A few years ago, it looked like Robert Downey Jr. was planning on leaving Marvel until they backed up a big truck full of money and gave him $50 million to stick around for more movies. This year, rumors indicated that there wouldn’t be another Iron Man movie and Avengers 3 would be Downey Jr.’s last movie as Tony Stark.
Marvel already worked out a new extension with Downey to also appear in Captain America: Civil War where he will go head-to-head with Chris Evans’ Captain America and then will be the only original Avenger starring in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 in 2018.
While talking to Entertainment Weekly, Downey Jr. said “You know, it may verge on double digits, but it will probably wind up being a little shy.”
That will put Robert Downey Jr. at eight appearances (Marvel never seems to count cameos in their contract totals, so The Incredible Hulk wouldn’t count). Downey kicked off the Marvel franchise with Iron Man and then appeared in Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2.
If he really feels like he will just miss double digits, then the second Infinity War movie will mark the end of Downey’s journey through the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That makes sense because Marvel already said that movie will end the current trajectory of the Marvel stories, and it looks like The Inhumans will be the next major franchise to start up in Phase 4, replacing The Avengers.
From what it looks like, The Inhumans will be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of The X-Men, so that could lead the Marvel movies in a completely different direction and that will help keep the comic book movies fresh into the future. Either way, the era of Captain America, Iron Man and Thor might be ending in 2019 and Marvel will move on into something completely different.
Is this a good thing? Chime in below with your thoughts.
