Iron Man modified the sport, placing the MCU on the map and reworking Robert Downey Jr. into Hollywood’s most iconic (and highest-paid) hero. So, it begs the query: Why did Iron Man 4 by no means fly into theaters? Spoiler alert—it’s not as a result of Tony Stark’s arc was neatly tied up. This choice has a number of layers, and right here’s the twisty backstory behind it.
Proper after Iron Man 3 blasted into theaters in 2013, talks of a fourth movie had been occurring. Marvel’s golden goose was hotter than ever, and the followers needed extra. However Marvel Studios had a imaginative and prescient: a extra large sandbox with a complete workforce of heroes, and so they wanted Tony to carry the squad collectively—not hog the highlight solo. So, simply as Marvel’s huge boss, Kevin Feige, was mapping out the MCU’s future, Downey and Marvel determined to pause on a fourth Iron Man.
Right here’s the place it will get juicy: RDJ’s contract was… completely different. Iron Man wasn’t at all times a billion-dollar concept, nor was Downey. Marvel rolled the cube on him as a dangerous decide—means again when the MCU wasn’t a factor, and his comeback was barely underway. To sweeten the pot and hold issues low-stakes, Marvel provided Downey a proportion of every Iron Man movie’s box-office take as an alternative of an upfront mega-salary. That guess paid off big-time. Downey’s paycheck ballooned from $2.5 million in Iron Man to a jaw-dropping $75 million by Endgame, due to all these viewers members glued to his each wisecrack and super-suit improve.
If Marvel had gone forward with Iron Man 4, Downey’s invoice alone would have been a large slice of the pie—too huge for Marvel to really feel snug slicing off.
As an alternative, they leaned on Downey’s ever-growing presence within the ensemble motion pictures, the place he stole the present and the storylines. Captain America: Civil Battle? Virtually an Iron Man flick. Spider-Man: Homecoming? Tony performed mentor-in-chief. They didn’t want one other solo Stark outing; that they had a complete Avengers playground with him on the middle.
Financials apart, Marvel had greater plans: it was time to increase and diversify. The MCU was bringing in new blood—Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Physician Unusual, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel—to maintain the universe recent and drop Iron Man 4 into the lineup. That will’ve meant squeezing out a few of these now-iconic heroes. Marvel was all-in on the next-gen roster.
Downey, as Iron Man, grew to become the Infinity Saga’s bridge, connecting each thread, hero, and disaster. Even Endgame—the place Tony’s epic ultimate snap saved the universe—showcased him because the beating coronary heart of the franchise. The storyline acquired richer by making him the Avengers’ anchor fairly than giving him one other solo outing.
So sure, Iron Man 4 may’ve been a blockbuster hit, however skipping it made area for the MCU we all know now—a franchise constructed on Tony’s legacy with out squeezing out recent faces. Stark’s not right here, however his legend? It’s nonetheless shaping each section Marvel rolls out, one superpowered showdown at a time.
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