Robert Downey Jr. will return as Iron Man (for a Disneyland ride)

Robert Downey Jr. last appeared as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the 2019 movie Avengers: Endgame, which brought to an end his meteroic rise through the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU is the most successful franchise in the history of cinema, and it doesn't happen without Downey Jr. in this role.

A lot of fans thought Downey Jr. was done with the MCU after this; after all, he'd made hundreds of millions of dollars by playing Iron Man, so what was there left for him to do? You also got the idea that he was tired of playing Tony Stark over a decade in the suit, which is fair. But Marvel managed to woo him back with an interesting offer: he's returning to the MCU not as Tony Stark but as Doctor Doom, a major villain who will likely make his debut in the upcoming movie The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Marvel is reportedly paying Downey Jr. $80 million to come back to the MCU. Wouldn't you? And he's also kinda-sorta returning as Tony Stark, but not in any new Marvel movie; according to Gaming Bible, he'll appear as Iron Man in a new ride at Disneyland called Stark Flight Lab. Stark Flight Lab will be similar to the ride Star Tours, which is a guided tour through the Star Wars universe. So basically, I expect Downey Jr. to record some video of himself talking to theme park attendees that will play as they sit in their moving chairs learning about all things Marvel.

In its headline about this news, Gaming Bible said that Robert Downey Jr. "officially returns as Iron Man," which is technically true but a mite misleading, given that he's putting on the suit again for a theme park ride and not a movie or TV show. Actually, we don't even know if he'll put on the suit; it might just be Tony Stark in his sweatpants.

There's no time frame for when Stark Flight Lab will go live as of now. It's one of several new attractions Disney is hoping will super-charge its theme parks. With hits like Deadpool & Wolverine returning Disney to the top of the box office, they have an opportunity to re-energize other sectors of their business as well. We'll see what they make of it.

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