7 Years Later, Robert Downey Jr.'s Upcoming Iron Man Return Comes With A Major Twist
Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.
Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."
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Robert Downey Jr. is officially coming back as Iron Man in a new project, and this includes a surprising addition among the other Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes who will join him to fight a major villain. Downey's Tony Stark is the hero that started it all. The MCU movie timeline began with 2008's Iron Man, which was a major hit.
After that, the actor would get to conclude his Iron Man trilogy, while also becoming one of the faces of four Avengers movies, and showing up in Spider-Man and Captain America films in key roles. Sadly, Downey's time as Iron Man came to an end in the saddest way possible, as Stark sacrificed himself in the biggest MCU movie to date, 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
Without Iron Man's sacrifice, the Avengers would not have been able to defeat Thanos and his army. Since then, the actor has been absent from the franchise, whereas different versions of Tony Stark from other universes have appeared in animated MCU shows during the Multiverse Saga. However, in 2026, Downey will finally return to the franchise, but he will do so as Doctor Doom.
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01
Tony Stark first built the Iron Man armor while being held captive by terrorists, using scrap materials to escape. In the MCU, where was Tony Stark held captive when he built the Mark I armor?
✓ Correct! Tony Stark was captured by the Ten Rings terrorist group and held in a cave in Afghanistan. With the help of fellow captive Ho Yinsen, Tony built the Mark I armor from missile parts and scrap metal to blast his way to freedom — the moment that changed everything.
✗ JARVIS says that answer doesn’t compute! The answer is a cave in Afghanistan. Tony was captured by the Ten Rings while demonstrating the Jericho missile. Using scrap materials and sheer genius, he and Ho Yinsen built the Mark I suit to escape captivity.
02
The Iron Man suit is powered by a revolutionary energy source that Tony Stark miniaturized and implanted in his own chest. What is this power source called?
✓ Correct! The Arc Reactor is the iconic glowing circle in Tony Stark’s chest. Originally built to keep shrapnel from reaching his heart, Tony miniaturized the technology and used it to power increasingly advanced Iron Man suits. It became his defining symbol — proof that Tony Stark has a heart.
✗ JARVIS says that answer doesn’t compute! The answer is the Arc Reactor. The Tesseract is an Infinity Stone, Vibranium is a rare metal from Wakanda, and Repulsor Engine isn’t a real MCU term. The Arc Reactor is Tony’s revolutionary clean energy source that powers the Iron Man suits.
03
Tony Stark has built dozens of specialized Iron Man armors throughout the comics. One famous armor was designed specifically to fight the Hulk, featuring massive size and additional power. What is this armor commonly called?
✓ Correct! The Hulkbuster armor, codenamed “Veronica” in the MCU, is a massive modular suit designed to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk. First appearing in the comics in Iron Man #304, it became a fan-favorite after its epic deployment in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
✗ JARVIS says that answer doesn’t compute! The answer is the Hulkbuster (Veronica). War Machine is Rhodey’s suit, the Extremis armor integrated with Tony’s biology, and the Bleeding Edge uses nanotechnology. The Hulkbuster is the giant armor built specifically to contain the Hulk.
04
In the MCU, Tony Stark’s AI assistant helps him operate the Iron Man suit and manage his life. The original AI was replaced after being used to create Vision. What was the name of Tony’s original AI assistant?
✓ Correct! J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) was Tony’s loyal AI companion voiced by Paul Bettany. After JARVIS was used as the basis for Vision in Age of Ultron, Tony replaced him with FRIDAY. JARVIS was more than software — he was Tony’s most trusted ally.
✗ JARVIS says that answer doesn’t compute! The answer is JARVIS. FRIDAY replaced JARVIS after Age of Ultron, KAREN is the AI in Spider-Man’s suit, and EDITH (Even Dead I’m The Hero) is the glasses-based system Tony left to Peter Parker. JARVIS was the original and most iconic AI assistant.
05
In the comics, the Extremis armor was a revolutionary upgrade that integrated the Iron Man suit directly with Tony Stark’s biology. What did Extremis allow Tony to do that previous armors couldn’t?
✓ Correct! The Extremis storyline by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov fundamentally changed Iron Man. By injecting a modified techno-organic virus, Tony could store the armor’s undersheath inside his body and mentally summon and control the suit. It blurred the line between man and machine.
✗ JARVIS says that answer doesn’t compute! The answer is storing the armor inside his body and controlling it with his mind. Extremis rewrote Tony’s biology to interface directly with technology, allowing him to store the suit’s inner layers in his bones and control everything through thought alone.
06
Tony Stark isn’t the only person to wear the Iron Man armor. In Marvel Comics, a young genius took over the Iron Man legacy. Who is this character who became Ironheart?
✓ Correct! Riri Williams is a teenage super-genius from Chicago who reverse-engineered her own Iron Man suit in her MIT dorm room. Tony Stark himself endorsed her, and she took on the name Ironheart. Dominique Thorne portrays Riri in the MCU, debuting in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
✗ JARVIS says that answer doesn’t compute! The answer is Riri Williams. Pepper Potts wore the Rescue armor, Shuri is Black Panther’s sister from Wakanda, and Kamala Khan is Ms. Marvel. Riri Williams is the brilliant young engineer who built her own suit and became Ironheart.
07
In Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark made the ultimate sacrifice to defeat Thanos using a nano-tech version of the Infinity Gauntlet. What were Tony Stark’s final words before snapping his fingers?
✓ Correct! “And I… am… Iron Man” perfectly bookended the MCU’s greatest arc. Just as Tony Stark launched the entire franchise by declaring “I am Iron Man” in 2008, he closed it with the same words as he snapped Thanos and his army out of existence, sacrificing himself to save the universe.
✗ JARVIS says that answer doesn’t compute! The answer is “And I… am… Iron Man.” “Avengers assemble” was Cap’s rallying cry, “I love you 3000” was his daughter Morgan’s phrase, and “Whatever it takes” was the Avengers’ time-heist motto. Tony’s final snap callback to his iconic self-introduction was cinema perfection.
08
James Rhodes (Rhodey) is Tony Stark’s best friend and wears his own version of the Iron Man armor as a military-focused hero. What is Rhodey’s superhero name?
✓ Correct! Rhodey has used both names throughout his career. He’s most commonly known as War Machine, his original heavily-armed identity. In Iron Man 3 and briefly in the comics, the armor was rebranded as Iron Patriot with a red, white, and blue paint job for government PR purposes.
✗ JARVIS says that answer doesn’t compute! The answer is both — Rhodey has used both War Machine and Iron Patriot. War Machine is his primary identity with heavy weaponry, while Iron Patriot was a government-approved rebrand seen in Iron Man 3. Steel Soldier is not a real Marvel name.
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It is true that Victor von Doom debuted in a The Fantastic Four: First Steps cameo, but December's Avengers: Doomsday will mark his first major role in the MCU. While Downey's theatrical focus is now on playing Doctor Doom, the actor will also return as Iron Man, his first MCU hero, in an exciting release in another medium.
Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man Return Comes With A Surprising Cast Addition
At the Disney Experiences panel at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, where ScreenRant was in attendance, Disney announced important cast details for Avengers Infinity Defense, a ride that is coming to Disney California Adventure in 2028. Downey will be reprising his MCU role as Iron Man in the attraction, interacting with guests as Tony Stark in his workshop and as Iron Man as the Avengers team up to take on a multiversal variant of Thanos, aka King Thanos. While Downey's Iron Man return in itself is major news, there was an interesting twist to the cast reveal based on the MCU timeline.
Avengers Infinity Defense will bring back multiple original MCU Avengers stars as their characters, with not only Downey confirmed to return as Iron Man in the 2028 attraction, but Jeremy Renner also set to play Hawkeye again, and Chris Hemsworth returning as Thor. Joining them will be Captain America. However, the version of Captain America who has been confirmed for Avengers Infinity Defense is Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, not Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, who was the MCU's original Captain America alongside the other Avengers that were announced. Sam Wilson only became Captain America in the Multiverse Saga, after Iron Man died, which is intriguing.
Why Sam Wilson's Captain America Makes Sense For Avengers Infinity Defense
While Evans' exclusion from the upcoming Disney California Adventure ride is surprising at first, especially given how the actor will return as Steve Rogers this year in Avengers: Doomsday, it makes sense that Disney went with Mackie's Sam Wilson as Avengers Infinity Defense's main Captain America. One of the biggest complaints about Sam's role in the Multiverse Saga is how the MCU's new Captain America has barely appeared so far since taking over the mantle, and this could be a big popularity boost for Sam after Captain America: Brave New World, which was more of a covert Hulk movie, underperformed.
Iman Vellani's Ms. Marvel will also appear in Avengers Infinity Defense, with Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, Downey's Iron Man, and Mackie's Captain America also returning in Stark Flight Lab, another attraction set for a 2028 opening.
Additionally, as revealed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige at the D23 panel, the MCU actors filmed scenes for Avengers Infinity Defense on the set of Avengers: Doomsday. As such, given how Evans is only playing Steve Rogers in the MCU movie, while Mackie is Captain America, it makes sense that Marvel would not have the original actor take back the title for that shoot. It is interesting though that Sam Wilson wears his iconic white Captain America costume in the footage, instead of the blue suit he will don in Avengers: Doomsday. Either way, Downey's Iron Man return will happen in a star-studded project.
Iron Man
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- Iron Man
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- Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce
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- Kevin Feige, Jon Favreau
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- Iron Man 3
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- Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3
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