Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr gave blessing to his replacement with sage advice
While Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was a powerful experience for the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the real-life death of Chadwick Boseman, it also introduced a major player in the series’ future. Riri Williams launched onto the screen as the next Iron Man character, Ironheart. After the death of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark in Avengers Endgame, the thought of a new Iron Man might be a little hard to swallow, but not to the actor himself.
Riri Williams actor Dominique Thorne recently spoke candidly about the conversation she had with Downey Jr while she was filming the Black Panther sequel.
She called it a “really great conversation” before explaining that the chat came towards the end of shooting for the Wakandan movie.
Downey Jr then bucked expectations and told Thorne something she didn’t expect. “He and I didn’t really have much chance to connect prior,” she said. “But, maybe that worked out pretty well, because, actually, the first thing he said in our conversation, or toward the end of the conversation, was that he didn’t have any advice for me.”
Despite his previous comments, Thorne noted that Downey Jr’s blessing did come with some advice for her future.
She said: “He shared a lot about… making sure that Riri is her own person, and all of the things that I can obviously attribute to her existence, and what it means, and what it represents, and what it can offer… Really just in the vein of being authentic to that, and true to that, and nurturing that.”
The 25-year-old actress added that Downey Jr proceeded to give her “some words of encouragement”.
Thorne will return to the MCU in the upcoming series Armor Wars, following the release of Secret War.
Incidentally, this is around the same time Downey Jr is rumoured to be making a comeback.
Noted Marvel leaker MyTimeToShineHello was recently asked if Downey Jr was going to be returning for the upcoming Marvel movies Avengers: Secret Wars as well as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
The Twitter account replied: “Secret Wars yes, Kang Dynasty no.”
Tony Stark’s comeback would be an incredible boon for Marvel, as he became one of the most popular heroes in the franchise.
But, even if he did make a comeback, Downey Jr has previously claimed he did not want to return to the big screen as the billionaire playboy genius philanthropist.
Tony Stark gave up his life using the Infinity Stones while battling Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
After that, Downey Jr was quizzed by podcaster Joe Rogan over whether he would make a comeback.
He said: “To me, starting up again is off the table. I feel like I’ve done all I could with that character.”
He added: “There would have to be a super compelling argument and a series of events that made it obvious…But the other thing is, I wanna do other stuff… We all have to do what [Marvel Studios boss] Kevin Feige says.”
