Many Marvel fans have been hoping that Robert Downey Jr. would make a return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After all, with the MCU now exploring the possibilities of the Multiverse, it seems reasonable that a variant of Tony Stark could appear at some point. However, a Marvel Studios executive confirms that a return from the actor is “no longer on the table.”
This was revealed via Marvel Studios VP of Production & Development, Stephen Broussard, while speaking with io9. He explained that Phase 4 was about “a new generation stepping to the forefront.” As such, past characters like Tony Stark aka Iron Man are no longer their focus.
As he explained:
“Well, I think one of the meta-narratives of Phase Four was about new characters. It was about new people stepping into mantles. If you look at, like, Cassie [Lang in ‘Quantumania‘] getting a suit and Kate Bishop [in ‘Hawkeye‘], new characters being introduced like Jack in Werewolf by Night. After these first 10 years of Marvel storytelling, torches are being passed, like with Robert Downey Jr. no longer being [on the] table and stuff like that. So it was kind of like a new generation stepping to the forefront which, again, has always happened in the comics.”
Of course, it’s possible that he’s only referring to frequent returns by such characters. Otherwise, a single cameo in an event film like Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or Avengers: Secret Wars still seems possible. Especially if Marvel Studios is trying to keep such details secret like with Spider-Man: No Way Home. As always, we’ll just have to see what happens. But it’s clear that Marvel hopes to focus on the newer and younger superheroes they’ve managed to introduce.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional Marvel Cinematic Universe updates as we have them. For now, however, it looks like Robert Downey Jr. is far from returning to the MCU.