‘Iron Man 4’: Possible Release Date After 2020, By Then Marvel Studios ‘May Opt To Recast’ Tony Stark

The Iron Man 4 movie has been reported by Master Herald as to not be anywhere near Marvel Studios’ itinerary until the year 2020 at the earliest. So far, there are now 14 Marvel movies listed from 2016 to 2020, but nothing has been confirmed, so anything beyond that is anyone’s guess.

Robert Downey Jr. first launched himself into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2008 Iron Man movie, directed by Jon Favreau, which provided the first stepping stone into the world of Marvel movies. His last solo Marvel film was Iron Man 3 in 2013.

A discussion about Iron Man 4 with Robert Downey, Jr. on The Ellen DeGeneres Show came to a head when he was being asked by Ellen about a fourth solo movie and if there will be one. Downey, Jr. said “they are in the middle of negotiations,” and DeGeneres further probed for a more definitive answer about the fourth Iron Man sequel, Downey, Jr. said, “Okay, yes”, according to the Parent Herald.

Even Chris Evans said he’d like to be in an Iron Man 4 movie, should there be a fourth installment, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“I’d be happy to be in an Iron Man movie. We’ve been in so many movies together, the titles are almost, at this point, inconsequential. We all win!”

There had been Iron Man 4 delays due to Robert asking for a salary hike. The salary negotiations he reached for Avengers: Age of Ultron afforded him over $80 million and now for Iron Man 4, he’s asking for an increase of $50 million, according to Parent Herald. He even joked about about returning for the fourth Marvel installment if his Air America c0-star Mel Gibson would direct, according to Cinema Blend.

While Downey, Jr. is set to appear as Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War, coming out this year, the actor is set to be also in Avengers: Infinity War 1 and Infinity War 2. After that, the time will likely come time for his contract to expire with Marvel Studios, and Marvel may by then be looking to recast the high tech billionaire playboy philanthropist. After all, one actor can’t possibly play the same character forever right?

Fans shouldn’t get so attached, and if James Bond got away with numerous actors playing him, then why not Iron Man? This also goes for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and the passing of the Batman mantle from Christian Bale to Ben Affleck. All good things come to an end, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes with Robert by 2020.

An Iron Man 4 movie would also be considered good business sense, but considering the plot line for Iron Man 3 wasn’t as great as the audience and critics wanted it to be, this means the fourth installment would have to impress. Also, with an Iron Man 4 comes obligatory fourth solo films for the other super heroes, according to Master Herald.

There’s also a matter of superhero fatigue and the aging of the actors portraying the characters. Fans can probably take only so much of the same genre after years of exposure. Also, with aging actors, it may behoove to have them replaced, as they would probably lack the energy needed for physical scenes. Of course, in Ant-Man, CGI was used to make Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym’s character quite youthful, but it’s questionable whether Marvel Studios would find reasons to utilize youth-enhancing special effects regularly.

Other than the Iron Man movies, recasting was not uncommon for the Marvel franchise. Ang Lee’s Hulk, starring Eric Bana played Banner. Later, in the The Incredible Hulk, came Edward Norton. Then came Mark Ruffalo’s character, who was found in South America, where he picked up with Norton left off. Only he had Black Widow come retrieve him. Going back to Iron Man, Don Cheadle replaced Terrance Howard for the War Machine/Rhodey character.

There are three more unnamed Marvel movies following 2020, which all will be in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, according to Master Herald.

Until then, Iron Man can be found in taking on Steve Rogers in Captain America: Civil War come May 6.

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