may have recently won his first Oscar for , but he’s not looking to run from his past. In fact, the
Actor says he’d “happily” return as Tony Stark / . “It’s too integral a part of my DNA,” Downey told in a . “That role chose me. And look, I always say, never, ever bet against Kevin Feige. It is a losing bet. He’s the house. He will always win.” Downey’s Iron Man met his fate in 2019’s in what was arguably the most emotionally devastating moment in the 33-film Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Marvel Comics also always played fast and loose with character deaths, regularly killing off heroes and villains for effect, only to quickly bring them back, Marvel Studios boss Feige has previously said he’s rather protective of the moment Iron Man sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos. It makes Downey returning to the MCU increasingly tricky as the years tick by. A prequel story appearance would likely require CG de-aging (which still looks a bit awkward and uncanny valley), while a sequel return risks cheapening . Of course, Marvel could always set a story in different universe, where anything is possible. Marvel continues to explore multiverse stories after and featured different actors playing familiar heroes. There have also been rumors of an movie bringing back all the original Avengers, but nothing has yet materialized. The profile also had an intriguing quote from Downey’s Marvel co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, who played Tony Stark’s assistant and wife Pepper Potts. Paltrow revealed she stopped learning her lines for MCU films due to Downey’s penchant for improvising and coming up with different (and better) dialogue at the last minute. “There would be this process of [director] Jon Favreau and Robert and I going into Jon’s
trailer in the morning and Robert being like, ‘I’m not fucking saying these lines’ and throwing them out,” she said. “And then live improv-ing either in the trailer or on the set. I think in order for something to feel alive for Robert, it has to feel fresh, and he makes it fresh by making it feel like it was just invented. So many of those famous lines were written ten minutes before we said them.” Downey has a few upcoming projects in the meantime. He’s attached to return as Sherlock Holmes for with director Dexter Fletcher, though the film has yet to materialize. More immediately he is in , HBO’s Vietnam War limited series based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that’s coming April 14. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day More from The
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