Who could replace Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man?

Iron Man 3 has flown into the second biggest opening weekend ever spot right behind The Avengers movie of last year. There have been rumblings about Robert Downey Jr being ready to hang up the helmet and leave Tony Stark in his past but now Kevin Feige has stepped up to claim that there will most certainly be an Iron Man 4 with or without RDJ.

People seem to be suggesting that as RDJ's contract with Marvel has just expired, that he is now putting all this talk about leaving Iron Man behind out into the world just so that he can re-negotiate a better contract for himself going forward. Equally, Kevin Feige could be speaking out about Iron Man 4 just so that he can scare RDJ into running back for another whopping paycheck. Feige even mentioned that he can see Iron Man going on until Iron Man 10 or 20 and that he could last as long as James Bond, hinting at many changes to the man behind the mask.

Pepper ponders replacement

But all this talk is most likely bluster. Marvel wants RDJ. RDJ most likely wants another minimum $50 million pay day. Frankly the thought of anyone being paid that kind of money makes me vomit in my mouth a little bit. And the thought of somebody being greedy enough to want to bargain for more money makes me even sicker.

I understand that RDJ seems pretty damn essential to Iron Man 4 right now and I'm sure his agent will be negotiating hard with Marvel seeing as to the fans of the films, RDJ IS Tony Stark. If Iron Man makes obscene money in cinemas then a RDJ is a big reason for that and should be paid accordingly. But I heard he was paid $50 million for Avengers and something similar for Iron Man 3 and those are just disgusting figures. Call me a Commie but I don't think anyone in this world deserves that much money, especially when you consider how many people are starving across the world.

So with that in mind, if RDJ is really trying to scrounge more money from Marvel, then I think no matter how much you like Iron Man and RDJ, we need to seek out a replacement. If there really is to be an Iron Man 4 and RDJ won't commit, who do you think could step into RDJ's shoes?

I personally hope they get Shane Black to direct again but admittedly I would find it very hard to replace RDJ. It needs to be someone with a layer of likeable arrogance and I'm sure that's not that easy to find. What do you think?