Robert Downey Jr. Confirmed in Avengers 2 & 3. What About Iron Man Movies?

The telenovela is over. Marvel has announced today that Robert Downey Jr. will be in The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3. After reportedly tough negotiations with the studio, the actor has signed a deal to appear on both movies for an undisclosed sum of money.

Iron Man keeps breaking box-office records so the man deserves the galactic paycheck. Some complaint about the disparity between him and the rest of the Avengers cast in this regard, but using an analogy from the world of sports, I rather see the money going to the star of the team and not to the executives.

Him being confirmed for Avengers 3 is the interesting part. This pretty much reassures what we already suspected but wasn’t yet confirmed: No individual Iron Man film in Phase Three. In other words, the earliest continuation of that saga won’t be in theaters until 2017.

Honestly, I was hoping for Tony to die in A2 to shake up the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. That would have increased the stakes for a colossal finale in number 3. That could have open the door for Marvel to start a second trilogy with a younger, cheaper actor right away.

Marvel just can’t reboot Tony Stark, changing actors for the same role like they did twice with Bruce Banner/The Hulk. Will we see R.D.J. as a mentor of the next Iron Man? Will he sacrifice himself in Avengers 3?

This is what Joss Whedon told us about this topic at the Iron Man 3 red carpet:

How would you like Iron Man to be handled in the future?