Iron Man Film Reportedly in Development as Armor Wars Is Reworked Around a Rebooted Tony Stark

One of the Multiverse Saga projects that was dead and cancelled at Marvel Studios is apparently getting a rebirth of sorts as a whole new film, and if the report is true, it is an Iron Man film. According to an industry insider, Armor Wars is reportedly being reworked into an Iron Man project for Phase 7 and beyond, and instead of focusing on Rhodey's War Machine as originally planned, it would now focus on a rebooted Tony Stark.

The report arrived in the middle of what I called "an absolute dream of 2 weeks as Marvel fans." Tickets had just gone on sale for Doomsday and the Avengers: Endgame encore, the first Doomsday trailer had arrived, a new Spider-Man film was less than two weeks from theaters, and Marvel's Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con was only a couple of days away. That timing is why I asked whether Iron Man 4 might surface at that panel, which I come back to at the end of this piece.

The Armor Wars scoop points to a rebooted Tony Stark instead of Rhodey

The scoop came from an industry insider who posts on Twitter. He has been extremely active over the last couple of years, and while I remind readers to take things with a grain of salt, and that no scooper has gotten everything right, he has a proven track record. That is why I am comfortable reporting on his scoops.

His claim is that Armor Wars, the project originally planned to focus on Rhodey's War Machine, is apparently going to be reworked into an Iron Man film during the saga, and that it is now going to focus on a rebooted Tony Stark. The news broke as an exclusive just under 48 hours before I wrote this up. With so much Marvel news that week, I took the time to think it through rather than reacting immediately or simply reporting it.

Why recasting Iron Man makes sense with Robert Downey Jr. now playing Doom

If you take this at face value and it is true, it means that Robert Downey Jr., if he sticks around in the MCU, is going to be Victor Von Doom from now on, and there is going to be a new Tony Stark because he will not be reprising that role. Think about it logically. Robert Downey Jr. is 61 years old. Marvel Studios had just announced what sounded like a saga with the X-Men in several stages, taking them loosely through 2042. That is 16 years away, when Robert Downey Jr. would be nearly 80.

If Marvel does not recast Iron Man and simply lets the years peel off the calendar, we end up with an MCU that has all the IP under one roof, with an X-Men team and an Avengers team going, but no Iron Man. The sooner they recast, the longer they will have a new Iron Man. Because they are casting the X-Men much younger, I think they are probably asking how to avoid isolated teams, the way it used to be when certain characters like Iron Man had already left the MCU. The answer would be to reboot Iron Man as a much younger man, more in line with the ages of the actors who will surround him.

At some point Marvel Studios was going to have to go a bit younger. The MCU is 20 years in the making and Marvel is talking about going almost another full 20, and some of these actors were in their 40s, or close to it, when they first entered the franchise. I know it sounds almost profane to say out loud, "Recast Iron Man." It feels especially strange with Robert Downey Jr. still in the MCU, because the obvious response is that he is already here, so just have him play Iron Man. But Marvel needs to make sure the X-Men are not in an isolated MCU and that all of the toys are truly in the sandbox. If that is the ultimate plan, casting a new Iron Man sooner rather than later makes sense.

I still suspect Robert Downey Jr.'s Doom casting could be a misdirect

There is still a sneaking suspicion in me, and I have been vocal about it ever since Marvel announced Robert Downey Jr. was coming back as Doctor Doom. That casting may be the biggest misdirect of Doomsday and Secret Wars of all time. We won't believe he is coming back as Iron Man, because he is playing Victor Von Doom now.

That would make it even more surprising if, in the final act and the final battle, the scene meant to rival the portals moment from Avengers: Endgame, we did get Robert Downey Jr. back as Tony Stark, fighting himself. I am not saying that is going to happen. I am saying I could see it happening, and I still would not put the odds at zero that this is what Marvel chooses to do. So there may still be one final act, one last hurrah, for Robert Downey Jr. in that role.

A recast Tony Stark would not mean a full MCU reset

Beyond that, with a new reset singular universe, as Kevin Feige had said the day before I wrote this, there may be recasts for some of the main characters sooner than you think. That does not mean we are heading into a full reset. I am sure Chris Hemsworth is going to keep playing Thor for years, based also on comments from Kevin Feige that he is in his prime. I could also see Steve Rogers sticking around as Captain America, since he is still rather young as well.

Then there are the characters cast at the end of the Multiverse Saga, like the Fantastic Four cast. They are not going anywhere; Marvel would not have cast them this late in the game if it was not going to keep them around. Some characters have been cast for a while but have barely had any outings, like Simu Liu's Shang-Chi. There will be a Shang-Chi 2, and he is in the future of the MCU. So this will not be a huge upheaval where everybody is recast, nobody's face is recognisable anymore, and our most beloved hero of all, Iron Man, is someone brand new.

Following Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark will be very difficult

On that subject, it is remarkable to think about the character's popularity in the comics compared with what Robert Downey Jr. was able to do for him, becoming the face of the MCU. It is going to be so hard to find another actor to step into his footsteps. I thought it would be hard for Marvel to recast Hugh Jackman, and I still think that will be rather difficult. But with Robert Downey Jr. being Iron Man the way he was, I think it is going to be very difficult for another actor to give us something we will not all immediately compare to his Tony Stark, even after two decades.

It is the quintessential role: the right actor for the right character at the right time in the right franchise, and recapturing all of that magic is going to be a trick. The younger Marvel goes, I think the better. And the more that actor chooses his own interpretation of the character, the better too. There will be plenty of time to talk about that when and if Marvel Studios reveals it is actually making Iron Man 4.

Could Iron Man 4 have surfaced at Hall H?

With the San Diego Comic-Con Hall H panel only about 48 hours away when I wrote this, my conjecture was whether we might see something about Iron Man 4. A couple of months earlier I would have said absolutely not, since Marvel was focused on Doomsday with Secret Wars after it. But Kevin Feige had been dropping a lot of hints about major surprises for that panel. As I have said before, Marvel has already set a precedent of skipping Hall H, and it may not be there the following year. If so, that panel would be its last opportunity to talk about projects coming right after Secret Wars, like a possible Black Panther 3 and the X-Men reboot.

It had also been years since Marvel Studios gave a full slate announcement. I do not expect it to happen the way it did back in 2019 or 2022. Once projects like Blade, or Armor Wars at Disney Plus, failed to come to fruition and started getting cancelled, you knew Marvel would rein it in. But a loose three year slate covering 2028, 2029 and 2030, with titles for films Marvel knows it is going to make, would not surprise me: a reveal for the Midnight Sons, Iron Man 4, the X-Men reboot, maybe a surprise film we had not heard of yet.

Where I would normally tell readers to temper their expectations, I was getting more and more excited, because that Saturday looked like it might hold reveals for a lot of crazy stuff. Whatever the slate held, Iron Man 4 or not, I could not wait to see it. I also could not wait for the casting rumours, because there are going to be so many names at all different ages, with no definitive context from Marvel on which direction it may go.

Is it too soon to recast Iron Man, or is it better to do it sooner rather than later, and who would you pick as the new Tony Stark?