Robert Downey Jr. Almost Played a Marvel VILLAIN Before He Was Iron Man

It’s almost impossible to imagine Iron Man played by anyone other than Robert Downey Jr., but did you know that Downey was almost cast as a DIFFERENT Marvel character before he auditioned to play the “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” (his words, not ours )?

Iron Man

And that other character was an infamous VILLAIN, no less!

Imagine how different the Marvel films would be if Robert Downey Jr. were cast as Doctor Doom in The Fantastic Four instead of as Iron Man. It sounds like a casting from a different multiverse, right?! But that’s almost what happened, according to Iron Man director Jon Favreau.

Doctor Doom ©Fox via Business Insider

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Favreau and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige reflected on the making of Iron Man. Favreau said, “I remember you had all met with him [Downey] already for like Doctor Doom or something on another project. I think he had come through on like maybe Fantastic Four, so everybody sort of knew who he was.”

Favreau didn’t say exactly how close Downey was to getting the role of Doctor Doom. He did say, however, that when Downey auditioned for Iron Man, they immediately saw a “spark” and “knew he was perfect for the role.”

©Disney via Hollywood Reporter

Favreau reflected that, once Downey was on board with Iron Man, things just started to fall into place: “Once it was him, that’s when my life got a lot easier because he understood the voice of the character. Then one by one, people were just signing on board because now it became something interesting.”

Of course, Downey went on to play Iron Man in a couple of sequels, four Avengers movies, and lots of other Marvel films. Feige said that he didn’t think Marvel would have a studio if it weren’t for Downey: “I remember on later movies — we’ll talk about them on the 15th anniversary of those — there were dark days. 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.”

©CinemaBlend | Marvel

In an interview with Insider back in 2022, Downey reflected on his role in Iron Man, saying that “not too many people were thinking Iron Man was going to have an opening weekend or do much of anything, so we were a little bit left alone.” According to Downey, Marvel had financed the movie “in a way that meant the studio was already prepared for failure.”

©Blackstone Publishing

About making the film, Downey said, “It was the perfect thing where there were not a lot of creatively aggressive eyes on us. And by the time they gave it to us, it was like [artist-owned movie studio] United Artists, like the lunatics took over the asylum.”

Contrary to the studio’s predictions, however, Iron Man was a big success, earning $585 million worldwide. Downey went on to play Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame, which earned $2.798 billion worldwide, so clearly Marvel made the right call in bringing Downey on board.

©Marvel

Iron Man is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The film started Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe back in 2008. (Can you believe we’re already on Phase 5 now?)

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