Robert Downey Jr sure does like to tease fans.
The problem is, when he hints at something, we run the risk of misinterpreting what he said and go running with it. And that’s what the internet did as a collective whole yesterday when Downey appeared on Ellen Degeneres’s daytime talk show and stated that Avengers 3 wouldn’t be his last outing as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. And the online film community took that to mean that Downey was in talks with Marvel Studios for a fourth Iron Man film.
But later in the evening and possibly in reaction to the Iron Man 4 firestorm that swept across the internet, clarified his statement somewhat on The Late Show with David Letterman –
There’s no plans for an Iron Man 4. [Marvel does] have a plan, but, you know, they’re very secretive about it.
So, if there is no Iron Man 4 and he is already contracted for films through The Avengers 3, but Downey is in talks with the studio for “other stuff,” it would have to be some other, as yet unannounced film. And that certainly lends some more credence to the rumors that have been circulating of late that Marvel is planning some sort of mega-crossover film to come after Avengers 3 which would incorporate all the heroes who they have been introducing over the last several years.
Now Letterman wasn’t Downey’s only New York City stop yesterday. He also appeared on Howard Stern’s Sirius/XM Radio show. With New York Comic Con kicking off tomorrow, it does lead one to wonder if Downey will be sticking around town for a few more days to make a possible surprise appearance at Marvel Studio’s Daredevil Netflix series panel on Saturday. It may be a long shot, but then again, Marvel used their TV animation panel two years ago as the platform to announce Agents Of SHIELD, so it does feel as if it is in the realm of possibility.
