The month of May marks the 15th Anniversary of Marvel’s Iron Man, the movie that kicked off the entire MCU. It feels like so long ago now, the MCU’s passed 30 films and has a handful of television series.
In a recent video in celebration of the anniversary, director Jon Favreau and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige reminisce about the making of the movie and talk about how important it really was. The video’s 21 minutes long, but is an interesting introspecive on the mindsets, strategies, and risks taken to birth the MCU.
The most important key to all of this was the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Ironically, its a casting that almost didn’t happen. Downey almost landed the role of an iconic Marvel villain, Doctor Doom.
Feige talked about how fundamental Favreau and casting Downey Jr. was to the MCU’s success:
“That tone you and Robert discovered on that movie became the template for what the MCU became. On later movies […] there were dark days, and I would say to Robert, ‘We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you.’ Meaning, we wouldn’t have a studio if it wasn’t for him.”
Favreau goes on to talk about how Downey Jr. was almost cast as Doctor Doom by director Avi Arad for 2005’s Fantastic Four, something that Feige completely forgot about:
“I remember that Robert had come in for a general on it, and I remember you had all met with him already for like Doctor Doom or something on another project, I think he had come through on maybe ‘Fantastic Four’. So everybody sort of knew who he was, an I remember sitting down with the guy, and I was like, ‘Geez, he’s got that spark in him, in his eye, and he’s ready.”
It’s a truly candid moment, that perplexes Feige. RDJ lost the role to Nip/Tuck star Julian McMahon for the two 2000s Fantastic Four films for Fox. It’s a move that ultimately payed off, because I’m hard-pressed to imagine a more-perfect casting for Tony Stark.
You can check out the entire video below:
Actor Toby Kebbell also played Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom in the lackluster 2015 Fantastic Four reboot. The MCU‘s not cast anyone in the role as of the publishing date of this article.
