“Iron Man 3” blasts into theaters in just a few days, but fans are already wondering if Tony Stark will be seen in yet another installment of the Marvel franchise.
Access Hollywood sat down with Robert Downey Jr., who plays the billionaire in the kickass suit of armor, and Don Cheadle, who stars as Jim Rhodes (War Machine/Iron Patriot) in an equally butt-kicking suit created by Stark, where we pressed about the future of the blockbuster series.
Robert, who has been seen in three stand-alone “Iron Man” movies and “The Avengers,” was cagey about his future in the metal suit.
“I think that we’re kind of closing this circle and this chapter and their whole body of work with all the other franchises and ‘Avengers’ and all that stuff,” he said when asked if this is the last “Iron Man” movie.
“I’m an integral part of it, but I’m not the be all, end all for it,” Robert – who is slated to appear as Tony Stark in “The Avengers” sequel, which is due out in summer 2015 – hinted.
Don says the future of Iron Man is up to Marvel, but he definitely sees the possibility of future projects.
“I think there’s more to mine. … It’s going to be determined definitely by Marvel, and if they think there’s another aspect of the story that needs to be told that wasn’t covered in the trilogy — if there’s another way in that’s interesting ,” he told Access.
He warned that it has to be a fresh take in order to go forward with more.
“You don’t want to keep just going to the well and have it be something where you’re ending it and you should have ended it one time ago. I’d rather leave them wanting more than go too far,” he continued. “But, we’ll see. These Marvel universes are vast and these characters can show up in each other’s movies and ‘The Avengers’ is a whole other series of possibilities, so who knows!”
Back to it being Marvel’s decision, what does Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, think about the future of the hero and will Robert ever be recast?
“I don’t think Robert will be playing this character for another 30 years, and I certainly hope the character stays in movies for the next 30 years – just like James Bond. I would say before George Lazenby and Roger Moore, Sean Connery was James Bond. It will take a while to fill any shoes, whether it’s filmmaker shoes or writer shoes or certainly actor shoes,” Kevin recently told The Huffington Post.
Adding, “I think Tony Stark is an interesting enough and rich enough character that he can persevere. That being said, I hope that doesn’t happen any time soon. It certainly is our plan to continue to have Robert Downey in the persona of Tony Stark for many, many years to come.”
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