Although it seems that negotiations between Marvel Studios and Robert Downey Jr. are in a stalemate for “Iron Man 4,” the actor has commitments with the studio for the next four years which means that he will continue to reprise his role as Tony Stark and don the Iron Man suit in several other upcoming Marvel movies.
What is confirmed at this point among these movies are “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War Part 1,” and “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” which have playdates of 2016, 2018, and 2019 respectively.
That leaves 2017 as the year where Robert Downey Jr. will not have a movie where he shall play Tony Stark and Iron Man.
However, it has been reported that the Spider-Man reboot solo movie will be shown in 2017 and Marvel may capitalize on the popularity of RDJ as Tony Stark and Iron Man and insert him into the movie just to give the refreshed web-slinging superhero a warm welcome to the Marvel cinematic universe and also into the Avengers.
Basing on the hectic schedule of Tony Stark and Iron Man in upcoming Marvel films, it is likely that an “Iron Man 4” movie will come out either in 2019 or 2020, cites Venture Capital Post.
Not getting any younger
On the part of Robert Downey Jr., he is also not in a rush to do “Iron Man 4” in the event that he and Marvel Studios come to financial terms.
He said that Marvel has been stepping up its game when it comes to producing superhero movies and he also appreciates Kevin Feige and the creative minds of the studio for thinking and doing it that way.
Marvel has been producing movies on certain superhero characters every two years or more which give the actors time to do other things than do films for the studio, cites RDJ.
Downey said that now that he is already 50 years old, he has to also think whether he is still fit for the role or not because if he thinks he can no longer hack it, he is more than willing to give it to others and take over from there just to keep the franchise going, somehow also lending credence to initial reports that child actor Ty Simpkins is being considered to don the iron suit for “Iron Man 4.”
A busy Iron Man in Marvel movies
While there have been a lot of talks about “Iron Man 4” since last year, not one of them has been carved in stone so everything is mere speculations at this point.
And it looks like the rumors and speculations will continue to swirl around in the next couple of years as there won’t be any official statement from Marvel about “Iron Man 4” until after the studio completes the filming of the two-part third “Avengers” movie in 2017.
However, there could be more as Marvel might think of inserting him as Iron Man in other upcoming solo movies of other superheroes in the lineup up to 2019 including the “Black Panther,” “Spider-Man,” and the “Hulk.”
Of these three possible superhero solo movies, people were expecting to see “Iron Man” in the “Hulk” because they have such a good working and fighting chemistry together shown in past “Avengers” movies.