what is my creative and personal life after this," Downey said. "It's always good to get ahead of where you are about to be. If you put eyes on 'that's going to be a big turn down there, spring of '19,' I better start psychically getting on top of that. … It's always in the transitions between one phase and the next phase that people fall apart."

What do you think of Robert Downey Jr. becoming more like Tony Stark? Let us know what you think about it in the comments section.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 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. Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk are also in the works for Disney+.