Robert Downey Jr Turned Down Deadpool & Wolverine: There Were Also Avengers Plans

It’s learned that Robert Downey Jr. turned down a cameo appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine. The film also had plans to include the original Avengers.

In a recent interview with IndieWire, Deadpool & Wolverine co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick shared that Robert Downey Jr. was approached to reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man in that Happy Hogan scene featuring Jon Favreau.

Robert Downey Jr. was going to be in Happy Hogan scene

However, Downey turned down the offer, which now makes sense, as he’s set to return in the MCU as Doctor Doom, which was surprisingly announced at Comic-Con.

“We had wanted him to do a cameo. We had written that scene [to start] with Happy and Downey,” Wernick explained.

The scene in question takes place near the beginning of Deadpool & Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds’ character, Deadpool, uses Cable’s time machine to jump over to MCU’s Sacred Timeline to pitch himself a spot in the Avengers lineup. He meets with Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan, who rejects him because Deadpool is too self-centered and not a team player. Originally, the writers intended for Downey’s Tony Stark to be part of that scene as well.

“Ryan Reynolds wrote the scene with both of them, hoping we could get Downey,” Reese said. “But he also wanted Favreau, because they’re a great combo, and they were all in the scene together.”

They also didn’t know Robert Downey Jr. was up to return as Doctor Doom.

“Behind the scenes, we didn’t know about the Doctor Doom,” Wernick added. “And there’s no way he was going to do both. And then we said, ‘Oh, Downey doesn’t say “no” to Ryan Reynolds, does he? No one says no to Ryan Reynolds.’ And Ryan gave him the hard press. We wrote scenes, and Downey read the scenes, but what we didn’t know behind the scenes was this Doctor Doom thing.”

Downey ultimately passed on the cameo, and Reese noted, “He was the only ‘no’ we’ve ever gotten, I think, in terms of people just saying, ‘Hey, I don’t want to do it.’” Despite this, Favreau’s Happy Hogan was always part of the scene, so it remained intact with just him and Deadpool.

“I mean, look, we would’ve loved to have Downey,” Reese admitted. “But, at the same time, I think Marvel had this ace in their hole, which is he’s about to come back in this different character. So, to have him be Tony Stark? Knowing that Doctor Doom was coming on the heels of that? It just didn’t make sense.”

The Avengers were part of the scene

The writers also revealed another idea that was never fully developed, which involved not just Downey, but all the original Avengers—Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, and Chris Evans’ Captain America—being part of Deadpool’s interview.

“We haven’t told anybody this, but there was a version of that scene very, very early on that wasn’t written, but was conceived, that had all the Avengers in the room,” Wernick said. “And Wade was rejected and then he dressed all the Avengers down in a way only Deadpool could do.”

“He was going to get mad and basically attack each one of them in a vicious kind of way,” Reese added.

The writers even considered including Rob Delaney’s Peter in the scene, leading to a humorous moment where Peter effortlessly picks up Thor’s hammer, while Deadpool fails to do so.

“Peter casually picked up Thor’s Hammer in the background,” Reese said. “That was the joke. Originally, Peter accompanied him there. There were never screenplay pages, but it was the idea of the scene. I remember pitching that he was going to try to get Captain America to swear. I don’t really remember too much else in terms of the details, but yeah, he was going to dress them down to be sure.”

Ultimately, Downey was the only actor who read the scene, as the idea of including Tony Stark was briefly considered.

Robert Downey Jr. is set to return as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Deadpool & Wolverine has already crossed $900 million at the box office and is expected to hit a billion soon.