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Robert Downey Jr. speaks during the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony honoring Chris Hemsworth on May 23, 2024 in Hollywood, California/Elon Musk attends 'Exploring the New Frontiers of Innovation: Mark Read in Conversation with Elon Musk' session during the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024 - Day Three on June 19, 2024 in Cannes, France.
Photos by Kevin Winter/Getty Images/Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

‘Take it back, Robert!’: Robert Downey Jr. calls Marvel icon ‘the Elon Musk of cinema,’ and now fans are wishing he said literally anything else

Who's gonna tell him?

Things that have not aged well in the MCU #75: The fact that Elon Musk has a cameo in Iron Man 2. Back in 2010, the current owner of X’s self-congratulatory walk-on part made sense as at the time the world thought he was something of a real-life Tony Stark. Now, of course, we know he’s more like a real-life Justin Hammer (but without the Sam Rockwell charisma).

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Unfortunately, Tony Stark himself Robert Downey Jr. apparently didn’t get that memo as the Oscar-winning actor just described a fellow MCU icon as “the Elon Musk of cinema” — and we’re pretty sure he intended it in a nice way. While speaking to THR‘s Awards Chatter podcast, Downey heaped praised on his long-term co-star/director Jon Favreau, in particular noting how the The Mandalorian showrunner has a way with technical wizardry.

“[Favreau] is the Elon Musk of Cinema,” Downey declared. “He’s always been a tech friendly guy… as evident by [his projects].”

Oh, Robert! What’s the difference between Marvel fans right now and Favreau himself? Marvel fans are not Happy.

To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, I don’t think that comparison means what you think it means.

Downey’s biggest fumble since Doolittle?

This isn’t intended as a diss at Favreau, right? There’s not some secret beef we missed out on, is there? Maybe that’s why Downey didn’t appear in Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Happy Hogan scene…

After already putting his foot in it over revealing the real reason he’s returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom, Downey may wish to keep it zipped for the foreseeable so as not to squander all the good will surrounding his Avengers: Doomsday return.

Iron Man 2 is far from the only interaction Downey and Musk have had IRL. The star is known to have been given a personal tour of Spacex by the richest man in the world to prepare for playing Stark in the first Iron Man. Given that, it seems we may have to face up to the fact that Robert Downey Jr. actually quite likes the guy and genuinely meant his comparison as a compliment. Ironically, if he wanted to shadow Musk again now, that would be the perfect prep to play Victor Von Doom.


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Christian Bone
Christian Bone is a Staff Writer/Editor at We Got This Covered and has been cluttering up the internet with his thoughts on movies and TV for over a decade, ever since graduating with a Creative Writing degree from the University of Winchester. As Marvel Beat Leader, he can usually be found writing about the MCU and yet, if you asked him, he'd probably say his favorite superhero film is 'The Incredibles.'