Iron Man sacrificed himself for the sake of the universe in Avengers: Endgame, which reached cinemas a year ago this past week, bringing Tony Stark’s character arc to an emotional and tragic close. Having said that, Marvel fans aren’t convinced we’ve seen the last of Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU. Anything can happen in the Marvel universe, so Tony isn’t necessarily gone for good. And, you know what, Downey Jr. himself appears to be open to the idea of returning.
The star and co-director Joe Russo had a virtual chat this past Monday as part of an Endgame viewing party. In their discussion, Russo opened up about how it feels to make a Marvel movie and then have it released into the world.
“I would say it feels like you go to summer camp and then they yank it away from you,” Russo said. “Because we do have a lot of fun working on these things together. Everyone has a lot of fun, you get real close to reach other and then you miss it. Maybe we’ll have to do it again some day.”
Downey Jr. then followed up Russo’s tease with a brief comment of his own, adding: “The people, they will move us toward what they want.”
That’s far from a confirmation that he wants to come back, but clearly the actor is taking a kind of “what will be, will be” approach to the idea. If there’s a huge call for the character to return and a great concept behind it from Marvel creatives, then it sounds like he would be willing to suit up again as the Armored Avenger.
Of course, it’s widely believed that Robert Downey Jr. will turn up for a cameo in Black Widow, thanks to it being set pre-Endgame. We would be seeing that in cinemas this weekend if everything was as normal, but due to the pandemic, the film has been delayed until November. Whether we’ll see more Iron Man in the MCU after that, who knows?
