Marvel Studios has not confirmed whether “Iron Man 4” would be in development soon or not. The speculations about the movie started heating up again when Robert Downey Jr. was quoted in a recent interview as saying that he is willing to do a fourth “Iron Man” movie if he is given the chance.
It can be recalled that Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Iron Man started the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the first “Iron Man” movie released in May 2008.
Since then, the actor has appeared in 6 of the 13 movies in the three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe including “Iron Man” in 2008, “Iron Man 2” in May 2010, and Marvel’s The Avengers in May 2012 for Phase 1; “Iron Man 3” in May 2013 and “Avengers: Age of Ultron in May 2015 for Phase 2; and the recently shown “Captain America: Civil War” to start Phase 3.
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Iron Man shall appear every year until 2019 beginning with “Spider-Man: Homecoming” next year, “Avengers: Infinity War Part 1” in 2018, and “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” in 2019.
This means that the actor shall be appearing in 9 of the total of 22 movies from Phase 1 to Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ending with “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” in May 2019 as the last.
Marvel has three more mystery movies in 2020 and it is possible that “Iron Man 4” could just be one of them. However, this remains as speculation pending the confirmation or denial from the production company.
Giving up the role to another actor
There have been rumors saying that it is also possible that Robert Downey Jr. may finally decide to give up the role of Tony Stark and Iron Man to another actor for “Iron Man 4” because of his age.
Some of the names that have made the rumor mill include the young Ty Simpkins, who played Harley Keener in “Iron Man 3,” Leonardo DiCaprio, and lately Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, also known as the Black Widow, reports the Parent Herald.
According to latest albeit absurd rumors, the Black Widow shall be donning the iron suit for “Iron Man 4.”
The speculation is based on events that happened in Marvel’s “Ultimate” line of comic books. In the comic books, Tony Stark made Natasha her very own Iron Man armor as a present when they were dating each other. But their relationship soured because Natasha turned out to be the traitor working against the Ultimates. In fact, it was Natasha who killed Tony’s beloved butler, Jarvis, details HGHN.
The move to make the Black Widow the new Iron Man will allow Marvel Studios to fulfill its promise to give the character her own stand-alone film without having to take any kind of financial risk in the box-office.
Critics, however, believe that having another actor or actress to play “Iron Man” in “Iron Man 4” will make the movie not as successful at the box office as the first three “Iron Man” films. And it seems that Marvel Studios share the same opinion so it is going easy on the idea.
There is no doubt that Black Widow will not be enough to replace the genius billionaire playboy and philanthropist superhero.
Many also doubt if Leonardo DiCaprio shall even be considered for the Tony Stark and Iron Man role. They believe that despite his impressive acting resume, DiCaprio does not have the presence and charisma to replace Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.
Age could be a factor
Meanwhile, the biggest question back then as regards the possibility of an “Iron Man 4” film was the age of Robert Downey Jr., who has been playing Tony Stark and Iron Man since 2008.
The actor is now 51 years old and given the release dates of “Avengers: Infinity War Part 1” and “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” in 2018 and 2019, respectively, the earliest that he can do an “Iron Man 4” film will be in 2019. He will be 54 years old by then.