Iron Man 3 is the end of Robert Downey Jr’s contract with Marvel. Technically, after he appears in Avengers Assemble 2, he could call it a day if he wanted to. President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige has already admitted that once the actor decides to shave the goatee for the final time, they won’t reboot the franchise, they’ll “James Bond it”.
Speaking exclusively to SciFiNow, Downey Jr shed some light on the current negotiations….
“I honestly get uncomfortable with leverage,” says Robert Downey Jr. “I was annoyed for a while about having a contract where, in success, not very much changes for you. But then I got to thinking, ‘What was I really doing before I got Iron Man?’ Then I think, ‘Don’t lead with that, Robert! You’re a big prime mover!’
“Obviously, it’s better to have a contract run out than it is to have one go on indefinitely. Let’s just say that me, the agents and the lawyers are having a bit of a ball right now.”
More than just the star of the movie, Downey Jr contributes to the story planning process and makes up dialogue on the fly. He admitted to making sure this third and potentially final solo outing ended on a high but, intriguingly, he feels like there’s more life in the billionaire playboy yet…
“I put so much onus on Iron Man 3,” he tells us. “Iron Man 3 was supposed to answer all the questions for an audience. Cure all my uncomfortable moments in the past playing this character and get in every idea that fell by the wayside the last three movies.
“Then we shot the movie and I feel like there’s still a number of other things we have to do.”
Iron Man 3 is released in the UK on 26 April 2013. Read the full interview in SciFiNow issue 79, on sale now!
