[UPDATED: Our skepticism was well-founded. Robert Downey Jr. just denied the existence of Iron Man 4 in an interview with David Letterman.]
It wasn’t so much of an announcement as a shrug. In an interview today with talk show host Ellen Degeneres, Robert Downey Jr. was asked – for probably the one millionth time – whether he would star in Iron Man 4. When he attempted to be diplomatic and play ball with Marvel Studios’ highly secretive development policies, she took his refusal to say “no” as an implicit “yes,” and joked as much. And then he basically shrugged and said, “Okay, yes.”
Watch Robert Downey Jr.’s Statement About ‘Iron Man 4’
It’s important to remember that this is not an official announcement, and may have simply been a case of playing to a live studio audience and likable host who are very clear about what they want him to say. (Remember how well that worked out for Tom Cruise on “Oprah?”) If Iron Man 4 doesn’t come together, Robert Downey Jr. can always say he was joking. And given his inflection and eyebrow shrug in the above clip, we’d be forced to believe him.
Then again, Robert Downey Jr. is no slouch at this game. He knows he can say “no,” and that he can simply slide back on a cautious “maybe” answer about Iron Man 4. And of course he also knows that playing into the audience’s hands and trending his name on Twitter couldn’t hurt the box office receipts for The Judge this weekend. (Especially since the disappointing reviews aren’t doing that movie any favors.)
But it’s entirely possible of course that Iron Man 4 is coming, and that Robert Downey Jr. simply jumped the gun on Marvel Studios’ publicity campaign. Downey would later add in a Reddit Q&A that, “Sooner than later the Marvel Roster will be made public and all questions will be answered.” Which is anything but a confirmation, but it does imply that we’ll know for certain about Iron Man 4 in the near future.
Related: Watch the ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Trailer (Kind Of)
And besides, Marvel Studios knows what it has. It has a multi-billion dollar franchise that hinges not just on the character, but on how Robert Downey Jr. portrays him. Theoretically they could switch actors, but who could they get who wouldn’t seriously threaten to turn off fans of the Iron Man movies? It would be like recasting Captain Jack Sparrow: anyone who follows in Johnny Depp’s footsteps will probably just be accused of doing a Johnny Depp impersonation.
Sure, Robert Downey Jr. has Marvel Studios by the stones – he makes over $50 million per movie now – but they also have him. His non-Marvel movies aren’t sure things at the box office, and if he wants to remain culturally relevant and a number one box office star, he basically has to keep suiting up.
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The question might actually be, however, whether Iron Man 4 will really be Iron Man 4. Rumors are now swirling that Tony Stark will form his own team of Avengers after the events of Age of Ultron, and if true, that follow-up movie could very well be what he means when he says there’s more to come.
We’ll be back with more on Iron Man 4 developments when there’s something concrete to report on. Right now we only have two words without much context to report on. As always, we recommend that everyone just holds their horses until something official gets announced. And if this story is true, we might get official word very, very soon.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
