Robert Downey Jr. was nearly passed over for Iron Man after drugs and weapons arrest… as it’s confirmed he’ll NEVER return to the role

Four years after Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man for the final time, Marvel President Kevin Feige has explained why the actor was almost passed over for the role and why he will never return to it.

Speak with Vanity fair For the cover story of the 58-year-old Hollywood icon, Feige said studio executives were hesitant to cast him because of his sketchy past, which includes a 1996 conviction for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded .357 Magnum.

“It purely came down to Marvel's board being nervous about putting all their chips in their future films on someone who famously had legal troubles in the past,” he told the publication.

What changed their minds was Downey Jr.'s screen test, which was filmed on September 25, 2006.

And after the Golden Globe winner completed reshoots for 2019's Avengers: Endgame, Feige said, “We promised him that this would be the last time ever that we would let him do this.”

Four years after Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man for the final time, Marvel President Kevin Feige has explained why the actor was almost passed over for the role and why he will never return to it when Downey graces the cover of Vanity Fair.

“It purely came down to the Marvel board being nervous about putting all their chips in their future films on someone who famously had legal troubles in the past,” Feige told the publication; still from Iron Man (2008)

And for fans who think Tony Stark can be revived, as Marvel often does with its powerful characters, Feige says that's out of the question.

“We're going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” he said of the figure's final turn.

“We've all worked very hard for years to achieve that, and we wouldn't want to magically undo it in any way,” he confirmed.

It was noted that Robert was hesitant to redo the lines of dialogue for the final Endgame edits.

'On the last day of recording we had already said goodbye in tears. Everyone had moved on emotionally,” Kevin explained.

Anthony Russo added: “That was hard for him to do – to come back and pick that up [final] line.

“When he came back, we were filming on a stage right across from where he was auditioning for Tony Stark. So his final line as Tony Stark was literally delivered a few hundred feet from his original audition that landed him the role.”

His wife Susan Downey also spoke to journalist Anthony Breznican about the VF story, which was written before the SAG-AFTRA attack was resolved, which prevented Robert from being interviewed.

Speaking to Vanity Fair about the 58-year-old Hollywood icon, Marvel President Kevin Feige said studio executives were hesitant to cast Robert in Iron Man because of his past legal troubles, including a 1996 conviction for possession of drugs and a gun .

Robert and his wife Susan Downey attended a Netflix event together in May

Of her husband, actor Oppenheimer, she said he loves TV and movies “like a sporting event.”

“He's so excited about what someone just did or the level of difficulty he recognizes,” she described.

Susan, who runs production company Team Downey with her boyfriend, went on to say that her partner will notice it while she's watching something: “Like, 'Oh my God, they shot that at night. That was probably really cold. He had to going to do this physicality.” , give this speech, turn around, do this emotional beat….”

“He'll lay it out in a way that you can just see: This is someone who respects that it's hard.”