MCU Book Reveals Why Tom Cruise Never Played Iron Man

A recently released book about the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s creation and production has revealed why Tom Cruise didn’t play Iron Man.

MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios (written by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards) features a section about how film industry superstar Tom Cruise was interested in playing Tony Stark in a movie. According to the book, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige found the actor’s asking fee to be far too expensive.

“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,” the book reads. “According to Feige, however, Cruise’s asking fee at the time was more than even a profitable studio like Fox was willing to risk on an untested superhero property” (via CinemaBlend).

Though Tom Cruise never ended up playing Tony Stark, the writer of last year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness wanted to include a multiversal variant of Iron Man played by Tom Cruise, though it didn’t end up happening.

How long did Robert Downey Jr. play Iron Man for?

Robert Downey Jr. ended up playing Iron Man and assumed the role from 2008’s Iron Man to 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.