Less than a day after he mentioned on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that Iron Man 4 was in the works, Robert Downey Jr. has swiftly U-turned on this announcement.
The actor is promoting his new movie The Judge, and slipping in a couple of Marvel-related hints is a good way to keep people interested. In an interview with David Letterman Tuesday, he corrected his previous statement by saying that he hadn’t seen a script for Iron Man 4, although he was definitely going to “do other stuff” with Marvel Studios. “Other stuff” presumably meaning Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers 3, along with the possibility of cameos in other future movies.
“I guess they have too much money or something,” Downey joked, as Letterman asked why Iron Man 4 wasn’t in the works yet. However, industry speculation suggests that Downey himself might actually be the financial roadblock here; he reportedly demanded a stunning $50 million for Avengers (more than a hundred times that of a couple of his fellow Avengers). Since the Iron Man franchise is still Marvel’s most successful ongoing series, he could probably ask for more next time around.
Along with the blatantly ridiculous suggestion that Downey would only return for Iron Man 4 if Mel Gibson was directing, these will-they-or-won’t-they sequel rumors have served their purpose. People are now paying more attention to Robert Downey Jr. while he promotes his latest movie, and now there’s even more buzz about the possibility of another Iron Man. As ever, Downey is a master of PR.
Photo via Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)