Robert Downey Jr’s MCU return was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 and it surprised every Marvel fan as the Iron Man actor is set to wear a different mask altogether. RDJ had a stunning career in the MCU and has climbed the ladder alongside Marvel Studios which has reached the astonishing milestone of being highest highest-grossing cinema franchise of all time. But his return, according to David Harbour is not a very good sign for his upcoming movie Thunderbolts*.
David Harbour Explains Why Robert Downey Jr’s Return To MCU Is “Bad News”
David Harbour. Image Credit: Marvel Studios
Thunderbolts* star David Harbour thinks that Robert Downey Jr’s return to the MCU is not quite great news for his upcoming movie under the banner of the same superhero brand. The actor who plays Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian in the upcoming movie helmed by Jake Schreier joined the MCU panel for Thunderbolts* in SDCC.
Speaking with Variety after their panel at the event, the actor explained the reason why he thinks RDJ’s return to MCU is bad news for Thunderbolts*. “Well, it’s certainly bad news that guy’s according to the Russo Brothers the greatest actor in the world nobody wants to act with that guy,” Harbour said.
“Like it’s like playing, you know, with Michael Jordan. I don’t, yeah get me out of there,” the actor joked hailing RDJ’s prowess as an actor. “And he’s this anchor figure in the universe as a personality and as a showman and I think that to anchor him you know, Iron Man was so heroic and now to anchor him in this perhaps villainous world makes our heroes different and uh I think that’s an exciting place for the Thunderbolts* to be,” he added.
Apart from being the building block of the MCU with his Iron Man that spanned over eleven movies, RDJ has honed his skill beyond the umbrella of the studio as well. Most recently, the actor claimed his first Oscar for his performance as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s multi-Oscar winner Oppenheimer. Now, five years after his Iron Man tenure that ended with his tragic farewell in Avengers: Endgame, RDJ is returning to play MCU’s next big bad, Doctor Doom.
Thunderbolts* Star Sebastian Stan Was Surprised By Robert Downey Jr’s Return To MCU
Sebastian Stan. Image Credit: Disney+
Sebastian Stan who plays Bucky Barnes in MCU previously shared screen with RDJ on more than one occasion. Stan had no prior clue about Marvel Studios’ big reveal that surprised global fans. While the reaction from fans to casting RDJ as Doctor Doom is mixed, Stan was stunned by the news.
“As soon as I got out of the car after five hours of driving over here, someone said Robert is here and I was like, that’s not happening, that’s not happening. I think we just found out on the spot did you got? Yeah we just got here and yeah, I mean it was just surreal,” Stan told Variety.
Further, the 41-year-old hailed RDJ for his capability and evolution as an actor. “There is absolutely nothing that Robert Dany Jr can’t do,” the Captain America: The Winter Soldier star continued. “I mean he’s just it’s like so for me it’s it’s it feels like something’s right in the world again with seeing him up there so I’m I think it’s exciting,” he added.
Will Thunderbolts cross paths with RDJ’s Doctor Doom? It can be said with absolute certainty that they will encounter the big bad in Avengers: Doomsday and a few other upcoming projects.
Thunderbolts* also stars Hannah John-KamenAva Starr/Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova alongside Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, and Lewis Pullman’s Bob/Sentry.
Thunderbolts* is slated for April 30, 2025 release. Avengers: Doomsday will be released in May 2026.
