17 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Played The Avengers
2. Tom Cruise Was Almost Iron Man AnD Bruce Banner
Again, it's hard to imagine anyone bringing the role of Tony Stark to screen with quite as much success as Robert Downey Jnr, but considering Jon Favreau's objective to make Stark a likable asshole - apparently the thing that got RDJ the job - one of the early names linked to the role would have been a good fit.
He would have been suave enough, charismatic enough and crucially, just about snarky enough to pull off a similar performance, and he obviously had enough in his repertoire to convince producers to flirt openly with the idea of casting him (and also bringing him in to co-produce). Cruise was linked for a long time, and Kevin Feige was quoted back in 2004 talking about the possibility:
There have been discussions (with Cruise) over the last several years and there are a number of factors involved. All we know is that were putting all the pieces in place and then well find the best Tony Stark that we can get.It was ultimately the script that turned Cruise off the role - before Favreau came on board and the story was rewritten, presumably to jettison the bit that turned major Hollywood actors off. Cruise was very open about his decision to turn the role down:
I dont know. It just they came to me at a certain point and when I do something, I wanna do it right. If I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know its gonna be something special. And as it was lining up, it just didnt feel to me like it was gonna work.