Robert Downey Jr. Returning As Iron Man In Marvel’s What If…?

Marvel’s What If…? was officially announced back at Comic-Con this summer, with a whole host of MCU stars unveiled to be returning to voice their characters in the animated anthology TV series. However, there were a few notable exceptions amongst the cast. The big one has to be Robert Downey Jr., who wasn’t mentioned to be making an appearance as Tony Stark, following the character’s demise in Avengers: Endgame. 

However, we’ve now had it confirmed that the Iron Man star will return for What If..?, and it comes from an unexpected source. Namely, the Grandmaster himself, Jeff Goldblum.

BuzzFeed shared a video in which the Thor: Ragnarok actor answered fan questions while surrounded by puppies. When asked whether he’s set to appear as the ousted dictator of Sakaar in Thor: Love and Thunder, Goldblum revealed that he hopes so but he’ll definitely be back for the animated show, as will Downey Jr.

“Hey. Well, we’re talking about it in fact. You know, I hope so. I love Taika Waititi. He’s a great director and a friend of mine. So I hope so, but I played the part again a couple of days ago. I went to the Disney Studios and I recorded the Grandmaster’s voice for an episode of a show that’s going to be on Disney+ called What If…? where it’s an animated version of all the characters we know and love from Marvel. And this episode included the Grandmaster and Iron Man, so Robert Downey will do a voice in that. And Korg, Taika Waititi, had already recorded his voice for that. So yeah, I enjoyed it for a couple of hours. I enjoyed doing that again. So the Grandmaster is well.”

Thanks for this confirmation, Goldblum! Marvel might not be pleased with him for spilling the beans on RDJ’s cameo at this early stage, but us fans are thrilled to hear that we can expect something from Iron Man in the show. Seeing as each of the series’ 23 episodes will spring off a different MCU movie, you’d expect Stark to turn up at least once, but it’s good to have it outright confirmed now by a very trustworthy source.

What If…? will explore the multiverse as each episode dips into an alternate world where events played out a little differently. There’s one where Peggy Carter is Captain America, one where Black Panther is Star-Lord and another that’s basically the Marvel Zombies universe. The animation looks stellar on the project, too, so this is really a show that fans shouldn’t miss. Especially as it’ll presumably set up some concepts that will later come into play in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 

Marvel’s What If…? arrives on Disney Plus in mid-2021.