How Robert Downey Jr made the Marvel Cinematic Universe a box office juggernaut
When Robert Downey Jr’s career derailed with substance abuse and jail time, he was hardly a safe bet to base an entire movie enterprise on. But he burst out of the blocks in 2008 with Iron Man and kicked off a $24.6 billion Marvel box office blitz.
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Robert Downey Jr likes to describe the Marvel Cinematic Universe as “the coolest relay race in the history of entertainment”.
And he should know — he was the one who burst out of the blocks in 2008 with Iron Man, the movie that kicked it all off.
In the 11 years since, the MCU has become a film phenomenon with 21 interconnected stories featuring superheroes as varied as Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, Dr Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel.
They have earned a combined $24.6 billion, with each director and franchise passing the baton to the next as the worlds expand and occasionally collide in the all-star team-up Avengers movies.
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And all of them have been leading up to the 22nd, Avengers: Endgame, which is in cinemas today and is expected to shatter box office records around the world.
Secrecy is so tight around the 3-hour blockbuster, the sequel to last year’s Infinity War, so no one will confirm or deny, but it’s also tipped to be Downey Jr’s last outing as Iron Man/Tony Stark.
Although Downey Jr says he was “strangely and boundlessly confident” when he came to Sydney for the world premiere of Iron Man with director Jon Favreau and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, expectations were low for a movie based on a relatively unknown comic book character.
And after his initial successes being hailed as one of the most gifted actors of his generation were derailed by substance abuse and jail time, Downey Jr was hardly a sure bet as the man to base an entire enterprise on.
The actor now recalls having two thoughts going through his head while making the first film, after Favreau fought hard to get him on board: the sky is the limit and the sky is falling.
“I’m reminded now that I was talking a lot of smack saying ‘wait until you see where this goes’,” he says.
“But in the moment, I was just hoping day to day we were making good scenes and getting good stuff in the can. I just wanted to not drop the ball.”
But as Feige, now one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, says: “There are no two ways about it: if there were no Robert Downey Jr., there would be no MCU.
“That is fact. Robert breathed life into the studio, helped found the studio with Jon Favreau in the tonality of Iron Man and what he brought to the character. He had a belief as he was fighting to get the role that he could add something, not just to the film but to how big we could go in the universe, which at that point was only a pipe dream.
“He really saw the bigger picture and what he could bring to cinema and audiences in terms of surpassing and subverting the expectations for what a hero can be. Forevermore, everybody stepping into an iconic role will be in the shadow of what RDJ was able to do with Tony Stark.”
His fellow actors who followed in his footsteps are unanimous that Downey Jr is still the godfather of the MCU.
Chris Evans says that his support and understanding helped him through his doubts and reticence when he was struggling after first being cast as Captain America and Aussie Chris Hemsworth, who first appeared with Downey Jr as Thor in the first Avengers film, calls him a leader and a champion.
“He’s always the first person to tell you, ‘That was fantastic and really works’,” says Hemsworth
“When I first started in this franchise, hearing that validation was like having the tick of approval and being let into the club.”
But as integral as he has been to the MCU — and with 6 hours and 40 minutes of screen time across 9 films so far, way ahead of the competition — Downey Jr says he has come to realise that the movies have become such a cultural phenomenon, and mean so much so to so many, that he can now watch its progression from the outside.
“You get a little objectivity and you start to become kind of an observer of all this stuff,” he said at a press event in Korea last week.
“I am honestly looking out and seeing some of you hold this cinematic universe close to your hearts and it has this symbolism and it’s really come to be that way for us. Ten years later, from when I was trying to make a space for myself or whatever all those things are that people think they want when they are in movies and in entertainment, and now I am glad I get to be part of witnessing this cultural phenomenon and I have a lot of gratitude.”
On that same trip to Korea, Downey Jr fronted a stadium event alongside Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Feige and Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo.
While he mugged for the 6000 rapturous fans, many dressed up and waving flashing Avengers signs, and delighted the crowd with his dancing and wisecracks, he returned to the stage alone for one final farewell, seemingly overcome by emotion at the reception after all these years.
Whether or not Endgame is Downey Jr’s last hurrah, it’s sure to pack an emotional punch for actors and audiences alike, particularly after the shock finale to Infinity War, when half of all life in the universe was turned to ash by the villainous Thanos.
“The last eight minutes of Infinity War are maybe the best eight minutes in the entire history of the MCU,” Downey Jr says.
“Seeing every character involved in different scenarios was just so much fun to watch. I was just delighted.”
The Russo brothers, who directed Captain America: the Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, as well as Infinity War and Endgame, knew they would cop a lot of heat for their brutal ending — especially seeing Tom Holland’s Spider-man dying in the arms of his father figure Tony Stark — but wanted to send a message about the real world where the good guys don’t always win.
“We try to imbue these movies with thematics that are relevant and modern because that’s what can attract a certain segment of the audience to the films and it gives them a resonance,” says Joe Russo.
“This a complicated world we are in right now and I do think that there is a message in Infinity War and all four of the movies we have done for Marvel — but clearly that one — that bad guys do win in real life and so the real test of a hero is, how do they react in times of loss? And how do they stand up again?”
If the finishing line is indeed fast approaching, Downey Jr has nothing but good memories of the role that has made him one of the highest paid actors in the world and says that he’s played the role for so long now that sometimes it’s hard to discern where he stops and Tony Stark begins.
“My own values have affected and been affected by the content of these films,” he says.
“I’ve attempted to infuse them with a sense of my own process. And we’re talking about a decade. Life is fleeting, and a decade really sometimes feels like a lifetime.”
Avengers: Endgame opens Wednesday April 24.
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