Rumors that Tom Cruise Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been circulating almost since the first superhero movie premiered in 2008. Despite this, the reports never seemed to be fully confirmed, and it never helped that Jon Favreau (director) has repeatedly commented that it was always his first option.
But perhaps it was not other leaders who were behind this. Hombre de Hierro. In fact, according to MCU: Reign of Marvel StudiosA new book written by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzalez and Gavin Edwards reveals the reasons why Tom Cruise was never Tony Stark and how the role ended up in the hands of Robert Downey Jr.
“When you’re right Hombre de Hierro were from 20th Century Fox, Tom Cruise, then 34, flirted with the possibility of playing Tony Stark, according to Kevin Feige. However, what the actor asked for was much more than what Fox was willing to give, especially for a character for whom it was unknown at the time whether he would succeed or not, the book explains.
That is, the only obvious reason why Tom Cruise never got to play Tony Stark was controversy over actor’s salary. This was before Disney bought Marvel, so the financial resources available weren’t as great as they are now. This was one of the reasons they were looking for another actor.
Eventually, after a lot of pressure from Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr. agreed to be Tony Stark, and the studio, somewhat reluctantly, did too. The actor had several drug scandals under his belt, so although he was much cheaper than Cruise, he was still a risk.
But it was a risk that yielded extremely positive results. Downey Jr. helped develop the character of Tony Stark and pioneered the enormous success that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has achieved over the past decade and a half.
Tom Cruise, Marvel Studios and rumors that never came true
This is one of the reasons why there have always been reports that we might see an alternate version of Tony Stark played by Tom Cruise at some point. Besides the fact that this is a very interesting opportunity, with the premiere Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessRumors began to spread that we would finally see the actor in the role of Stark.
Source: Hiper Textual
