Iron Man sacrificed himself to stop Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, bringing the Infinity Saga to a close. Likewise, Tony Stark himself, Robert Downey Jr., believes he’s concluded his part in the never-ending war against supervillainy that goes on in the MCU. In other words, the actor is playing down the chances that he could return to the franchise in the near future.
While speaking with Parade to promote his latest movie, Doolittle, Downey Jr. was inevitably asked if he could return to the Marvel universe, with the actor picking a phrase that seems to allude to Tony’s passing in Endgame.
“The war for me is over. I personally have alighted to greener pastures.”
This comment comes after a separate answer to the same question that Downey Jr. gave earlier this week. Intriguingly, the star seemed to be slightly more open to the idea of a comeback as Iron Man on that occasion, suggesting that “anything can happen” in the MCU. Still, the essential point of these two answers is the same: the actor feels that he’s concluded Tony’s arc in a way that satisfies him and he’s happy to move on.
Still, a cameo here and there doesn’t seem out of the question, right? After all, there was talk of Downey Jr. lending his voice to Disney Plus’ What If…? animated series, though this has since been denied. The same can’t be said for reports of Iron Man showing up in Black Widow, though. Remember that’s set prior to Infinity War, so Tony turning up wouldn’t break the canon. And Downey Jr.’s such a pro by now that he would know how to throw fans off the scent in interviews like this one.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see what happens, but in the meantime, Doolittle – also starring Downey’s MCU co-star Tom Holland in a vocal role – opens on January 17th, while Black Widow, the next entry in the MCU, arrives in theaters this May.