On October 28, according to Cinema Blend, Marvel president Kevin Feige revealed that the studio tried to invite Tom Cruise to play Tony Stark (superhero Iron Man) in its cinematic universe. However, he had to give up that desire because this A-list actor demanded too high a salary, while the Marvel Cinematic Universe at that time was just starting to be built and was not financially prosperous.
Specifically, Kevin Feige said: “Many years ago, the film rights to Iron Man still belonged to 20th Century Fox. Tom Cruise, then 34 years old, really wanted to play the role of Stark. However, the salary that “He’s too demanding. A big studio like Fox wouldn’t dare invest so heavily in an unproven superhero project.”
After that, Marvel looked for other options to replace Tom Cruise such as Timothy Olyphant or Jim Caviezel. In the end, the person trusted for this important role was Robert Downey Jr. – a famous Hollywood actor with many talents. He agreed to receive a salary of 2.5 million USD for the main role in Iron Man (2008). However, with the rapid development of the Marvel brand, this superhero character has helped Robert Downey Jr. earned 435 million USD (equivalent to nearly 10,700 billion VND).
Iron Man (2008) is also considered the first brick that creates the foundation for the growth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After just over 10 years, this brand has risen to become the most popular film series of all time with revenue of more than 30 billion USD.