Robert Downey Jr. May Not Be in Marvel’s What If? After All

Marvel Studios is bringing back many of the most popular stars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a new animated TV series called Marvel’s What If…?, that will air on the Disney+ streaming service. Based on the comics of the same name, the new series will explore a slew of important moments from the MCU and what would’ve happened if one thing went differently. For instance, what would’ve happened if Peggy Carter took the Super Soldier Serum instead of Steve Rogers? These are the self-contained stories What If…? will explore, and they will be voiced by Marvel’s biggest stars. However, the involvement of MCU cornerstone Robert Downey Jr. is now in doubt.

During an interview with BuzzFeed last week, Thor: Rangarok star Jeff Goldblum said that he had just recorded an episode of What If…? in which he reprised his role as the Grandmaster. He went on to name Downey as one of the other Marvel stars participating in the show, though he had never been previously confirmed. Well now it appears as though Goldblum may have been mistaken.

A week after the news of Downey’s appearance first broke, the folks at The Wrap updated their story to say that an “individual with knowledge of the situation” told them that Goldblum misspoke Downey wasn’t in the show after all. Disney declined to comment on the situation.

“I played the part again a couple of days ago,” Goldblum initially told BuzzFeed. “I went to the Disney studios and I recorded the Grandmaster’s voice for an episode of a show that’s gonna be on Disney+ that’s called What If…?. It’s an animated version of all the characters we know and love from Marvel and this episode included the Grandmaser and Iron Man, so Robert Downey will do a voice for that. And Korg, Taika Waititi had already recorded his voice for that. So yea, for a couple hours I enjoyed doing that.”

This could all mean one of two things. It’s possible Goldblum was just mistaken and Downey isn’t in the show. It also wouldn’t be surprising to learn that Marvel is simply trying to keep a secret cameo under wraps.

Do you think Robert Downey Jr. Will return for What If…? Are you looking forward to the new series? Let us know in the comments!