James Gunn reacts to post claiming Robert Downey Jr's Ironman could be 'played by anyone'

The Suicide Squad director James Gunn, whose film was released on Thursday, recently reacted to a viral tweet that claimed that any actor could've played the role of Tony Stark aka Iron Man. The director's response was short but not so sweet. Defending his fellow Marvel alum, Robert Downey Jr, Gunn called out The Sunday Times' Twitter handle for their ignorance. 

James Gunn defends Robert Downey Jr. aka Iron Man

On August 1, UK's The Sunday Times tweeted crediting Iron Man's success to the already existing fanbase that the character had from the comics, stating that Robert Downey Jr's portrayal was not all that important. They also wrote about any actor with "wit" could've done what Downey did. The tweet was not taken too kindly by fans of the actor or director James Gunn, it seems. 

The Guardians of The Galaxy director responded to the tweet saying how he had seen the "screen tests" for the film, which proved that Downey was the only one for the job. Calling the opinion "bulls***," Gunn tweeted his opinion a few hours after the tweet went viral. Check out the interaction below - 

Robert Downey Jr's portrayal of the billionaire superhero Iron Man garnered international recognition upon its release. Some would even claim that Downey's Tony Stark was responsible for the MCU's successful beginning. It is also worth noting that Downey's Iron Man launched the now billion-dollar franchise that is the MCU. 

During the making of Iron Man, director Jon Favreau was the one who made the decision to cast Downey as the popular superhero. According to reports, Favreau even spoke about how Tony Stark and Downey had things in common due to the latter's own struggles with fame and substance abuse. At the time he said:

Everybody knew he was talented… Certainly by studying the Iron Man role and developing that script I realised that the character seemed to line-up with Robert in all the good and bad ways. And the story of Iron Man was really the story of Robert’s career.

James Gunn's The Suicide Squad has received raving reviews from critics and audiences alike. In addition to The Suicide Squad, Gunn will be at the helm of the HBO Max spinoff Peacemaker starring John Cena after which the director will leave to begin production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for Marvel in London.

IMAGE - AP/ IRON MAN FAN PAGE INSTA