Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially launched in 2008, a new report says that New Line Cinema passed on a 2005 adaptation of the comic book hero.
According The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab)the studio had the chance to make an Iron Man movie but “let the option lapse” because Bob Shaye, head of New Line at the time, argued that the idea didn’t make sense: Iron Man was “too heavy to fly . “
Sometime in the mid-2000s, the studio gathered screenwriters David Hayter (X2: X-Men United), David S. Goyer (Blade) and Mark Protosevich (Batman & Robin) and paid them to sit in a room and to essentially spit on Iron Man (via The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab)) – with Hayter eventually chosen to write the script.
After the studio decided to let the Iron Man rights expire, Marvel reacquired them and cast Robert Downey Jr. as the titular billionaire philanthropist, deciding to make Iron Man the first official Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Tony Stark/Iron Man, although Tom Cruise has reportedly expressed interest in the role – so much so that he was rumored to appear as an alternate universe version of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Although Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is technically dead in the MCU, the new Multiverse Saga opens the door for many possibilities – and for a new actor to step into the Iron Man suit.
For more, check out our list of upcoming Marvel movies and shows, as well as all the new superhero movies coming out in 2022 and beyond.
