No one tells Robert Downey Jr. what to do.
As Iron Man, the 53-year-old commandeers The Avengers, but his own origin story — which was the first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — is turning 10 years old in 2018.
The 2008 film famously ends with Robert’s character, Tony Stark, revealing during a press conference: “I am Iron Man.”
According to the producer, Kevin Feige, that lone wasn’t planned!
“That success inspired us to go further in the trusting ourselves to find balance of staying true to the comics and the spirit of the comics but not being afraid to adapt and evolve and to change things,” Feige told Deadline in reference to the fact that Stark only reveals his alter-ego much later on in the comic books.
“It’s a fine line,” Feige continued. “If you’re changing something for no reason, that’s one thing, but if you’re changing something because you want to double-down on the spirit of who the character is? That’s a change we’ll make. Tony Stark not reading off the card and not sticking with the fixed story? Him just blurting out ‘I am Iron Man?’ That seems very much in keeping with who that character is.”
And who Robert Downey Jr. is.
