Robert Downey Jr. Talks Post-Iron Man Roles: Dolittle, Holmes and Mason

After 10 years of playing Tony Stark, the man behind the Iron Man mask, East Hampton resident Robert Downey Jr. is ready to leave the Avengers in his past and move on to new projects. In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly (EW), Downey admitted, “I’m definitely a hang up your jersey before they boo you off the court type guy, just because I still have an appropriate fear of embarrassment.”

As sad as it is to say goodbye to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Avenger, it’s more than possible that Marvel will have to kill off Stark in Avengers: Infinity War Part 2, given the end of Downey’s contract and his decision not to renew it. And this would align perfectly with the high-stakes, apocalyptic nature of the film, as Downey puts it, “I’m tired of every movie [claiming], “It’s the end! It’s Armageddon! It’s the Be All, End All, Forever!” And then it’s … not. This one actually is.”

He elaborated on some of the projects that the Team Downey production company have in the works, which he and his wife, producer Susan Downey, founded. Following the company’s first film The Judge in 2014, Team Downey will release The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle in 2019, with Downey playing the eponymous main character. He’s decided to give the doctor a Welsh accent, as to completely differentiate the character from any superheroes that fans may typecast the actor as.

After that, Team Downey is looking into making Sherlock Holmes 3, which if they did, would come out a decade after the first sequel. They are also developing a Perry Mason reboot for HBO, featuring Downey as the lead and Ron Howard as the director. However these two projects may not see the light of day for a few more years, because as Downey told EW, “Having done Avengers 3 and 4 back-to-back, and now doing [Dolittle] … When I’m done with this, if you hear I’m not taking a break, call me and tell me I’m crazy.”