Robert Downey Jr. has raised eyebrows after comparing Iron Man director Jon Favreau to Elon Musk.
During an interview on The Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast, Downey discussed his surprise return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom while also recalling his experience working Favreau on the first Iron Man film, released in 2008.
The Oscar-winning actor went on to describe Favreau as “the Elon Musk of cinema,” further explaining his love for tech. “He’s always been a tech friendly guy… as evident by [his projects],” Downey explained.
While Downey was clearly trying to compliment the director, the comparison took fans by surprise, given that many no longer consider Musk to be a “brilliant tech guy” due to the controversial comments the Tesla CEO shares on X/Twitter.
“I don’t think RDJ meant to diss Favreau, but that’s like the worst comparison you could make,” posted one X user, while another wrote: “Umm… not so much of a compliment these days”.
I don’t think RDJ meant to diss Favreau, but that’s like the worst comparison you could make 😭
— RJ (@ResonantJustice) August 21, 2024
Ummm….not so much of a compliment these days….unless Rob didn’t even mean it as such
— Tσɱσ ❄️ (@Idgf_Tomo) August 21, 2024
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When preparing for the role of Iron Man, Downey spent time with Musk and was given a tour of SpaceX from the co-founder himself. Musk even made a cameo in 2010’s Iron Man 2.
“Elon was someone Tony probably hung out with and partied with, or more likely they went on some weird jungle trek together to drink concoctions with the shamans,” Downey told Bloomberg in 2015.
Elsewhere, it was recently reported that Downey turned down the opportunity to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine as Tony Stark/Iron Man, with the film’s writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, unaware at the time that he had signed on to play Doctor Doom.
“Ryan Reynolds wrote the scene with both of them, so in the hopes we could get Downey,” Reese said. “But he also wanted Favreau, because they’re a great combo, and they were all in the scene together.”
“Behind the scenes, we didn’t know about the Doctor Doom,” added Wernick. “And there’s no way he was going to do both. And then we said, ‘Oh, Downey doesn’t say no to Ryan Reynolds, does he? No one says no to Ryan Reynolds.’ And Ryan gave him the hard press. We wrote scenes, and Downey read the scenes, but what we didn’t know behind the scenes was this Doctor Doom thing.”
“I mean, look, we would’ve loved to have Downey,” Reese said. “But, at the same time, I think Marvel had this ace in their hole, which is he’s about to come back in this different character. So, to have him be Tony Stark? Knowing that Doctor Doom was coming on the heels of that? It just didn’t make sense.”