Marvel Board Wanted Timothy Olyphant As Iron Man Instead Of Robert Downey Jr.

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SOURCE - Robert Downey Jr.’s charisma is widely credited with making “Iron Man” a critical and box office hit in 2008, thus opening the door for David Maisel’s dream of a Marvel Cinematic Universe. But Marvel’s board was nervous about casting Downey Jr. given his bad boy reputation, which included being arrested in April 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded gun. Downey Jr. was on the outs of Hollywood at the time, and Marvel was deciding between him or Timothy Olyphant to cast as Iron Man.

“My board thought I was crazy to put the future of the company in the hands of an addict,” Maisel said bluntly. “I helped them understand how great he was for the role. We all had confidence that he was clean and would stay clean.”

It's hard to comprehend now where Downey Jr.'s career was before Iron Man. He had just appeared in Zodiac and things were starting to turn around for him but just a few years earlier he had been wandering barefoot outside L.A. He had even been fired from the FOX show Ally McBeal. Movie studio heads have long memories and if Downey Jr. couldn't handle guest appearances on a goofy TV show, how could he be the face of a potentially billion dollar franchise?

The bigger takeaway for me is imagining Timothy Olyphant as Iron Man. I think it's safe to say RDJ as Iron Man is one of the most iconic roles in movie history. I'd put him right there with Sylvester Stallone as Rocky or Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. I can't see anyone else playing those parts. It's hard to see a different actor than Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in Back To The Future but Eric Stoltz was actually hired first. Stoltz was just coming off a great performance in the movie Mask (with Cher, not Jim Carrey). He shot much of Back To The Future before getting fired because it wasn't working and he wasn't funny enough. Here's a clip with Stoltz as Marty:

Timothy Olyphant is a very good actor. I loved him in Go and he's done great as the lead in Justified. This isn't his first brush with almost getting an iconic role. He was offered Dominic in The Fast And Furious but turned it down. Vin Diesel wound up starring in that movie and it's NINE sequels. 

There's always been Tom Cruise rumors surrounding Iron Man but I think Olyphant would have actually been a decent hire. He went on Conan a while ago and talked about his audition. 

Of course, Marvel made the right choice with Robert Downey Jr. but Olyphant is a decent runner-up. Finally, I do love how this former Marvel president is making sure he gets credit for pushing for RDJ. It's funny how he isn't touting any bad casting ideas he may have had. 

Could you see this guy as Iron Man? I'll say this…he has better chemistry with Katie Holmes than Tom Cruise did.