Robert Downey Jr. Reveals Concerns About Playing IRON MAN In The MCU For 11 Years

Robert Downey Jr. Reveals Concerns About Playing IRON MAN In The MCU For 11 Years

Robert Downey Jr. is set to make another box office splash post-Avengers: Endgame with the release of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer later this month.

News
By MarkJulian - Jul 12, 2023 07:07 AM EST
Filed Under: Iron Man
Source: The New York Times

It seems Robert Downey Jr. had major misgivings about continuing on as Tony Stark past Avengers: Endgame.  Speaking to The New York Times, Downey states that he feared his acting skills withering away after playing the fan-favorite Iron Man in the MCU for 11 years.

"You start to wonder if a muscle you have hasn’t atrophied,” stated Downey Jr. 

In a follow-up question, he went on to explain how director Christopher Nolan capitalized on those fears when approached RDJ to join the star-studded ensemble in Oppenheimer.

"Yes. 100%," Downey first replied when asked if he had any concerns about playing Iron Man for 11 years and then venturing into other projects and being capable of delivering a good performance.  He added, "And I knew there was a point where Christopher Nolan was endorsing, let’s work those other muscles, but let’s do it while rendering you devoid of your usual go-to things."

The leading face of the MCU for many years closed the interview by expressing that he's happy to be doing something else at this point in his career.

"Coming from that other place, entering the box-office-weekend-dominating place, then going into this spot now where I’m happy that I’m in this quality product — I’m happy that I regained my connection with a more purist approach to making movies."

Oppenheimer hits North American theaters on July 21, 2023.

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GhostDog
GhostDog - 7/12/2023, 7:56 AM
“I’m happy that I regained my connection…”
Tonic24k
Tonic24k - 7/12/2023, 9:46 AM
@GhostDog - I mean, he wouldn't have money if he didn't work so hard to become an expert in his craft. From an artist's perspective, what he's expressing is a legitimate concern.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 7/12/2023, 9:58 AM
@Tonic24k - I fully understand and I'm being a dick with the gif lol

That being said, I think the money definitely made up for the years he felt like he was losing his ability to push his performing
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 7/12/2023, 11:13 AM
@GhostDog - Totally understand, just look at the Friends, Seinfield, and Big Bang Theory cast. Those actors don't have to and haven't acted in years because of the royalties they made from those hit shows.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 7/12/2023, 1:36 PM
@mastakilla39 - "Those actors don't have to and haven't acted in years because of the royalties they made from those hit shows."

Of the lead casts of those shows, only Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards have stopped acting after their shows ended (and in Richard's case, that wasn't really by choice.)
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 7/12/2023, 1:37 PM
@mastakilla39 - That said, yeah, I, too, would quit my job and never work again if I had the choice. But then, I don't do what I love for a living.
Termin8r
Termin8r - 7/12/2023, 4:23 PM
@Tonic24k - is it though? this is thinly veiled disdain for a certain type of movies he was in for a while, that made him one of the biggest stars of all time. bigger than he EVER was in the 80s and 90s.

There's a way to say this without diminishing the cash cow that saved his career. It's hard to look at him with a positive lens after saying something like this. If he's an expert in his craft and above this, he wouldn't need it. Or he's an expert in his craft who took something he felt was "below him" on purpose and now has to backtrack it.

I get what you're saying, he is an expert in his craft, but for me, this kinda statement is super weak. You're either above it or you're not. It just reeks of "Dolittle flopped bigtime so i'm no longer a viable box office juggernaut so I have to act hoity toity to get respected as an actor again.
Tonic24k
Tonic24k - 7/24/2023, 4:41 PM
@Termin8r - I didn't take it as disdain at all. Perhaps you're not interpreting what he's trying to say accurately. He's just saying he did ONE type of film for so long he wanted to "flex different muscles" for other TYPES of movies, too.
Tonic24k
Tonic24k - 7/24/2023, 4:44 PM
@GhostDog - I agree with that!
KWilly
KWilly - 7/12/2023, 7:59 AM
Out of all the MCU movies he did, I don't think he delivered a better performance than Civil War. Top notch stuff.
Drace24
Drace24 - 7/12/2023, 8:07 AM
@KWilly - I just wish they had gone more into why his character turned such a sudden 180 on his entire outlook on life. He went from "I privatized world peace, lol!" to "We gotta do what the government says, guys!" off-screen. I know why he did but I think Downey's performance would have been even better if they had given him the chance to show us. To me the only real problem in this otherwise fantastic piece of the MCU.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 7/12/2023, 8:07 AM
@KWilly - favorite CBM right there boy
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 7/12/2023, 8:11 AM
@Drace24 - what was off screen? The flip flop? IM3 and AoU went into that thoroughly.
philinterrupted
philinterrupted - 7/12/2023, 8:13 AM
@Drace24 - wasn’t he moving in that direction after the first Avengers movie? That lead to Ultron which lead to what happens in Civil War. I always thought it was all there.
JoeInTheBox
JoeInTheBox - 7/12/2023, 8:19 AM
@Drace24 - The confrontation by the mother whose son was killed during the events of Sokovia was pretty convincing reason enough for me. All Tony said was that they should be kept in check. Meaning, the govn't should take responsibility for the actions of the Avengers.

It's not entirely letting Tony off the hook. He just doesn't want to shoulder all the responsibility for their actions. It's a theme in his life. For all the sacrifices Tony does, he ultimately wants to automate responsibility(the actual suit itself, his iron legion, building weapons for others).
Polaris
Polaris - 7/12/2023, 8:20 AM
@Drace24 - But it was shown. Ultron happened. It's not 'let's do everything the goverment says', more like 'we can't do whatever the hell we want because it's dangerous'. Then Cap had the opposite arc of distrusting the goverment after winter soldier and wanting to be fully independent. Their parallel journeys are one of my fave things of the mcu.
KWilly
KWilly - 7/12/2023, 9:06 AM
@Drace24 - Guilt. The guilt made him switch up real quick. It was eating away at him.

So imo, that's all that needed to be displayed.
marvel72
marvel72 - 7/12/2023, 9:34 AM
@KWilly -
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 7/12/2023, 10:02 AM
@philinterrupted - dude yes the Saga did not leave that question unanswered by a long shot, even showing Cap’s flip to bring for the country, not the government. Cap and Tony’s rivalry was so fully fleshed out it was like, well if you’re for that, I’m against it, oh you agree with me now? WELL I DON’T! CUZ I WAS WRONG AND YOURE A JACKASS!!! This is why Civil War is my favorite. It was a low low point for the Avengers. Masterfully done.
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 7/12/2023, 10:02 AM
@TheWalkingCuban - What the person to whom you responded mentioned, genius. Iron Fail 3 was more focused on butchering Iron Man's greatest modern comic story and his greatest villain than in addressing and developing some supposed character change that would lead to Civil War. He didn't change in that shit movie. And Week of Ultron ends with no change in status quo. Civil War came out of thin air. Not like the comics, where you first had his solo run showing him running to become Secretary of Defense, then Disassembled event happening, and then we move to Civil War.
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 7/12/2023, 10:02 AM
@philinterrupted - No, he wasn't. He was still the same ''I don't play by the rules'' dipshit.
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 7/12/2023, 10:04 AM
@Polaris - If it were, you'd be able to find and post to us a scene on YouTube from a pre-Civil War movie that deliberately showcases Stark's change in status quo. Because I can show you a scene from a 2004 Iron Man where Stark tries to become the Secretary of Defense and is preoccupied with changing the way the wars are fought in modern world.
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 7/12/2023, 10:06 AM
@TheWalkingCuban - Civil War is a dull mess with no clear point of view, characters being contradictory morons, and stakes being slightly above your average blue sky beam. ''I don't like that this poor kid died in Sokovia because if our [me creating Ultron, for which I don't take responsibility, any] actions, therefore, here is me forcing this other kid to fight on my side in a conflict he has no stake in.'' Brilliant.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 7/12/2023, 10:07 AM
@URCOMMENTSUCKS - we are yawning.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 7/12/2023, 10:10 AM
@URCOMMENTSUCKS - eyelids… so heavy…
philinterrupted
philinterrupted - 7/12/2023, 10:49 AM
@URCOMMENTSUCKS - he’s certainly an impulsive character.

- Iron Man 2008

-Ultron


- Civil War

He’s a deeply flawed character. But the events that happened in Ultron and the beginning of civil war completely explain his actions.

This is not a comment on if I think he’s right.



Drace24
Drace24 - 7/12/2023, 11:02 AM
@TheWalkingCuban - When tho? Iron Man 3 was pretty much glossed over. He destroyed all his suits... and then he was back again. Also kind of off-screen. And I get that his responsibility for Ultron was named as the reason for change in attitude. But we didn't really see that. At the end of AoU he was cracking jokes and ready to go on like before. In fact only bigger than before. The self-reflective, deep thinking attitude that lead him to sign the Sokovia Accords really only happened in Civil War itself, so it felt kind of sudden.
Polaris
Polaris - 7/12/2023, 11:07 AM
@URCOMMENTSUCKS - He's been struggling with accountability from the very first Iron Man movie ("I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with 0 accountability"), that's his whole arc. Each movie he gets more obsessed with preventing danger. He starts by not wanting to share his toys and ends up being a team player and funding the Avengers and letting others use his armors. He's riddled with guilt from the start and that changes him, bit by bit. If you don't see it, then you don't want to see it.
Drace24
Drace24 - 7/12/2023, 11:08 AM
@philinterrupted - No, absolutely not. If anything he was at the exact opposite situation after Avengers. He definitely saw the Avengers and his tech as the solution to prevent all future threats to Earth. In Civil War he suddenly believed in the exact opposite. That the Avengers themselfs need to be kept in check. He saw himself as the problem. Civil War told us that Sokovia was the reason for it, but that's the point. It TOLD us, while AoU should have SHOWN us. Then it would not feel so sudden. But instead the end of AoU showed Tony Stark cracking jokes and going even more all in on the Avengers then before.
Drace24
Drace24 - 7/12/2023, 11:12 AM
@Polaris - Yes, we've seen Ultron but not that this had any effect on Tony's conscience. Civil War just retroactively told us that this is why he signed the Sokovia Accords. But if anything the end of Age of Ultron showed him in a good, hopeful mood and supporting the Avengers even more. What AoU has shown us is the exact opposite of what Civil War is telling us.
Drace24
Drace24 - 7/12/2023, 11:14 AM
@KWilly - Yeah, but show don't tell. I get that the movie told us that that's his motivation. But we've never seen it. Instead AoU's ending shows us the exact opposite.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 7/12/2023, 11:22 AM
@Drace24 - nooo he had PTSD in IM3 and in AoU he built the fwiggin wobots. His feud with Captain Dissimulation certainly progressed. Comedic defense mechanism notwithstanding.

Dude it’s part of why the Saga was so great. Come on now.
Polaris
Polaris - 7/12/2023, 11:36 AM
@Drace24 - I get your point. I'm not the biggest fan of AoU myself, but Tony's guilt after Ultron doesn't seem sudden to me, even if at the end of the movie he's cracking jokes. It just seems like the next logical step for someone whose motivation was always "my weapons killed innocent people and I feel guilty about it". Something as big as Ultron had to change him somehow. What I mean is, I don't need a scene in AoU of Tony saying how bad he feels, because it's been established that that's exactly the thing that makes him tick, yk? If anything I would cut some AoU scenes, not add anything.
philinterrupted
philinterrupted - 7/12/2023, 12:00 PM
@Drace24 - I appreciate what you’re saying. However, this information would be not known to Tony during Age of Ultron. He finds out about that woman’s son, dying after the fact.
philinterrupted
philinterrupted - 7/12/2023, 12:01 PM
@Drace24 - yes show don’t tell is typically the way you want to go, but there are situations like this one where it’s fine. Age of Ultron was not addressing fallout from the avengers actions, so why would they bring it up?
JonC
JonC - 7/12/2023, 12:10 PM
@Drace24 - it was one thing when it was just him, but when it had other superheroes in the mix he knew there needed to be some regulation... he had a problem controlling himself, trying to control others was more or less impossible unless they signed on to a government contract.
JonC
JonC - 7/12/2023, 12:12 PM
@Drace24 - him destroying suits was just appeasing pepper, it meant nothing to him as he had all the plans and resources to make them again. just think of it as 'spring cleaning'...
Drace24
Drace24 - 7/12/2023, 12:23 PM
@JonC - Sorry but that is ridiculous. Tony literaly shared a monologue with the audience about how his suits were a cocoon that he has shed himself of. We were absoluttely supposed to think he is done with being Iron Man. As evidenced by the fact that he was just back being Iron Man the next time we saw him without explanation. That was always an odd decision.
Drace24
Drace24 - 7/12/2023, 12:23 PM
@JonC - Again, not what was shown to us. That's a reasoning you made up on your own.
Drace24
Drace24 - 7/12/2023, 12:25 PM
@TheWalkingCuban - The saga was great and it still worked but that plot point was simply never actually shown. And that's a fact.
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