Avenger’s star Robert Downey Jr is open to suiting up for a return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Tony Stark\Iron Man.
Downey concluded an 11-year tenure as the armored Avenger in 2019’s box office-breaking Avengers: Endgame, where Stark sacrifices himself to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) and save the ever-expanding Marvel universe. After confirming in a December interview that he was moving on from Marvel, saying he’s “done all [he] could” with the franchise’s flagship character after a “creatively satisfying” reign launched with 2008’s Iron Man, Downey is leaving the door open to step back into the MCU.
During a recent interview with GQ, Downey, who has was asked how Holland’s new film, Cherry, might affect his career. To which, he said, “Look, Tom won’t be playing Spider-Man when he’s 37. At least I hope not. And when you’re in the MCU, there’s a feeling of all life beginning with it and ending it. But there’s life outside too. I can confirm this. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. It’s funny, I bumped into Keanu [Reeves] the other day, somewhere in Malibu, I think, and he told me he’d just been filming The Matrix again; he’d stepped back into that world that he once occupied. I asked him what it felt like: ‘Like being in Australia.’
What I am saying is there was a Spider-Man before Tom Holland and there will be a Spider-Man after Tom Holland. That’s facts, Tommo. Sorry.”
On being asked the much-awaited question about his return to the MCU, he said, “Well, I have alighted, for now. Real-world to save. But never say never.”
Last year, the Iron Man star did admit he would return to the MCU on one condition.
Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, the comedian host asked the actor: “Is the door to Iron Man totally closed because I don’t believe it is? You guys can go through time now. You’ve already opened up that door.”
Downey Jr said: “There would have to be a super compelling argument and a series of events that made it obvious… We all have to do what [Marvel Studios boss] Kevin Feige says.”
