14 DAY TRIAL // Just the other day, the question of whether Robert Downey Jr. was going to star in the next Iron Man movie popped up, and the actor seemed to be not only interested, but also excited to put on the red and yellow suit one more time, while he's currently shooting the next Avengers film called “Age of Ultron.”
Today, the comic book rumor mill is spinning a very different tale, hinting that Downey has worn his Iron Man suit for the last time and that, in the fourth installment, his role is going to be picked up by none other than actor Colin Farrell.
These rumors coincide with some other internet gossip that has Tony Stark dying in the second Avengers film. This last theory has been reinforced by the fact that Downey posted on his Facebook account a status claiming that he would be “unemployed for two days,” and that he had finished working on “Avengers: The Age of Ultron.”
This made fans wonder, especially because director Joss Whedon had just announced that the work on the film was only halfway done. Many jumped to the conclusion that Downey must then be featured in only half of the movie, meaning that he dies at some point.
Combine that with the fact that, last year, Marvel president Kevin Feige expressed his intent to turn Iron Man into a franchise similar to James Bond and to make at least 20 more movies, and you can understand the need to recast the role of Iron Man.
The trouble with that is that it was Downey who made Iron Man into the popular hero that he is today, and it's going to be very hard to imagine Tony Stark without the mischievous talents of Robert.
While a great actor in his own right, Colin Farrell might not live up to the role of a superhero and his casting as the new Iron Man might be met with the same distaste by fans as the casting of Ben Affleck in the role of Batman.
On the other side, it's hard to believe that Marvel is willing to just cast aside a serious cash cow and box office attraction such as Robert Downey Jr. The actor has just been named the world's highest earning actor in Hollywood by Forbes, which is ironic since he didn't make any movies in the period the top encompassed (June 2013 and June 2014).
But then again, Marvel hasn't been taking the best decisions lately. Let's remember that they just decided to turn Thor into a woman, to make Captain America black and to make a whole new set of Avengers with an Apple-inspired Iron Man.