Robert Downey Jr. almost played a completely different Marvel character

The last 15 years of Robert Downey Jr’s career have been defined by Marvel’s Iron Man, but the actor was originally considered for a different role in the Marvel universe.

Iron Man director Jon Favreau talked about the early days of Marvel Studios with Kevin Feige in a 20-minute chat posted over at the Marvel YouTube channel.

“I remember that Robert has come in for a general [audition] on it, and you had met him already for Doctor Doom or something, on another project. I think he had come through on Fantastic Four,” Favreau told Feige.

Doctor Doom is a villain who first showed up in the Fantastic Four comics back in 1962. In 2015’s Fantastic Four, the character was played by Toby Kebbell. Julian McMahon played Doom in the 2005 adaptation.

However, Favreau makes it sound as though there was very little doubt about whether Downey Jr would play Iron Man or not from early on in their relationship.

“Once it was him, that’s when my life got a lot easier because he understood the voice of the character,” says Favreau. “He was the puzzle piece that made it all work.”

The era of Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man is, of course, now over. His last appearance was in 2018’s Avengers: Endgame.

He has since starred in Doolittle, a $175 million flop and not a well-reviewed movie. It sits at 15% freshness over at RottenTomatoes.

We expect bigger things from his next big-name production, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. It’s due out on 21 July.

Downey Jr plays Lewis Strauss, who was chairman of the US’s Atomic Energy Commission.

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