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.
Actor Robert Downey Jr., who plays Tony Stark and Iron Man, will be reprising his roles again in at least three more Marvel movies including “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infiinity War Part 1,” and “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2.”
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.
Stalemate negotiations
Immediately after “Iron Man 3” was shown in 2013, there have been talks of negotiations between Marvel and the actor for his possible return for “Iron Man 4.”
However, it seems that negotiations have come to a stalemate because of money matters as it appears that Robert Downey Jr. would no longer settle for what he got for “The Avengers” that was shown in 2012 and “Iron Man 3” released the following year.
The actor got a cool $50 million for “The Avengers” including bonuses and backend compensation. He also got the same amount for “Iron Man 3.”
However, with the immense success of “Iron Man 3” which became the 7th all-time top grossing film in history with its worldwide box office take of $1.22 billion, it is likely that RDJ upped his ante a bit thus resulting to procrastinated negotiations between him and Marvel.
For sure, he got paid not less than $50 million for his stint in the recently-shown “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and he would likely earn the same or more for “Captain America: Civil War.”
Considering the massive box-office take of “Iron Man 3,” the actor may have likely raised his asking price for the solo movie and thus prompting Marvel to rethink its options regarding “Iron Man 4” putting into consideration the production cost involve in coming up with a third sequel of the very successful “Iron Man” franchise.
Timing is the issue
Some film analysts think that Marvel is holding out on its decision on “Iron Man 4” not because of how much it will be spending to pay Robert Downey Jr. because the studio is surely capable of paying him but more about the timing issue.
The studio does not want to over-saturate Marvel fans with loads of Iron Man who has been in the movie world since the release of the first “Iron Man” movie in April 2008.
The superhero has been in the consciousness of fans since then and one movie appears almost every two years. But with the entry of “Avengers” and the crossing over of superheroes in the Marvel cinematic universe, Iron Man has become a yearly fixture in Marvel movies.