Will Iron Man Return In MCU? Avengers Endgame Directors Say 'We Closed That Book…'

The Marvel Cinematic Universe was launched by Robert Downey Jr. with his role as Iron Man in 2007. The actor moved on to other projects after his tragic demise in Avengers: Endgame and became a part of Christopher Nolan's recent release, Oppenheimer. While Robert has not ruled out the idea of an MCU comeback even after his Oscar win, the directors of the Avengers franchise are not too sure about it. 

Joe and Anthony Russo are over Iron Man 

In a conversation with GamesRadar+, Joe and Anthony Russo acknowledged being a little surprised to see the question of Downey's Iron Man return in the MCU. The director duo believes that Tony Stark's farewell was supposed to be definitive and they wouldn’t know how to bring him back. 

Anthony said, "I don’t know how they would do it. I don’t know what the road to that would be [laughs]," and Joe added, “I mean we closed that book so it would be up to them to figure out how to reopen it.”

Robert Downey Jr is open to playing Iron Man again

In a conversation with Esquire Magazine, the actor replied positively when asked if he would like to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Iron Man. He said, “Happily. It’s too integral a part of my DNA. That role chose me. And look, I always say, Never, ever bet against Kevin Feige. It is a losing bet. He’s the house. He will always win."

Kevin Feige is the president of the Marvel Studios and he has made it clear in the past that they will not bring back Iron Man to the MCU as they are “going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again.”

Robert as Tony Stark /Iron Man is considered the pioneer of the MCU. His first outing as the character in Iron Man (2008) was also the first film in the MCU. He later reprised the role briefly in Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). RDJ was seen in a special appearance in a few other Marvel films as well.