Robert Downey Jr. concluded his tenure in the MCU at the end of Avengers: Endgame with the death of his iconic character Tony Stark/Iron Man. Now that the franchise has moved on with most of the original Avengers, it seems that the actor won't be making any appearances in the franchise anymore.
However, there have been rumors that the Oscar nominee will make his return to the MCU in the future, particularly in Avengers: Secret Wars due to the speculations that the film will visit other universes which will lead to his comeback as another variant of Tony Stark.
Now, it looks like we may have to put down that rumor to rest as Marvel Studios executive Stephen Broussard, who also co-produced some of the MCU projects including Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, shot down the speculations about Downey Jr.'s return and iterated that they are now focusing on introducing newer characters.
"Well, I think one of the meta-narratives of Phase Four was about new characters. It was about new people stepping into mantles. If you look at, like, Cassie [Lang in Quantumania] getting a suit and Kate Bishop [in Hawkeye], new characters being introduced like Jack in Werewolf by Night," he told io9.
"After these first 10 years of Marvel storytelling, torches are being passed, like with Robert Downey Jr. no longer being [on the] table and stuff like that. So it was kind of like a new generation stepping to the forefront which, again, has always happened in the comics."
Unless they will keep Downey Jr.'s return under wraps in the future, it sounds like we won't be counting on any possibility of the actor returning in the franchise anytime soon and they are focusing on the new cast members that they will grow and hopefully become as popular as Downey Jr..
After all, he is also busy now with other projects and perhaps would rather focus this phase of his career on various kinds of roles that are different from his MCU character and prove that he is beyond Tony Stark to the general audience.
At the same time, it is also still possible for him to return at some point if there is a right opportunity for them to do it and the multiverse does give them the chance to revisit him in the future if they want to. For now, let's just sit back and avoid any expectations until it actually happens.
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