Iron Man’s story came to a close with the events of Avengers: Endgame resulting in Tony Stark’s heroic sacrifice, but actor Robert Downey Jr. isn’t ruling out completely leaving the MCU, to the confusion of the Russo brothers, who directed Endgame.
Downey Jr. told Esquire in an earlier interview that he would be happy to reprise the role, despite the studio having no plans to bring Iron Man back after his death. The Russos responded in another interview with GamesRadar, saying that : “I don’t know how they would do it. I don’t know what the road to that would be [laughs] .. I mean we closed that book so it would be up to them to figure out how to reopen it.”
The Russos congratulated Downey Jr. on his Oscar win, adding that “He’s a generational actor, so that level of recognition for him, I think, was validation of his redemption arc.” With the next Avengers movie, Secret Wars, set to arrive in theatres in 2027, there’s plenty of time for a potential storyline to spring some surprises, but we’ll have to wait for more developments to confirm these speculations.