Summary

Downey's long tenure as Iron Man limited his career to the MCU, impacting his ability to explore other roles.
Departure from the MCU led Downey to take on diverse projects, including an Oscar-worthy performance in a supporting role.
Downey's return to the MCU as Doctor Doom offers a new challenge but raises concerns about avoiding being pigeonholed in the future.

Robert Downey Jr is, without a doubt, an incredibly talented actor, but due to the huge, overwhelming worldwide success of the MCU and his long tenure as Iron Man, he didn't have much time to explore other roles during that period and was, in a way, pigeonholed into a very specific kind of acting role, which limited Downey's success and reach almost exclusively to the MCU.

This wasn't helped by most fans arguing that nobody else could have embodied Tony Stark as well as he did, and those fans are definitely right. Anyone who's seen the movies and then read an Iron Man comic would have most likely heard Downey's voice in their head when reading Tony Stark's dialogue. He is truly iconic as Tony Stark and his performance was as the character was amazing, yet cruelly this severely limited his acting career.

Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom Must Do This One Thing To Be Taken Seriously

Robert Downey Jr's version of Doctor Doom needs to do something specific to be taken seriously as a villain.

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By Matthew Wilkinson

Robert Downey Jr's Departure From The MCU

Towards the end of the Marvel phase 3 run of films, it was announced that Downey would not be renewing his contract, so he could explore different projects. This resulted in the Russo brothers deciding to write an epic two-part finale in the form of Infinity War and Endgame to give the character a dramatic send-off.

The MCU has a tendency to leave a lot of characters' stories deliberately not fully concluded, just so they can bring them back for future projects if and when needed. However, this was not the case with Iron Man. He sacrificed himself using the infinity stones to reverse Thanos' snap and bring back the other half of the population. Endgame was very clear in the finality of his fate. The finale of the film was actually a funeral for the character. The writers were very clearly saying to the audience that this is goodbye to Tony Stark, but perhaps not Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Projects In Between

When Downey was no longer attached to the MCU, he had the freedom to explore the roles he was not able to during his contract. His first role was portraying Doctor Dolittle, in the film Dolittle, which Downey said was the role of a lifetime for him. It was unfortunately met with an overwhelmingly negative response from fans and critics. The movie was promptly forgotten about, but not long after, Downey returned with the movie Sr, where he played the role of his later father in a film that paid tribute to his life and career. The movie was a heartbreaking, emotional watch and clearly the kind of project Downey had in mind when he was seeking more freedom over the roles he took on.

However, the biggest development of Downey's career post MCU came in the form of Christopher Nolan's 2023 film Oppenheimer. Even though Downey was cast in a supporting role (which would have been a change for him at this time), he put on an incredible performance that people who saw the film on release couldn't stop praising. Downey took home the 2024 Oscar for best supporting actor and there wasn't really anyone arguing over that decision. It would seem at this point Downey had restored his career to the point he had hoped for, but then, to everyone's surprise, he announced his return to the MCU.

Robert Downey Jr. As Doctor Doom

Downey dramatically announced his return to the MCU at the 2024 San Diego Comic Con event, appearing behind a Doctor Doom mask before unveiling himself to the cheering audience. Marvel stuck to their word in keeping Iron Man dead, but they found another way to bring Downey back to the franchise, and based off the reaction at Comic Con, it's clear he was missed. This time Downey will be portraying a villain from The Fantastic Four comics, so it will clearly be a very different role for Downey to take on, which is perhaps why he was open to returning.

Downey's return to the MCU will also presumably be more of a fleeting visit this time around. He is only scheduled to appear in two MCU installments as Doctor Doom, so maybe this is his way of making a visit back to his old stomping ground before moving on to other projects. It also can't be ignored that Downey is reportedly going to be getting a considerable pay check for his return, rumored at around the $100 million mark. While Downey has been enjoying his passion projects, they would no doubt not pay nearly as well as the MCU, so maybe this is his way of buying himself more time to work on future projects.

No matter Downey's intentions, hopefully his return to the MCU as Doctor Doom will not see him falling into a similar trap that the Iron Man role put him in, as he is truly one of the greatest actors of his generation, and there are still so many potential opportunities for him to take on.

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