Kevin Feige: Casting Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man was “one of the greatest decisions” ever
By Ashley Hurst
There are certain roles you simply can’t imagine another actor playing: Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, and so on. Then there’s Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, the hero who kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has grossed almost $30 billion across 32 movies to date!
Looking back on 15 years since Iron Man entered theaters, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and long-time writer/actor Jon Favreau reminisced about the early days of the franchise. Turns out Favreau was always a big fan of Downey Jr., having unsuccessfully tried to recruit him to play Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four (2005). Eventually he approached him about Iron Man, and the rest is history.
Speaking on Marvel’s YouTube page, Kevin Feige named the casting “one of the greatest decisions in the history of Hollywood.”
Without Robert Downey Jr., the Marvel Cinematic Universe wouldn’t exist
The idea was simple: once Robert Downey Jr. was on board, they could build up the wider cinematic universe around him. “Once it was Robert, then every decision became a lot easier,” Favreau said. “I remember sitting down with [Robert] and I was like, he just got it and he’s got that spark in him and his eye and he’s ready.”
Downey Jr. being involved meant that other big stars were willing to jump aboard. Suddenly the franchise had names like Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow.
“I remember on later movies – we’ll talk about them on the 15th anniversary of those – there were dark days. I would say to Robert, ‘We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you,’ meaning we wouldn’t have a studio if it wasn’t for him,” Feige said.
Downey Jr. took his final bow as Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame. Now he can sit back and relax knowing he helped create the most successful franchise in cinematic history.
I’ve always wonder how things would’ve turned out had Downey Jr. not played this key role. Tom Cruise was rumored to be in the running to play Iron Man, but that never came to be. Would he have been as successful? We’ll never know.
Next. James Gunn ruminates on the end of his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. dark
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