From 2008 up until 2019’s Avengers Endgame, Robert Downey Jr. has been studiously playing Iron Man with a dedication not many have been able to match in the MCU. But apparently, the reason behind Downey Jr.’s decision to play the role for more than a decade was fueled by more than just his love for the role.
It is common knowledge that what is a two-three-hour film on-screen actually takes months, often years to shoot. And when it comes to the cinematic wonders that are the MCU films, which almost always have some heavy stunt work, one can only imagine the number of retakes an actor has to go through to make a scene look flawless. The Russo brothers recently touched upon the same in a Vanity Fair interview (video below), explicitly explaining the scene in Captain America: Civil War where Team Iron Man and Team Cap locked horns.
They revealed how they had to shoot the scene multiple times and ended up worrying if Paul Bettany would get heatstroke in his heavy costume as Vision coupled with all the layers of makeup. But apparently, this is not the problem faced by the other actors in superhero costumes of their own. Especially Robert Downey Jr., who was “gone” the second Iron Man donned his suit and as the brothers jokingly added, that’s the secret behind the beloved actor playing the role for so long as he actually didn’t have to be present for it.
“Some people are lucky, like Evans when he puts the helmet on, it’s a stunt player. You know Robert, I think the reason he played Iron Man for a decade is because he never had to go to set. As soon as Iron Man suited up, Robert was gone.”
Well, it doesn’t matter whether Downey Jr. stuck around once Iron Man got ready to go into action or not. He made Tony Stark the “marvel” wonder he came to be known as, blessing MCU fans with the best “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” ever!
