Jon Favreau Has One Big Regret About His Work in the MCU

Robert Downey Jr.’s being chosen to play Tony Stark may go down in history as one of the most influential casting decisions in cinema. His work as the character was incredibly popular, launched one of the biggest movie franchises ever, and is currently being used to add some juice back into said franchise. His depiction of the character turned Iron Man into a household name, and even changed how he’s depicted in the comics a little bit to match RDJ’s performance more. Pretty wild for someone the studio did not want in the role.

Downey Jr.’s troubled past is well-documented, and Tony Stark was originally a role being crafted for someone like Tom Cruise. Marvel Studios very much wanted Clive Owen to play the part, but he turned it down. So, Jon Favreau met with RDJ and became convinced that he should play the man in the iron suit. He fought hard to ensure that RDJ was cast, digging in his heels against the studio, and the rest is history. The movie gave the Chaplin actor’s career a second life and launched over twenty other movies. Still, it makes sense that Favreau would feel a little protective.

The director recently revealed on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! that, when he learned about Tony Stark’s fate in Avengers: Endgame, he fought against it. “I talked to the Russos, I said, ‘I don’t know if people are gonna like … I don’t know, it’s really going to impact people because they were kids that grew up with that character,” the director explained. “But I have to tell you, it was handled so well by them. And Gwyneth [Paltrow] and Robert did such a wonderful job acting, and I think it added a poignancy to it. I think they did a wonderful job. I was wrong.”

He may be wrong about wanting to stop them, but he’s right about it being handled so well. Tom Holland deserves a shout-out as well for helping sell the moment. Favreau even admitted to getting emotional during the scene, something I can very much relate to. “I was choked up,” he noted. “Even though it’s a movie, those people, those characters, have been part of my life for so long.” I had that movie on while I was working a few weeks ago, was barely paying attention, caught that scene, and it still got me to cry, so I hear ya, Jon (except for the “even though it’s a movie” part).