Iron Man May Disappear Whenever Robert Downey Jr Is Done With The Role

Iron Man May Disappear Whenever Robert Downey Jr. Is Done With The Role

By Ethan Anderton/March 18, 2016 11:00 am EST

Downey is contracted for The Avengers 3, but when that contract was signed, the movie wasn’t split into two parts. So we’re not sure yet if he’ll be partaking in both parts of The Avengers: Infinity War. But beyond that, Downey doesn’t have any more Marvel Studios movies left in his contract. So what happens after Robert Downey Jr leaves Iron Man? Captain America: Civil War co-director Joe Russo has given us one possibility.

Speaking with Forbes, Joe Russo talked about just how important Downey has become to the franchise before hypothesizing what will happen to Iron Man once he decides to hang up the armor:

That’s probably the best idea, if only because there needs to be some time that passes before someone new takes up the Tony Stark mantle. Even if we get Iron Man back, if the new version of the character exists in the Marvel cinematic universe, it would probably need to be a new person under the armor due to the passage of time. But no matter what is done to reboot the character, Russo thinks some time will have to pass before audiences are ready for a new Iron Man:

It’s almost impossible to replace Robert; he’s the biggest movie star in the world. One close-up from Robert is worth another actor’s entire performance; he’s incredibly gifted and insanely talented. I think if and when he is done with the character, I think you will find that Iron Man might disappear for a while.

I think the only way that you could reboot that character is to give a generational gap that would allow another actor to at least have a chance to redefine that character without the enormous specter of Robert hanging over it. There are so many characters in the Marvel universe that can pick up the ball and run without it through the next phase or two before you need to see Iron Man again, frankly.

Iron Man returns in Captain America: Civil War on May 6, and we’ll see how his role in The Avengers: Infiiity War plays out in a couple years or so.