Marvel Says It Will Continue IRON MAN Franchise With or Without Robert Downey Jr

I’m sorry to be blunt, but Marvel has grown some balls.

In a new interview, Marvel head Kevin Feige was asked about what he would do if Robert Downey Jr decided that he was done playing Tony Stark in the IRON MAN/AVENGERS films. His response:

“Let’s put it this way: I hope Downey makes a lot of movies for us as Stark…If and when he doesn’t, and I’m still here making these movies, we don’t take him to Afghanistan and have him wounded again. I think we James Bond it.”

On one hand, I give the guy a lot of credit for not going the reboot route, and actually trying to put the IRON MAN films on the same plane as James Bond (a hard thing to do). On the other hand, Downey IS everything great about Tony Stark, and I’m not sure that’s something that can just be replaced. Also, he has already been established in the Marvel universe, unlike, let’s say, the Hulk character, which has constantly been changing.

But hey, I’m sure they said the same thing about Sean Connery as Bond.

And again, if Downey puts it as many movies as Connery did, maybe at that point, it will be time for a reboot…

Thoughts?