So much so that Marvel actually made Downey record a screen test for the role of Tony Stark.
Can we see Chris Evans’ Captain America screen test next?
Now that Iron Man is the central pillar of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Robert Downey Jr. has made something like $600 zillion dollars on these movies (estimated), it can be easy to forget that Downey was anything but a sure thing when he was first cast in the original Iron Man.
Downey had already played the lead in in the comic noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and had a strong supporting turn in Zodiac, but casting Downey as the lead in a huge superhero movie — and potentially as the first piece in a much bigger cinematic universe — was a still an enormous gamble.
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