It was true! For a long time, it was said that, at some point in history, we could have almost seen Robert Downey Jr in a starring role in another Marvel movie, before they ended up casting him as Tony Stark / Iron Man. Now, this information was officially confirmed by Jon Favreau and Kevin Feige.
The first time we heard this anecdote from a reliable source was thanks to The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universepublished in 2021. The book written by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry dropped a juicy casual formal detail: the actor who gives life to Iron Man added to become the main antagonist of the story of the first family of superheroes.
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As part of a special video to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man: The Iron Man (2008), Feige and Favreau confirmed that version: Robert Downey Jr could play the fearsome Doctor Doom in the fantastic four (2005).
At one point in the talk, the director tells the producer the following:
“I remember that Robert had come for a general audition and I remember that all of you had already met with him for Doctor Doom or something like that, I think he had been [en conversaciones para] the fantastic four, so everyone knew who he was. I remember I sat with him [para Iron Man] and I was like, ‘God, he’s got… that spark in him and in his eyes, and he’s ready.’ And that’s when we were in your office and we were pointing to the picture of him and saying we have to try to figure this out.”
Eventually, the role of Doctor Doom in the film went to Julian McMahon. And Feige then admitted that casting Downey Jr. instead of him as Tony Stark was “probably one of the best decisions in Hollywood history.”
No Marvel executive had openly confirmed that Robert Downey Jr was on the table to play Doctor Doom. Now that the data is no longer just mere speculation, there will surely be a lot of conversation about it. Oh, and just in case, get ready for the rush of fan arts!
Would you have liked to see Robert Downey, Jr in The Fantastic Four, from 2005, as Doctor Doom? It will soon appear on oppenheimerby Christopher Nolan.
Jose Roberto Landaverde I love writing, listening, reading and commenting on everything related to cinema. I love music and am a fan of The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac and Paramore. My favorite movies are Rocky and Back to the Future and obviously one day I’ll climb the “Philly Steps” and drive a DeLorean. Faithful believer that cinema is the best teleportation machine, and also that on the big screen we can all see ourselves represented.