MCU Founder Recalls Pushback Against Robert Downey Jr.’s Casting

May 31, 2023

Not everybody was convinced that Robert Downey Jr. should be Iron Man.

Today the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the biggest thing in entertainment. Between movies and now TV the MCU is the movie franchise that is still above and beyond all others. It's been such a success for so long that it's easy to forget that there was a time when it didn't yet exist, and what a risk it took when it banked on Robert Downey Jr. to star in the original Iron Man movie.

Robert Downey Jr. was a talented actor, but one that had been dealing with addiction issues when he was considered for the role of Tony Stark in Iron Man. David Maisel, credited by many as the man who initially came up with the concept of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, recently spoke to The New Yorker about the fact that not everybody at Marvel was entirely sold on the idea of Downey due to his past struggles. Maisel explained…

My board thought I was crazy to put the future of the company in the hands of an addict. I helped them understand how great he was for the role. We all had confidence that he was clean and would stay clean.

Director Jon Favreau has spoken before about the fact that he advocated strongly for Robert Downey Jr. to be Tony Stark on the big screen. The fact was that the character of Tony Stark had a dark side of his own in the history of the comics, making it an interesting, and potentially valuable parallel between the actor and the character that might help Downey's performance.

Whether or not Downey's particular history helped with the performance or not, it's impossible now to argue with success. Iron Man was a massive hit back in 2005, which was something of a surprise because comic book movies were not seen as the near-automatic success that they are these days, and Iron Man as a character wasn't exactly a household name. Neither the character nor the actor playing him were necessarily audience draws.

Iron Man's success meant that the Marvel Cinematic Universe was born, and the rest is history. Solo movies for the Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America followed, and then they all came together in The Avengers, which became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. Now the MCU is more than 30 movies deep and fans are still turning out to theaters in huge numbers when a new entry is released.

It's impossible to tell just what would have happened if Timothy Olyphant, the other top contender, had been cast as Tony Stark. Or if Clive Owen hadn't passed on the role before it was offered to Downey. Maybe success was already guaranteed and everything would have played out exactly as it has regardless of who got the role. Of course, Kevin Feige has said the MCU exists because of Robert Downey, Jr, and maybe he's right.

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