Kevin Feige Says There Is No Way Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man Returns to the MCU

Over the past few weeks, rumors started swirling about the original Avengers team returning to the MCU somewhere in the future. It got die-hard fans excited, of course, but as it turns out, everything we’ve heard was, in fact, only rumors.

First, Chris Evans – the original Captain America in the MCU – stated that the rumors about a potential MCU return were ‘news to me’ and that no one spoke to him about it. He would ‘never say never,’ but it would have to be just right.

But now, it seems that the Marvel Studios head, Kevin Feige, officially closed the door on those rumors. Specifically, he closed the doors on rumors that Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man may return to the MCU.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Feige addressed Tony Stark’s final moments and the emotion behind it, stating that they’d never just make it irrelevant:

“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again. We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”

Honestly, as a fan, I was relieved to see that Marvel isn’t heading back in that direction. The first three phases of the MCU were perfect and culminated in a perfect way. If they went back, resurrected Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff, and pulled Steve Rogers back from his ‘happily ever after’ with Peggy, it would destroy the magic and emotion of the moment.

Sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing, and although the original Avengers will always be special for MCU fans – regardless of how much we’d love to see them back, it wouldn’t make any sense to do it.

Feige and Jon Favreau fought for Robert Downey Jr.’s casting

Robert Downey Jr. easily became a fan-favorite as Iron Man. I mean, the guy was just brilliant – a perfect casting for the perfect role, if there’s ever been one. But, Feige shared in the same interview that Marvel was quite hesitant when it came to hiring RDJ at first due to the star’s somewhat tumultuous past:

“It purely came down to the Marvel board being nervous at putting all of their chips in their future films on somebody who famously had those legal troubles in the past. I wasn’t very good — and I’m still not great — at taking no for an answer. 

But I also don’t pound my chest to try to get my way. I try to figure out ways to make it as clear to other people why we should head in a direction. And that’s when the idea of a screen test came up.”

Downey Jr. auditioned, and it didn’t take long for Marvel exes to see what they had on their hands. And soon, RDJ was not only the leader of the Avengers on screen. He was their leader on screen as well, using his contract negotiations as leverage to get his co-stars higher pay as well:

“We used to joke and say that Robert was the head of the acting department because everybody there looked up to him. He took them all under his wing but not in a subservient sense. He just became their cheerleader.” – Feige shared.

I’m sure that MCU fans wouldn’t mind seeing Tony Stark in the MCU again – and Marvel Studios wouldn’t mind the money it would bring, especially after the latest box office flop with ‘The Marvels’ – but sometimes, things are best when kept untouched, and that is the case with Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man.

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