Back before he launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Robert Downey Jr. nearly gave us one of the greatest “what ifs?” of all time.
According to director Jon Favreau, Downey almost appeared as a different Marvel character altogether prior to donning his iconic iron suit.
In a recent interview marking the 15th anniversary of Iron Man‘s release, Favreau reminisced with Marvel head Kevin Feige, about how Downey almost portrayed Doctor Doom in the Fantastic Four.
“I remember you had all met with [Downey] already for like Doctor Doom or something on another project,” Favreau, 56, told Feige in an interview published on Youtube Wednesday. “I think he had come through on maybe Fantastic Four, so everybody sort of knew who he was.
Source: digitalspy.com
Downey Was Excited To Play Iron Man
According to The Mandalorian creator, once Downey was excited to portray Tony Stark.
“I remember sitting down with the guy, and I was like, ‘He’s got that spark in him in his eye and he’s ready,’” Favreau noted.
Source: polygon.com
“That’s when we were in your office, and we were pointing to his headshot, saying, “We got to try to figure this out,” he continued recalling. “That was enough to get us a screentest.”
Launching The MCU
Once Downey was on board, however, everything fell into place for Favreau.
“Once it was him, that’s when my life got a lot easier because he understood the voice of the character,” Favreau explained. “And then one by one, people were just signing on board because now it became something interesting.”
The original Iron Man film would eventually launch Marvel Studios into the forefront of popular culture. In addition to the original Iron Man movie, Downey would reprise the role in nine more Marvel films before his character died in Avengers: Endgame.
“That tone that you and Robert discovered on that movie, I would say became the template in a way for much of what the MCU became,” Feige added.
“I remember on later movies… there were dark days,” he later noted. “I would say to Robert, ‘We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you,’ meaning we wouldn’t have a studio if it wasn’t for him. Or you [Favreau].”
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