Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has admitted that Robert Downey Jr.’s casting for Tony Stark / Iron Man remains the MCU’s biggest risk to date. And we are talking about a universe that is 13 years old and that began precisely with Robert Downey Jr and his Iron Man.
It is ironic that the UCM’s greatest success to date is the greatest risk it has run in its 13 years of life. Feige keeps reminding that casting the lead actor in Jon Favreau’s 2008 Iron Man remains his most difficult task.
In the mid-2000s, Marvel had the idea of funding its own films in order to have full creative control over its projects. By then, They continued to collaborate with other studios such as Fox and Sony with properties such as X-Men and Spider-Man. When the news broke that they had chosen Iron Man as their inaugural hero, many doubted and pointed out that Marvel would not be able to carry out their plans successfully. Why? Why was it so risky?
An actor made for the character
To begin with, Iron Man was considered (then) a character from series B in comics, with little recognition beyond the readers of comics and written press. However, Marvel Studios decided to go ahead and raise the bet by casting Jon Favreau as director, who at that time was known as an independent director, since Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man and protagonist. It is necessary to remember that the actor was coming out of a fight against his addiction to alcohol and other substances, which even ended up taking him to jail.
Robert Downey Jr’s pick for Iron Man was not only perfect for all we know, but because even Iron Man has had problems with alcohol and other substances in the comics and to a lesser extent in the movies. What is clear is that the MCU, Marvel and Disney would not be where they are today if Robert Downey Jr had not put on the Iron Man armor, giving us more than a decade of one of the most outstanding heroes in the history of superhero cinema.
