It's common knowledge among longtime followers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that Hollywood's action icon Tom Cruise was the original choice to star in 2008's Iron Man, a film that not only would set the stage for Marvel to become a global entertainment juggernaut but also catapulted Robert Downey Jr.'s career to the stratosphere. Through the years, we've heard several conflicting reports regarding the Mission Impossible star's MCU rejection but a lot of fans are still
Turns out, Cruise himself opened up about his supposed Marvel casting and even revealed what actually went wrong the first time he was approached. In a 2018 interview (via SlashFilm), Cruise confirmed that Marvel Studios actually offered him the project which at the time was seen by many as a D-list superhero flick. However, he admitted that things didn't feel right for him, hence the reason why he ultimately turned down the offer.
He explains: "[Marvel Studios] came to me at a certain point and, when I do something, I wanna do it right. If I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know it's gonna be something special. And as it was lining up, it just didn't feel to me like it was gonna work. I need to be able to make decisions and make the film as great as it can be, and it just didn't go down that road that way."
Also Read: Doctor Strange 2: Tom Cruise Reportedly Spotted On Set Wearing Motion Capture Suit
Fast forward to today and Cruise's name is once again being brought up to the Marvel conversation. In case you weren't aware, rumors have been circulating for quite some time now that he will finally don the Iron Man armor and play a powerful variant of Tony Stark in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As it stands, we've yet to actually confirm whether or not he's in the film but the idea of the MCU's biggest what-if story finally being realized is definitely a huge deal.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits cinemas on May 6, 2022.
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