Believe it or not, there was a time when Tom Cruise was once considered to play Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No, seriously, that’s true. I know, at this point, it’s basically impossible to even think about someone other than Robert Downey Jr. playing the famous billionaire playboy. Him and Iron Man are synonymous and that will probably never change. It honestly shouldn’t. The MCU version of Tony Stark is actually far more heroic than his comic book counterpart. That’s actually really saying something, given that the comic Iron Man is one of Marvel’s top heroes. Sure, the MCU Iron Man has made some notable mistakes, but at least he never became a victim to alcoholism. You can argue that that’s his true greatest enemy. The MCU’s Tony Stark came from bad beginnings, but died a noble hero in the end. Is Iron Man’s time in the MCU really done? That’s actually up in the air. But let’s still talk about the fact that Tom Cruise was almost Iron Man before Robert Downey Jr., because I’ve pictured it in my head before. Let’s just pretend for one minute that Robert Downey Jr. never became Iron Man. Just start with the first Iron Man movie and watch the first scene. Now just swap out Robert Downey Jr. and replace him with Tom Cruise. Imagine him sitting in that humvee with those sunglasses and his suit on, including the glass of scotch in his hand. That was scotch, wasn’t it? Either way, put Tom Cruise in that body and try to see him acting in the Tony Stark way.
Oh, and let’s not forget Tom Cruise would have to have that patented goatee. As weird as it sounds, I could see him acting like Tony Stark, but imagine seeing that goatee on him. Yes, that fancy little beard makes all the difference. You can’t have a good Tony Stark without the signature goatee. If it doesn’t look good on the actor, then you can’t have a good Tony Stark. When was the last time you saw Tom Cruise looking good with a beard? Probably from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, but only in the beginning. And let’s keep in mind that the beard he had was basically a hobo beard. So a Tom Cruise Tony Stark is probably something that was not meant to be. That’s okay, because we got the guy who was meant to play Iron Man. It’s all kinds of marvelous (no pun intended) and we feel like we’ve lost a godfather. We basically did, but we can’t forget that this is a comic book universe. Literally anything can happen. After watching Spider-Man: No Way Home, I think all bets are off. The future of Marvel movies is bound to include some pre-MCU characters we thought were long gone.
That could or could not mean we’ll be seeing Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man again. It would be pretty awesome, wouldn’t it? But to be fair, we need at least some of these characters to stay dead. Needless to say, it would be kind of pointless to kill off characters just to bring them back shortly afterwards. But they have a tricky way to get around this. The best way is not through resurrection, but by brining in more variants. We know that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is coming up and all the possibilities it brings with it. How many more characters could we be seeing during this crazy adventure? I’m still guessing it will be a combination of characters we’ve seen before, along with some unexpected ones. Given that this is the Multiverse and as the title implies, the madness will be booming. Is it really too hard to believe that the chances of Tom Cruise appearing as a Tony Stark variant are high? Personally, I won’t say no, but I still wouldn’t bet money on it. Somehow, I don’t think Tom Cruise would pop up as Tony Stark in Doctor Strange 2 for a quick cameo. However, based on the rumors surrounding this sequel, we could be looking at the formation of the Illuminati. Now let’s remember that Doctor Strange 2 has many rumors surrounding it, but the one about the Illuminati is particularly intriguing. Based on what I’m seeing all over the web, every time Doctor Strange 2 is mentioned, some fan art of Tom Cruise being Tony Stark is visible. I’ve seen enough of it to get me to talk about it, but I still can’t imagine a new Iron Man popping up already.
The only way that could really work is if certain characters are involved. That includes the people who were closest to Tony Stark, including Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Rhodey, Bruce Banner, and Peter Parker. Just imagine the closest friends and family of Tony Stark meeting a new variant that doesn’t know them. That would be crazy and I can only imagine the kind of interactions they would all have. But what else would make this new variant stand out other than him being Tom Cruise? I think the answer would just be that he’s not Robert Downey Jr., which is hard to top. In fact, it’s basically impossible. But the whole point of the Multiverse is having variants that are totally different from the main characters because they all made different decisions. It’s either that or they have some unique feature about them that the main version doesn’t have. A Tom Cruise Iron Man should still have all those Tony Stark personality traits, but needs to stand out. With all the different versions of Iron Man from the comics, there’s a lot a director can work with. And since Iron Man is a staple member of the Illuminati, he’d have to be above the rest. That is if the Illuminati does appear in Doctor Strange 2, but even if they do, it could be a line-up completely different from the comics.
What else can I say? This does sounds wacky on paper, but I’m all for the MCU exploring new angles of its one universe. And that means go places where we would never expect them to go. Personally, I believe that if they brought back Iron Man, they would need Robert Downey Jr. back. I don’t think that will happen anytime soon, but if we don’t get him back, seeing an Iron Man variant would be a nice surprise. And be honest, you’re all curious to see Tom Cruise in a comic book role. He’ll need something to do in between the next Mission Impossible movies. What are your thoughts, Marvel fans? Do you think we’ll see an Iron Man variant in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Better yet, how would it look if Tom Cruise became the new Iron Man? I kind of hope the rumors are true just so I can see how it plays out.Spider-Man: No Way Home
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