Marvel cast Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man after Fantastic Four audition

In the grand tradition of Marvel’s What If…?, consider this: Instead of headlining 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel Studios’ first self-financed “Marvel Cinematic Universe” movie, Robert Downey Jr. secures his place in comic book movie history by taking on the role of Doctor Doom in 2005’s Fantastic Four. Jon Favreau says it was possible.

The 15th anniversary is celebrated in a brand new retrospective. Iron Man, Favreau — who not only directed the film but played Happy Hogan alongside Downey Jr. and throughout the MCU — sat down with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to look back at the movie that started the unstoppable entertainment machine. Favreau’s penchant for mixing comedy and drama, and the “latitude” he gave Downey Jr. when ad-libbing over the screenplay, wasn’t just a way of being “very consistent with Stan Lee’s tone,” as the director puts it, but the way Marvel broke out from the early 2000s Marvel movies and the grim tone of The Dark KnightThe next year, the. Iron Man wasn’t just a movie it was a primordial soup.

“That tone you and Robert discovered on that movie became the template for what the MCU became,” Feige admits, with a look on his face that suggests it all could have gone very wrong. Casting Downey, Jr. was the key to his success. “On later movies […] there were dark days,” the producer went on to say, “and I would say to Robert, ‘We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you.’ Meaning, we wouldn’t have Studio if it wasn’t for him.”

And as Favreau reminds Feige, it was possible Downey Jr. may have been out of contention for the role if Marvel, then spearheaded by Feige’s mentor Avi Arad, had plugged him into a different vehicle. Downey Jr. was only brought in to do a general reading for Tony Stark because Feige’s mentor Avi Arad had pushed him into a different vehicle. Iron Man is because Marvel had already tested him for the role of Victor von Doom in Tim Story’s 2005 Fantastic FourA role which eventually fell to Nip/Tuck’s Julian McMahon. The bit of trivia kinda blows Feige back in his chair — Fantastic FourIt may not have been a film he remembers fondly. But it’s the butterfly effect moment that allowed the entire MCU to take shape.

Favreau hammers away on a single fact for the whole 15 minute chat: once he found his Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. everything else just fell into place. All decisions were easier. Each actor was a globber. It was perfect casting. Perfect casting. Feige doesn’t hold back when it comes to celebrating his success.

“That’s probably one of the greatest decisions in the history of Hollywood,” Feige says.