Robert Downey Jr. Credits Tobey Maguire for His Iron Man Casting

Robert Downey Jr. helped pave the way for the entire MCU with his seminal performance as Tony Stark in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, but it was thanks to another Marvel star that Downey Jr. got the role in the first place. It’s hard to separate Downey Jr. from his leading role in Iron Man, a character whom the actor has reprised nine times. His performance is so iconic that a lot of modern Iron Man comics base their versions of Tony Stark on Robert Downey Jr. Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming saw Iron Man and Peter Parker (Tom Holland) become close friends on-screen, but it’s thanks to another Spider-Man actor that Downey Jr. ever became Iron Man at all.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Downey Jr. revealed that it was Tobey Maguire who inspired him to chase the role of Tony Stark. Maguire played Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s beloved Spider-Man trilogy between 2002 and 2007. Maguire and Downey Jr. previously starred in Tropic Thunder and Wonder Boys together. After years of battling substance abuse issues, Downey Jr. cleaned up his act and, after seeing Maguire play Spider-Man, he knew he wanted to chase down a superhero role. He explained:

“In real-time, I saw how difficult they were, how rewarding they could be, and how popular [comic book films] were becoming. I had been clean long enough…hungry even longer, and I could feel [the] obsession coming back with manifesting the best version of myself. I had strangely been furiously strength training six times a week before I even knew [this role] was coming, and my shrink had told me, ‘Just start acting like something great is gonna happen and get ready for it.'”

Robert Downey Jr.’s Controversial Return to the MCU

After more than a decade playing Iron Man in the MCU, fans assumed Downey Jr. was done with the franchise after his sacrifice at the end of Avengers: Endgame. However, at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, Marvel President Kevin Feige shocked the entire fan base when he announced that Robert Downey Jr. will be making his MCU comeback as Victor Von Doom, a.k.a. the iconic Fantastic Four villain Dr. Doom.

Fans are currently unsure how Downey Jr.’s return as a new character will work on screen. The MCU has already dived head-first into multi-verse and time-travel-based storytelling, so Downey Jr. playing Victor Von Doom from an alternate timeline makes the most sense logistically. However, we will all have to wait until Avengers: Doomsday releases in 2026 to see how the Russo Brothers will pull it off.

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During the podcast, Downey Jr. revealed why he decided to rejoin the MCU after a 5-year break when many thought he was done for good. The actor recalled a conversation between himself, his wife (Susan Downey), and Kevin Feige. He said:

“Susan and I were sitting down with Feige at one point, and he said, ‘It just keeps occurring to me that, if you were to come back…’ And Susan was like, ‘Wait, wait, come back as what?’ And then we both realized, over time, that it was another thing that just disproves any doubt anyone could ever have about that guy. [He’s] a very sophisticated, creative thinker about, ‘How can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to beat expectations?’ And he brought up Victor von Doom, and I looked into [the] character, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ And later on, he goes, ‘Let’s get Victor von Doom right. Let’s get that right.’ So then I said to Kevin, ‘Can I go talk to Bob Iger?’ He goes, ‘About?’ I go, ‘About everything.’!