Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark was the core of the MCU. His performance as the hero in 2008’s Iron Man drew universal praise that went a long way towards making the film a hit, and successfully launching the MCU as a concept.
Since then, he’s developed the role across many movies, creating a character arc that concluded with him saving the universe in an act of heroic self-sacrifice in the finale of Avengers: Endgame. After his titanic contribution to the MCU’s success, the Endgame Blu-ray is now set to do him justice with a look at his early days in the part, in a feature entitled Setting The Tone: Casting Robert Downey Jr.
In advance of the home video release, we have a preview of the feature up above that shows Downey Jr.’s screen test for the role. The scene in question comes early in the final film, with Stark justifying his weapon sales to a journalist. He explains that he produces weapons “to keep the peace,” then sends the woman off to get him a drink. Considering this is Downey Jr.’s very first time playing Tony Stark, the character is remarkably fully-formed. Though, I guess the reason they wanted him in the first place was that his mannerisms perfectly fitted their idea of who Stark should be.
It’s a nice little piece of cinema history, and I’m hoping that we’ll see a couple more early moments for characters in some of the other special features. Would it be too much to see Chris Evans’ audition to play Steve Rogers in A Man Out of Time: Creating Captain America, or Scarlett Johansson’s first lines in Black Widow: Whatever It Takes?
In any case, it’s sounding like the Avengers: Endgame Blu-ray is going to be all but essential for MCU fans. I tend not to pick up too many home video releases, but I’m probably going to grab this one simply because I remain fascinated by how the Russo Brothers and Marvel Studios managed to pull off the movie with such style. Plus, I really want to hear those commentaries.