Before Avengers 5 (aka Doomsday) announced the return of Robert Downey Jr to Marvel, he almost appeared in Deadpool and Wolverine.
Warning: Spoilers for Deadpool and Wolverine ahead
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, two of the five writers of Deadpool and Wolverine, revealed that Downey read for their movie. In the early part of the movie, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) pitches himself for the Avengers to Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). This scene almost featured Tony Stark (Downey) as well.
“We had wanted him to do a cameo,” Wernick said. “We had written that scene [to start] with Happy and Downey.”
Reese added, “Ryan Reynolds read the scene with both of them, so in the hopes we could get Downey. But he also wanted Favreau, because they're a great combo, and they were all in the scene together.”
But it did not work out. Downey will return to Marvel as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, which Reese and Wernick did not know.
“Behind the scenes, we didn't know about the Doctor Doom. And there's no way he was going to do both,” said Wernick. “And then we said, ‘Oh, Downey doesn't say ‘no' to Ryan Reynolds, does he? No one says no to Ryan Reynolds.'
And Ryan gave him the hard press. We wrote scenes, and Downey read the scenes, but what we didn't know behind the scenes was this Doctor Doom thing,” he continued.
What would the scene look like?
According to Reese, the scene with Robert Downey Jr would have played out similarly to Deadpool and Wolverine's final cut. “He just said he wasn't a team player or whatever and questioned his team-player abilities,” Reese said.
However, Wernick added that there was a different version conceived that was not even written.
“There was a version of that scene very, very early on that wasn't written, but was conceived, that had all the Avengers in the room,” he revealed. “And Wade was rejected and then he dressed all the Avengers in a way only Deadpool could do.”
Reese said, “That's a little bit of a scoop, but he was going to get mad and basically attack each one of them in a vicious kind of way.”
One of the attacks would have seen Wade attempt to wield Thor's hammer. Peter (Rob Delaney) ultimately would have been able to.
Robert Downey Jr's epic Marvel return
At the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel announced Robert Downey Jr will be playing Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. He will also return in the following installment, Secret Wars.
This is a major pivot from Disney and Marvel Studios. The fifth Avengers movie was supposed to be titled The Kang Dynasty, with Jonathan Majors in the antagonist role. However, after his trial and conviction, Majors was fired from the MCU.
Previously, Downey played Tony Stark/Iron Man in the MCU. He was the anchor of the franchise, starring in the MCU's inaugural movie. Downey reprised the role in two more solo adventures, as well as four Avengers movies. He also had a small role in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
After seemingly leaving the MCU behind, Downey landed his first career Oscar win. He played Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer and won Best Supporting Actor himself.
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