Robert Downey Jr. will not be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Tony Stark

CNN
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Marvel fans shouldn’t test Robert Downey Jr. to reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel universe.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed in an interview Vanity Fair Although Otherwise statementsThere are no plans to revive the character after Downey Jr.’s last appearance in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”

„We’re going to keep that moment and never touch that moment again,” Feige said. „We’ve all worked so hard over the years to achieve it, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”

Downey Jr. was reluctant to even reshoot for „Endgame,” according to the film’s co-director Joe Russo.

“On the last day of shooting we already said goodbye with tears. Everyone was emotionally moved,” Russo told the publication. „We promised him it would be the last time we made him do it — ever.”

His brother Anthony Russo, who co-directed „Endgame,” added, „That was the hardest thing for him to do, coming back to pick up that line.”

„When he (Downey Jr.) came back, we were filming on a stage right across the street from where he auditioned for Tony Stark,” Anthony Russo said. „So his last line as Tony Stark was shot a couple of hundred feet from his original audition, and that got him the role.”

According to Feige, he had to advocate for Downey Jr. to win the role of Stark in the Marvel franchise because he spent 15 months in prison due to past struggles with substance abuse.

„The Marvel board was nervous about putting all of their chips in their future films on someone who famously had those legal issues in the past,” Feige said. „I’m not very good—and I’m still not great—at taking no for an answer. But I’m not beating my chest to try to get my way. I’m trying to find ways to make it clear to other people why we should go in a certain direction. That’s when the idea for the screen test came up,” he said.

Downey Jr.’s wife, producer Susan Downey, said her husband turned down roles like Stark for years. And in 2018, Downey Jr. told Vanity Fair writer Anthony Bresnigan that he was his own man despite attempts to compare him to the character.

„I’m not him, I’ll tell you that frankly,” Downey Jr. said at the time.