Part of that process was Robert coming all dressed up to the screen test to make a good impression. Marvel therefore hesitated before bringing him on board, but Kevin Feige and Jon Favreau did their best to convince the studios that he was the best option. was a respected actor albeit a complicated casting choice due to his infamous struggle with addiction. Came to the Screen Test in a Tuxedoīefore he became the witty superhero we’ve loved for over a decade, Robert Downey Jr. He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-billionaire, a ladies’ man and finally a nutcase.” Sounds like a superhero we know! 3. Lee described this man as being “one of the most colorful men of our time. Stan actually based the character on a 20th century millionaire philanthropist named Howard Hughes. Tony Stark didn’t just pop into Stan Lee’s imagination while he was eating cereal one morning. There’s a Real-life Millionaire Behind Tony Stark It ended up making the studio so much money and even kick-started the biggest cinematic universe ever created. This is why it took Marvel 16 years to develop Iron Man before the 2008 movie was finally released into the wild. Even if it had the potential to work, the cost behind the production was likely to surpass the box office gains.
In fact, in the early 2000s, it was the equivalent of wanting to make a traditional animated movie today. This is hard to imagine today, but making a superhero movie was not always a safe choice. Our favorite sarcastic billionaire, Tony Stark is one of the founding members of the famous group of vigilantes, as well as one of the most recognizable heroes in the Marvel Universe.Īlthough it might seem like the MCU has told us everything we need to know about the beloved character and his movies, here are 20 fun Iron Man facts you probably didn’t know until now. One thing is sure, there would be no ‘Avengers’ without Iron Man.