The actor was the choice of Marvel execs to play Tony Stark in a big film adaptation.

The biggest movie franchise ever to be shown in theaters is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige’s ‘The House of Ideas’ is a world consisting of 32 films, of which 33 are part of the upcoming release of ‘The Marvels’ on November 10. a universe that Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. introduced with “Iron Man” in 2008.

Tony Stark is the actor that comes to mind when discussing American actors. As the primary character of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the past fifteen years, Downey Jr.’s exit in ‘Avengers: Endgame’, which followed Stark’s passing, has left an emptiness that cannot be filled.

However, among Marvel’s top brass, there was a favorite actor who could portray the eccentric billionaire, and it wasn’t Robert Downey Jr.

Financial disagreements between Cruise and Fox

Tom Cruise was the nаme, but until recently it had never been made public why he turned down the part. The reasons for the “Mission Impossible” movie star’s decision to decline the role of Tony Stark are disclosed in the book “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios,” authored by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards.

According to Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards in the book, “ten years earlier, when the Iron Man rights were at 20th Century Fox, Tom Cruise, then thirty-four, had flirted with the idea of playing Stark.”

“According to Feige, however, Cruise’s asking fee at the time was more than even a profitable studio like Fox was willing to rιsk on an untested superhero property.”

Robert Downey Jr. was given the opportunity to play Iron Man and become the worldwide sensation he is today because of Cruise’s rejection.

Tom Cruise might have played a different version of the computer mogul in a later film; we’ll never know what would have occurred if he had accepted the part, but with Marvel, you never know.