Robert Downey Jr. And His 12-year Journey As Iron Man

Since the first movie about Iron Man in 2008, Robert Downey Jr. went through a long journey with the character Tony Stark. The success of the Marvel movie universe today is largely due to the male actor. 

12 years have passed in a blink of an eye. Let’s take a look at Robert Downey Jr.’s journey as Iron Man in 11 movies below!

1. Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man is the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series (MCU). In the film, actor Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark, with the participation of Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The content of Iron Man revolves around Tony Stark, an industrial engineer genius, after experiencing a fatal accident to create a superpower suit and become Iron Man. The American Film Institute has selected Iron Man as one of the ten best films in 2008. With his wit, humor, bravery and experience, Robert Downey Jr has successfully completed his first Iron Man role.

2. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Following Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk was also premiered in 2008. In this movie, Robert Downey Jr appears as a cameo role. At the end of this movie, Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., meets General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) in a bar. He tells Ross that he knows about the General’s “unusual problem,” and that a very special team is being put together. Yes! That’s how he reveals about The Avengers!

3. Iron Man 2 (2010)

After the great success of Iron Man in 2008, Marvel immediately launched a plan to continue part 2. Not only appreciated in terms of content from critics and audiences, but Iron Man 2 was also the best-seller: $318.4 million in North America alone and $ 585.1 million globally. Not only successful with the spectacular action scenes, but the movie “Iron Man 2” also gives viewers a lot of subtle emotions about love and friendship.

4. The Avengers (2012)

After defeating the world’s most dangerous foes, Stark hesitates to join as an advisor to Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) at S.H.I.E.L.D. But now, before the global crisis, Stark must once again use his superpowers in the form of Iron Man to save the world and become a brave member of the Superhero team.

Downey said, in Iron Man 1, it was an original story, he opened the door for his appearance and rediscovered his position, Iron Man 2 was no longer a separate thing. And to create space for others, and in The Avengers, he’ll leave those things behind.

5. Iron Man 3 (2013)

“The Avengers,” Captain America asked Tony Stark: “The man in the armor, if you leave it, what would you be?” The fantasy question above will be answered satisfactorily in “Iron Man 3”, when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr. plays) will face dangerous enemies. without the support of technology most of the time.

Right on the day of release, the film helped Marvel to bring in $ 28.6 million, and became the 5th film of Disney as well as the 16th film in the world to reach $ 1 billion.

6. The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

In The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark wanted to create a complete security robot program, driven by artificial intelligence (more advanced than Jarvis) because he did not want to see dead people in the war.

When created, Ultron could not distinguish between good and evil due to the dark side of Tony Stark’s personality (an arms dealer), Ultron wanted to destroy the Avengers team and those who opposed. The internal Avengers rift formed when people blamed Tony Stark for stealthily creating Ultron!

7. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

After the damage caused by the fight with Ultron (in The Avengers: Age of Ultron), the authorities want to strictly control the actions of superheroes. Captain America disagrees with the new way of doing things, but Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) supports the government. That led to a deep divide between the two superheroes who stood side by side. In this movie, we got to see Tony Stark as a teen and Robert Downey Jr. appears on-screen looking like himself in the 80s!

8. Spider-man: Homecoming (2017)

After the events in Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker returned to his daily life, continuing to make the shy high school boy in the eyes of his friends. In parallel, the 15-year-old can still be a hero to protect New York thanks to the armor donated by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and under the remote supervision of Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau).

9. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

In this part, Iron Man and his teammates will have to confront the most evil villain ever: the tyrant Thanos. On the way to conquer the infinity stones to attach to the glove that helps him become the suzerain of the universe, he has to overcome the last stronghold of humanity’s hope: the Avengers.

As the beginning of the MCU 10 years ago with the role of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. is still the leading character of the Infinity War blockbuster, with Chris Evans leading the Avengers team against Thanos. In this episode, Downey is paid 40-50 million dollars for his role as Iron Man.

10. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Iron Man’s death in this movie is considered as one of the most important and tragic events in the MCU. It puts an end to an era that lasted for more than a decade of Robert Downey Jr.’s top performance. It brought different emotions: from the joy when the Avengers won the battle to the loss when Iron Man collapsed after the Infinity Snap.

Avengers: Endgame is one of the most influential blockbusters in Marvel history. However, the performance of Robert Downey Jr. with category Best Actor is absent from the Oscar list.

11. Black Widow (2020)

In the trailer of Black Widow, there is the Taskmaster character. This villain always wear masks that make the audience suspect who he is. There were many rumors about Robert Downey Jr. will be back in Black Widow. If this happens, he is most likely Taskmaster. Because, in the original comics, Taskmaster can copy but often forgets, which is said to be similar to Tony Stark.

What about you? Do you think Robert Downey Jr. will reappear as Iron Man in Black Widow? And do you think he will be Taskmaster?