After months of "Yes, no, maybe" rumors coming from Robert Downey Jr. about his role in Iron Man 4 or whether the film was even going to be made, it looks like there is finally confirmation from the actor. Iron Man 4 is officially happening.
Downey Jr. broke the news on The Ellen DeGeneres show today when Ellen asked about the possibility of another Iron Man film.
"I know there's going to be a bunch more Marvel movies," he said. "And they have big ideas of how to do it best and we're in the middle of negotiation."
Ellen cuts in, asking "is that a yes?" and prompting Downey Jr. to concede "Okay, yes!"
Downey Jr. may have confirmed that Iron Man 4 is in the works, but he was mum on whether or not he would once again play the role of Tony Stark. The actor's current contract with Marvel currently only has him appearing up till Avengers 3, so if he is indeed going to be in Iron Man 4, it would require a new contract to be written up. In a Reddit AMA the actor continued to provide hints about Marvel's future plans.
"Sooner than later the Marvel Roster will be made public and all questions will be answered," he writes.
Of course, this is all coming from an actor who last month said there was no plan for another Iron Man movie and has been cryptic on whether or not he would return as Tony Stark for months. He seemed to imply he was still open to the idea in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in July.
"It's down to Kevin [Feige] and Ike [Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Entertainment] and Disney to come to us with what the proposal is, and that's on us to agree or disagree," Downey Jr. says in the interview when asked about the possibility of returning for "Iron Man 4." "When things are going great, there's a lot of agreement. Right now, this has just been swell, hasn't it? This has been a really good one and it feels good and we're having a good time."
His AMA tease about the "Marvel Roster" being made public is interesting, especially in light of recent rumors that have suggested Iron Man may be assembling a whole new team of Avengers for Avengers 3, a film that could potentially be broken into two parts. That new team of Avengers might even include Spider-Man, as another rumor is swirling around saying Sony is looking to connect their Spider-Man film universe to Marvel's already existing Cinematic Universe.
There definitely is no shortage of Marvel movie news as of late, but it looks like fans will just have to wait for official word on Iron Man 4 and the future of Marvel's movie plans. Let's hope Downey Jr. wasn't joking when he said "sooner than later."
