Summary

Robert Downey Jr. reflects on his time as Iron Man and admits that the excitement eventually wore off.
Despite initially considering Iron Man a second-tier superhero, Downey jumped at the chance to work on the film and it turned out to be a huge success.
Downey’s portrayal of Tony Stark as Iron Man is praised by Christopher Nolan, who considers it one of the most consequential casting decisions in movie history.

Marvel star and Academy Award nominee Robert Downey Jr. has shared his feelings about portraying Iron Man, and how those feelings have evolved. During an interview at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where Downey was honored with the Festival’s Maltin Modern Master Award, the Oppenheimer actor opened up about losing some of the excitement associated with playing Tony Stark.

“I will never be as cool as Tony Stark, but it was so great to be associated with someone like that for a while, and then it wore off.”

Downey began his 11-year portrayal of Tony Stark with 2008’s Iron Man, the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite initially considering Iron Man “a second-tier” Marvel superhero, Downey jumped at the chance to work alongside Jon Favreau (who directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2 and appeared in multiple MCU films as Happy Hogan).

Iron Man landed in theaters in May 2008, and starred Downey, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, and Shaun Toub. The notion that Iron Man wasn’t a top-tier Marvel character was quickly disproven as the film went on to gross $585.8 million at the global box office (against a budget of about $140 million).

Related Robert Downey Jr.’s Best Performances That Aren’t Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. is best known as Tony Stark, however, the actor has an accomplished career spanning four decades. Here are his best performances.

Downey reprized the role for Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, and, finally, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Despite Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame, talks about an Avengers film reunion circulated. That was shot down by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige in December when he noted they would not undo the character’s death:

“We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”

Christopher Nolan Praises Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man Casting

Downey Jr. is currently in the midst of a busy awards season, earning a slew of nominations and wins for his role as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Downey has already earned a Golden Globe Award and Critics Choice Award (among other accolades) for the role and is largely considered the front-runner to take home the Best Supporting Oscar statuette. He is also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor.

During an appearance on The Late Show, Nolan spoke about his desire to work with Downey and commended Downey’s casting as Tony Stark (via Variety). He told host Stephen Colbert:

“I’ve always wanted to work with him. I’ve always seen that in his work,” Nolan said. “And he has such charisma as Tony Stark. Him playing Iron Man is one of the most consequential casting decisions that’s ever been made in the history of the movie business.”

Nolan’s epic follows the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. The film stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Downey, and Florence Pugh. Including Downey Jr.’s nod, Oppenheimer received 13 nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actor for Murphy, and Best Supporting Actress for Blunt.

Oppenheimer
will be available to stream on Peacock beginning February 16.

Oppenheimer Release Date July 21, 2023 Cast Cillian Murphy , Matt Damon , Robert Downey Jr. , Emily Blunt , Florence Pugh , Gary Oldman , Josh Hartnett , Jack Quaid , Kenneth Branagh , Rami Malek , Alex Wolff , Matthew Modine