But other candidates were safer bets because of Downey’s well publicized baggage. These qualities seemed as tailor-fitted to Stark as the metal suit. None of them had Downey’s combination of an electric wit, sense of mischief bordering on recklessness, and acting chops evidenced by a slew of terrific performances that included his Oscar-nominated turn as Charlie Chaplin. Except for Favreau, who would not stop advocating for Downey when other candidates for the role came up. He has said - without a shred of bitterness because the problems he has put in the rear view mirror were all self-inflicted - that nobody wanted him. Nobody ever questioned the prodigy actor’s talent it was his track record of getting into personal troubles that by Downey’s own admission left him a long shot for a role that he saw as a glove fit. The biggest and most successful gamble in the history of Marvel Studios was to cast Downey as Tony Stark. But - in a way - we didn’t have anything to lose at that point so it allowed us to just go with our instincts.” A Star Is Re-Born could’ve been a one-off studio if it didn’t work. If we were wrong, that would have been the end of it. “We didn’t know with certainty what would work and what wouldn’t work.
“We made choices and we believed in what we were doing,” Marvel Studios president Feige told me last week as he recalled constructing the first major superhero movie Marvel co-financed. None could have dreamed the profound impact the film would have on their lives and careers. I got to spend time in 2007 with Feige, Downey and Favreau on the set in Playa Vista, CA set of Iron Man, and can share for the first time their hopes and dreams, in their own words. “I remember coming out of a midnight screening and as a comic fan feeling that visual effects had reached a point where my imagination as a comics fan could realistically be rendered on a movie screen for the first time.” Said Anthony Russo: “It was like watching The Lord of the Rings, so wonderfully done, thrilling and exhilarating that I’ll never forget the feeling of wishing we were playing in this zone as filmmakers.” Downey’s Iron Man character was a key component in their Captain America: Civil War and the two Avengers sequels that were set up by that film. “When you talk about Marvel’s rise, Iron Man set the tone of all of it,” said Joe Russo, who with brother Anthony directed this summer’s Avengers: Infinity War and the second installment that comes next summer. And it set Marvel’s Kevin Feige on an unparalleled run of success as gatekeeper of the Marvel Comics Universe. It established that Jon Favreau belonged in the event film sandbox, despite the failure of the Jumanji sequel Zathura. It created a fresh narrative for Robert Downey Jr, eventually making his struggle with addiction a footnote in his life as he rode the character to become one of the best paid actors in Hollywood. Released by Paramount, it grossed $585 million worldwide. It is hard to imagine Marvel’s run stretches back only a decade, but it all began on May 2, 2008, when Paramount released Iron Man, launching Marvel as a real studio. “It’s Marvel’s universe,” one rival executive told me recently. 'The Walking Dead', 'Jack Ryan', Marvel & 'Mayans M.C.' Rule Comic-Con Marketing Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Black Panther’s $1.3 billion gross lands it in ninth place, and its critical acclaim and cultural impact give Marvel its most viable awards candidate so far. It falls behind only Avatar, Titanic and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Marvel has generated six of the top 20 global grossing films since then, topped this summer by Avengers: Infinity War crossing the $2 billion mark. The most consistent cog in Disney’s unprecedented global movie dominance, Marvel’s three most recent blockbusters over a mere five months - Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp – grossed $3.7 billion, nearly matching the price Disney paid for Marvel in 2009, the year after Iron Man‘s release. Geoff Boucher, who earned the admiration of the geek set with the Hero Complex column he launched several years ago in the Los Angeles Times, kicks off Deadline’s San Diego Comic-Con with a look back at Iron Man, the film that distilled a superhero formula that would launch Marvel Studios to a $4.2 billion Disney deal and an unprecedented string of blockbusters in the decade that followed.ĭisney-owned Marvel Studios’ geek influence is so profound that it is skipping San Diego Comic-Con, bypassing the mecca of superhero worship because it can afford to wait and promote its spectacles at Disney’s own D23 Expo.