Robert Downey Jr. will play Tony Stark and Iron Man in the upcoming Marvel movie “Avengers: Age of Ultron” due to hit the theaters on May 1, 2015. He will still most likely don the Iron Man suit and reprise the Tony Stark role in the next two Avengers movie after that.
What is uncertain is whether Robert Downey Jr. will still be playing the role again for the likely fourth installment of the very successful “Iron Man” movie franchise.
In fact, “Iron Man 3” was such a blockbuster success that it actually pushed Robert Downey Jr. into becoming the world’s highest paid actor in the Forbes list with earnings of as much as $75 million from July 2013 to June 2014.
About $50 million of those earnings came from his stint as Iron Man in “Iron Man 3” which grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide and put the movie in the third spot of the all-time list of top-grossing movies.
Money matters over iron
Last year, Robert Downey Jr. has been very calculating of his answers whenever he is asked if there will be an “Iron Man 4.”
But given the huge success of “Iron Man 3,” Marvel Studios, or its parent company Disney Pictures for that matter, would be foolhardy if it would not capitalize on it with a follow-up movie. Thus, it is likely that there will indeed be an “Iron Man 4.”
The only question is the timing of its release and who will play Iron Man and Tony Stark.
Because of the commanding price of Robert Downey Jr. for “Iron Man 3,” it is expected that after the remaining two Avengers movies in 2018 and 2019, it is likely that his talent fee would be shooting way up in the clouds by the time an “Iron Man 4” starts filming sometime in 2017 or 2018 for a possible 2019 or 2020 release date.
As early as last year, Robert Downey Jr. hinted that he will agree to play Iron Man and Tony Stark again for “Iron Man 4” should Disney makes the right offer to him, reports Screen Rant.
The businessmen in Disney pictures may have been doing the math since then that is why, no official word on “Iron Man 4” is coming out, almost two years after the success of “Iron Man 3.”
New Iron Man
Speculations have been rife that 13-year-old actor Ty Simpkins, who played Harley Skeener in “Iron Man 3,” will be donning the iron suit after Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr.
While it do sound absurd to some movie enthusiasts especially among Iron Man fans, if attention is focus on the specifics, it is really plausible.
Shooting for the “Iron Man 4” will most likely start after the filming for “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” sometime in 2018. By that time, Simpkins would have already been 16 or perhaps 17 years old.
Harley Skeener being Iron Man in the story is also very plausible given his role in “Iron Man 3” where he has been made privy to how Tony Stark takes on the suit.
While no confirmation has been made yet on the part of Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, or Robert Downey Jr., it seems that rumors are falling into the right places in this particular issue.