Iron Man Won't Return But Robert Downey Jr. Still 2nd Highest-Grossing Actor Of All Time
Robert Downey Jr. will not be returning as Iron Man despite rumors that Marvel is considering reviving the perished superhero.
Amid a disappointing run at the box office for "The Marvels" and recent lackluster releases from Marvel, reports started swirling in November that Disney executives are considering bringing back the original "Avengers" gang. This meant possibly reviving dead superheroes like Black Widow and Iron Man.
However, in a recent interview with Kevin Feige, the Marvel Studios president defused rumors, saying Tony Stark will remain dead.
"We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again," Feige told Vanity Fair.
"We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way."
Director Anthony Russo also recounted how hard it was for the award-winning actor to film the final scenes of the iconic character and how Marvel cast, crew and fans have struggled but eventually moved on.
"That was a difficult thing for him to do, to come back to pick up that line," Russo said.
"When he did come back, we were shooting on a stage directly opposite where he auditioned for Tony Stark. So his last line as Tony Stark was shot literally a couple hundred feet from his original audition that got him the role."
In 2019's "Avengers: Endgame," Iron Man made the ultimate sacrifice -- giving up his life to stop Thanos and save humanity. The movie, which still reigns as the second highest grossing movie of all time, marked the end of Downey Jr. as the egotistical genius that is Tony Stark.
Highest-Grossing Movies Of All Time In Domestic Box Office
Tom Hanks ($5.16 billion) round up the 10, with his fifth spot. "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise sits at seventh ($4.82 billion).
Despite Marvel's decision not to bring back Iron Man from the dead, Downey Jr.'s box office record may be hard to topple as he continues to star in box office hits.
He recently starred in the critically acclaimed film "Oppenheimer" which raked in $325 million domestically. These movies are as far as we can get from seeing the actor in the big screen.
