Robert Downey Jr.’s ballyhooed departure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame seemed to have been set in stone when Marvel president Kevin Feige dismissed hope for an Iron Man return a few months ago.
But not so fast. Maybe.
In a new Esquire cover story, Downey seems to be leaving his options open just in case. Asked if he’d be willing to don the superhero suit again, the actor said, “Happily. It’s too integral a part of my DNA. That role chose me. And look, I always say, Never, ever bet against Kevin Feige. It is a losing bet. He’s the house. He will always win.”
While Downey’s Feige-can-do-anything sentiment might offer some cause for Iron Man optimism, Feige hasn’t given much room for hope just yet.
“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige told Vanity Fair last December about the Endgame death of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”
Downey played the Marvel hero across 10 films of the MCU.