The first decade of the MCU came to a close with last year’s Avengers: Endgame, with the whole Infinity Saga reaching full circle as Iron Man sacrificed his life to save the universe and stop Thanos. As the franchise only became the success it is today thanks to 2008’s Iron Man movie ending up a smash hit, writing Tony Stark out in this way was the right decision, even though fans weren’t ready to say goodbye. But this being the Marvel universe, it’s not impossible that the Armored Avenger could return later down the line. Even Robert Downey Jr. thinks it could happen.
In an interview with Extra alongside his wife Susan to promote Doolittle, the ever-present question of whether he could reprise his role as Iron Man at some point came up. The star answered fairly casually at first, commenting: “Yeah, anything could happen. I’m really enjoying…” His wife then interrupted, joking that his refusal to rule out a comeback will be all fans are going to be talking about from now on. Downey Jr. then adjusted his response to clarify that he doesn’t know what the future holds, saying:
“As far as I’m concerned, I hung up my guns and I’m good to let it go. I also think Marvel is on this journey now and they’re trying a bunch of other stuff, and I’m excited for them to see how all that goes. It’s hard to project.”
There was originally a lot of speculation that Downey Jr. would cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home in the form of a hologram Tony, but this turned out to not be the case. However, that concept has stuck around and fans are now wondering if he could appear via hologram or in a voiceover role in a future Ironheart project. Riri Williams is guided by an A.I. Stark in the comics, after all. What’s more, the actor himself wants to see Riri enter the MCU, so that suggests he’d be open to returning in this capacity.
Jeff Goldblum also seemed to reveal that Downey Jr. would be lending his voice to the What If…? animated series a few months ago, but this was ultimately denied by Marvel. So, that option’s definitely out, unless they were telling a white lie to preserve the surprise?
In any case, it might take a few years, but it seems there’s still a chance that Iron Man could make a post-Endgame comeback.