Iron Man Won't Return But Robert Downey Jr. Still 2nd Highest-Grossing Actor Of All Time
Robert Downey Jr. will not be returning as Iron Man despite rumors that Marvel is considering reviving the perished superhero.
Amid a disappointing run at the box office for "The Marvels" and recent lackluster releases from Marvel, reports started swirling in November that Disney executives are considering bringing back the original "Avengers" gang. This meant possibly reviving dead superheroes like Black Widow and Iron Man.
However, in a recent interview with Kevin Feige, the Marvel Studios president defused rumors, saying Tony Stark will remain dead.
"We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again," Feige told Vanity Fair.
"We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way."
Director Anthony Russo also recounted how hard it was for the award-winning actor to film the final scenes of the iconic character and how Marvel cast, crew and fans have struggled but eventually moved on.
"That was a difficult thing for him to do, to come back to pick up that line," Russo said.
"When he did come back, we were shooting on a stage directly opposite where he auditioned for Tony Stark. So his last line as Tony Stark was shot literally a couple hundred feet from his original audition that got him the role."
In 2019's "Avengers: Endgame," Iron Man made the ultimate sacrifice -- giving up his life to stop Thanos and save humanity. The movie, which still reigns as the second highest grossing movie of all time, marked the end of Downey Jr. as the egotistical genius that is Tony Stark.
Highest-Grossing Movies Of All Time In Domestic Box Office
Despite being four years removed from the Marvel movie series, Robert Downey Jr. remains one of the highest-grossing leading actors of all time in the domestic box office. This includes movie revenues from the United States and Canada which when combined are known as the North American movie market
Based on data from Statista, as of August 2023, RDJ sits second on the list with $5.47 billion. He trails only Samuel L. Jackson who has amassed $5.72 billion collectively from movies he's led. He also portrays the role of Nick Fury in Marvel movies and TV shows.
What's more interesting is Downey Jr. and Jackson's Marvel co-stars take five of the remaining eight seats in the top 10.
Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow and also died in the superhero series, comes in third with $5.32 billion. Chris Pratt, best known as Star-Lord in "Guardians of the Galaxy," sits fourth with $5.26 billion. Pratt also starred in the Jurassic Park franchise and voices Super Mario and Garfield in the latest animated adaptations, all of which helped him grab the spot.
Zoe Saldana, who plays Gamora, comes in at sixth with $5.16 billion; Bradley Cooper, who voiced Rocket, follows at eighth with $4.66B; and Chris Hemsworth takes the ninth spot with $4.3B.
Chris Evans sits outside the top 10 at 11th with $4.09 billion.
Tom Hanks ($5.16 billion) round up the 10, with his fifth spot. "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise sits at seventh ($4.82 billion).
Despite Marvel's decision not to bring back Iron Man from the dead, Downey Jr.'s box office record may be hard to topple as he continues to star in box office hits.
He recently starred in the critically acclaimed film "Oppenheimer" which raked in $325 million domestically. These movies are as far as we can get from seeing the actor in the big screen.
