Marvel Studios has helped revived the sagging career of Robert Downey Jr., turning him into the world’s highest-paid actor for three years running based on Forbes’ annual list.
All of those acting assignments had Robert Downey Jr. taking on the role of billionaire Tony Stark and his superhero alter ego Iron Man and also made him a worldwide phenomenon that he is today.
RDJ as Tony Stark / Iron Man has been in five Marvel movies so far – “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “Iron Man 3,” “Marvel’s The Avengers,” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” – all blockbusters that netted the actor close to $250 million total paycheck.
A sixth stint is forthcoming with the release of “Captain America: Civil War” on May 6, 2016. Iron Man continues to charm the audience like no other Marvel superhero and it is not even an exaggeration, notes Movie News Guide.
However, the two biggest questions still remain at this time on whether there would be an “Iron Man 4” and whether Robert Downey Jr. would still take on the role of Tony Stark / Iron Man on it.
‘Iron Man 4’ in 2020?
Marvel Studios has announced late last year its release date calendar for 14 of its films beginning this year up to 2020. The first 11 films up to 2019 are part of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it will begin with “Captain America: Civil War.”
The last three films in the release date calendar of Marvel Studios are slated for a 2020 showing but all of them are so-called mystery movies.
The three untitled Marvel movies in 2020 are slated to be released in May, July, and November of that year. Fans are putting their bets on the first mystery film as “Iron Man 4.”
Many Iron Man fans would hope to see “Iron Man 4” as part of Phase 3 of MCU but according to Marvel’s recent press release, the fourth Iron Man film is not included in the list, notes the Christian Today.
With the latest pronouncement of Marvel Studios, speculations have began to swirl that “Iron Man 4” may actually be shelved.
Reports also have it that Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel Studios are in serious negotiations for a very fat paycheck for the actor to do “Iron Man 4,” which according to rumors may well go over $100 million by then.
There are also speculations that an aged Robert Downey Jr. by 2019 can no longer do the things he used to do when he was just 43 years old upon which time he started taking on the role of Tony Stark and Iron Man.
There are also reports stating that Downey Jr. has hinted that he is already getting tired of the Iron Man franchise and might retire following “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” which will be shown in 2019.
This seems consistent with previous reports that Marvel may do a re-casting for the role of Tony Stark and Iron Man after Phase 3 of the MCU.
Grappling with a lot of factors
From a business perspective, having an “Iron Man 4” will be good for Marvel Studios since it is definitely going to be a blockbuster success.
But the production outfit will have to grapple with a lot of factors before they even consider doing it as part of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The first one is the fact that although “Iron Man 3” was a blockbuster, the storyline was not as good as many fans and critics hoped it to be. As such, Marvel needs to come up with a perfect plotline to make it really good as anything less will most likely be its biggest undoing in the MCU.
Don’t recast Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 4! RDJ IS Iron Man! Iron Man 4 needs to have The “real” Mandarin as the villain. Iron Man (RDJ) needs to fight and defeat The “real” Mandarin in Iron Man 4. After RDJ does Iron Man 4, he and the character can both take a permanent break from the MCU. After Iron Man (RDJ) kills The “real” Mandarin in Iron Man 4, Tony marries Pepper and she legally and officially changes her name to Virginia “Pepper” Stark. That is how Iron Man 4 would make a PERFECT finale to the Iron Man Quadrilogy.
And I’m done with the franchise as well. No RDJ, no MCU.