Robert Downey Jr Signs Two-Picture Deal To Return As Iron Man In The Avengers Sequels

[Hyde]

Robert Downey Jr To Return As Marvel's Iron Man

“I am Iron Man.” Tony Stark’s famous closing line to the very first Iron Man film takes on new life today as Marvel is pleased to announce the signing of Robert Downey, Jr. to reprise the role of the “billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist.”
Under the two-picture agreement, Downey will star as Tony Stark/Iron Man in “Marvel’s The Avengers 2” and “Marvel’s The Avengers 3.” Downey is represented at CAA by Bryan Lourd, Jim Toth and Matt Leaf and by his attorneys Tom Hansen and Stewart Brookman of the firm Hansen Jacobson.
Downey, Jr.’s last two Marvel films, 2012’s “Marvel’s The Avengers” and this year’s “Iron Man 3,” rank as two of the top five grossing films of all time, collectively earning over $2.7 billion worldwide to date.
“Marvel’s The Avengers 2” is being written and directed by Joss Whedon. Featuring favorites from the first Avengers film and new Marvel characters never before seen on the big screen, “Marvel’s The Avengers 2” is slated to begin production in March 2014 and open in theaters May 1, 2015.
Thrilled by this mega announcement, Marvelites? Well, be sure you stay glued to Marvel.com because in the coming days and weeks and months, Marvel.com will be FIRST in the world to reveal additional casting updates, new characters coming to Marvel movies and so much more -- directly from the most secret meetings at Marvel! You wouldn't want to miss out on that now, would you?!

http://marvel.com/news/story/20786/robert_downey_jr_to_return_as_marvels_iron_man#ixzz2WmRtioCr

 

[NosfeRomas]

Aaaaaand......Boom ! two more houses at Malibu !

 

[MMMMM...Pancakes]

Great news!

 

[Majik1387]

Hopefully they retcon those awful last 5 minutes of Iron Man 3.

 

[metaphysician]

Why bother? Nothing in the end of IM3 actually prevents. . . anything at all from happening afterwards. Unless, of course, you mistakenly assumed he was retiring.

 

[Dr. Remy Lebeau]

No mention of Iron Man 4... interesting.

 

[Anno_Domini]

I'm glad to see Iron Man in the hands of Whedon and no more solo films that could be directed by Shane Black

 

[ThePhantasm]

No mention of Iron Man 4... interesting.

Because he didn't sign on for an IM4. That simple...

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Best news I've heard all day. The Avengers without RDJ is like The Beatles without John Lennon.

 

[DeGenerate10]

I'm glad there's no more Iron Man sequels myself.

 

[ThePhantasm]

I'm glad there's no more Iron Man sequels myself.

Me too. They were somewhat redundant anyways.

 

[JJmelo]

Me too. They were somewhat redundant anyways.

There will undoubtedly be a 4th Iron Man film. It will just happen after RDJ runs through this new contract. Disney would be insane to drop their biggest solo franchise. They will just recast and continue on.

As for the news itself, i'm very happy that they got RDJ back to finish phase 2 at the least.

 

[psylockolussus]

Good news!

Now sign him up for Iron Man 4!

 

[Human Torch]

I for one,am glad to hear this.I'm surprised this thread is so low key.This is great news!t:

Now,if they can only work out something for IM 4........

 

[Anno_Domini]

Get a new director, just forget about IM3....then they can work on an IM4.

 

[Xeno]

I was very happy to hear that RDJ will be back. From the way Whedon spoke about Tony Stark's appearance in TA2 in recent interviews I was certain that Downey's contract was being finalized.


Now all I want to hear is that RDJ and Shane Black are re-teaming for Iron Man 4. The third entry in the franchise was a perfect summing-up of Tony's life to that point, but there is a lot more for them to explore. "I am Iron Man," was the final line of Iron Man 3 for a reason. Tony was never going to retire and RDJ was always going to come back to him. Black should return and continue Tony's story.

 

[Mr.M]

I think A2 will obviously be a featured role. I think A3 may be a back half sort of deal, and they kill him off at the end of it. I think Pepper will still be doing cameos so they can still touch on Stark's personal life, which is a big curiosity for the casual audiences. There was absolutely no way you could recast the character in this trilogy and keep a straight face, but I'm suprised that the deal does not include an option for IM4, since it's two pictures. That tells me they try to move on from the RDJ-led Avengers and A3 will be the passing of the torch.

 

[cherokeesam]

I think A2 will obviously be a featured role. I think A3 may be a back half sort of deal, and they kill him off at the end of it. I think Pepper will still be doing cameos so they can still touch on Stark's personal life, which is a big curiosity for the casual audiences. There was absolutely no way you could recast the character in this trilogy and keep a straight face, but I'm suprised that the deal does not include an option for IM4, since it's two pictures. That tells me they try to move on from the RDJ-led Avengers and A3 will be the passing of the torch.

I strongly doubt they'll kill Tony off in A3, but it probably represents the passing of the torch, as you say, in that it'll probably be RDJ's swan song. There'll be an Iron Man again, in A4 and/or IM4, but RDJ won't be in the armor. (Hell, Tony Stark himself might not be in the armor. But that's another story.)

 

[spideymouse]

Get a new director, just forget about IM3....then they can work on an IM4.

I see no reason for them to forget about such a financially successful film.

I think A2 will obviously be a featured role. I think A3 may be a back half sort of deal, and they kill him off at the end of it. I think Pepper will still be doing cameos so they can still touch on Stark's personal life, which is a big curiosity for the casual audiences. There was absolutely no way you could recast the character in this trilogy and keep a straight face, but I'm suprised that the deal does not include an option for IM4, since it's two pictures. That tells me they try to move on from the RDJ-led Avengers and A3 will be the passing of the torch.

I see no reason for them to kill him off.

I think there's no IM4 in this deal because RDJ would only sign on for two films. A2 is a given, so they probably had to weigh the potential between IM4 and A3. And for very obvious reasons A3 won out.

 

[Iron_Stark]

I think A2 will obviously be a featured role. I think A3 may be a back half sort of deal, and they kill him off at the end of it. I think Pepper will still be doing cameos so they can still touch on Stark's personal life, which is a big curiosity for the casual audiences. There was absolutely no way you could recast the character in this trilogy and keep a straight face, but I'm suprised that the deal does not include an option for IM4, since it's two pictures. That tells me they try to move on from the RDJ-led Avengers and A3 will be the passing of the torch.

Marvel kill off their #1 money maker? Good one. Let me guess, then have Rhodey take over the Iron Man franchise.

No way in hell would they ever Tony Stark, they'll replace RDJ, just like Feige has said multiple times when the subject comes up and he he keeps mentioning the Bond movies.

Although I do feel bad for the next guy that has to fill RDJ's shoes.

 

[spideymouse]

Marvel kill off their #1 money maker? Good one. Let me guess, then have Rhodey take over the Iron Man franchise.

No way in hell would they ever Tony Stark, they'll replace RDJ, just like Feige has said multiple times when the subject comes up and he he keeps mentioning the Bond movies.

Although I do feel bad for the next guy that has to fill RDJ's shoes.

I feel bad, but I also don't feel bad for that guy. It would be such a career-making opportunity to step into the now-iconic role that is Tony Stark. Big shoes to fill, but names like Heath Ledger and Andrew Garfield come to mind when it comes to men who have risen to the daunting challenge of taking over iconic roles.

 

[S. Grundy]

Get a new director, just forget about IM3....then they can work on an IM4.

You're crazy, Iron Man 3 was great.

 

[Mr.M]

Marvel kill off their #1 money maker? Good one. Let me guess, then have Rhodey take over the Iron Man franchise.

No way in hell would they ever Tony Stark, they'll replace RDJ, just like Feige has said multiple times when the subject comes up and he he keeps mentioning the Bond movies.

Although I do feel bad for the next guy that has to fill RDJ's shoes.

Yup. And the character will be rebooted or Stark Jr. will take over by then if they stay with this continuity. Otherwise the next Avengers trilogy would be a loose continuity at best, but would probably be its own thing and be of little relation to the current series.

What is comical to me is how Feige thinks he can owe the success of the Marvel brand to the Iron Man character itself, and then sell us with a James Bond style format for the franchise that has fail written all over it. RDJ is why people care about the character. Let him tell you how he can sell the Iron Man brand indefinitely by recasting. I'm not buying it. Of course being the business man that he is, Feige will never admit that and put all his eggs in one basket. Obviously he knew RDJ could not be replaced in this trilogy and that's why they locked him up.

 

[Anno_Domini]

I see no reason for them to forget about such a financially successful film.

I see a reason when the first IM set out a promising idea for the Ten Rings, which Shane Black screwed up....and a promising build up for Mandarin....which Shane Black screwed up.

If we get a film that forgets about IM3 and gives us a better take on Mandarin with Ghost helping him out...that would be all kinds of amazing.

You're crazy, Iron Man 3 was great.

No, it really wasn't.

 

[Destructus86]

I see a reason when the first IM set out a promising idea for the Ten Rings, which Shane Black screwed up....and a promising build up for Mandarin....which Shane Black screwed up.

If we get a film that forgets about IM3 and gives us a better take on Mandarin with Ghost helping him out...that would be all kinds of amazing.



No, it really wasn't.

Yes. Yes it was.