In the event that Marvel decides to do an “Iron Man 4,” the company shall be eventually obligated to do a fourth movie for all the other characters that it has presented in the MCU. While it is good for future expansion of the MCU, fans can only take so much of superhero stuff in a given number of years. A little too much would really make the genre stale.
And then there is the age factor. If Marvel decides to do an “Iron Man 4,” and it shall be made too far down the road, the chances of the company doing a re-cast would be very high. Of course, a 43-year-old Robert Downey Jr. is quite different from a 53-year-old one. While CGI can still be adopted if necessary, the reality is that actors do age and slows down too. Not unless they have the same physique and discipline as Sylvester Stallone.
Disney and Marvel Studios are no strangers to re-casting. In fact, they have previously done it with the character of James Rhodes a.k.a. War Machine in “Iron Man 2.” Terence Howard has been replaced by Don Cheadle.
They did it again with the character of Bruce Banner. It was supposed to be taken on by Edward Norton again but they gave it to Mark Ruffalo beginning with “Marvel’s The Avengers.”
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.