Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man Will Not Return, Says Kevin Feige: We Would Never ‘Magically Undo’ His Death
variety.comMichaela Zee Robert Downey Jr. will not be returning as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, according to Kevin Feige.
In a recent Vanity Fair cover story about Downey Jr., the president of Marvel Studios addressed whether or not they would resurrect Iron Man/Tony Stark after his death in “Avengers: Endgame.” “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige said of Stark’s final moments in the 2019 film. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.” Downey Jr., who made his Marvel debut in 2008’s “Iron Man,” was nearly passed over for the role due to his reputation, which included being arrested in April 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded gun.
However, Feige recalls he and director Jon Favreau vying for the actor to portray the titular superhero in the film. “It purely came down to the Marvel board being nervous at putting all of their chips in their future films on somebody who famously had those legal troubles in the past,” Feige said of Downey’s arrests. “I wasn’t very good — and I’m still not great — at taking no for an answer.
But I also don’t pound my chest to try to get my way. I try to figure out ways to make it as clear to other people why we should head in a direction.
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