Robert Downey Jr. wants to stop playing ‘Iron Man’ before it gets "embarrassing" and he can’t do the role justice.
The 52-year-old actor has starred as the metal-suited superhero in seven movies, kicking off the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008’s ‘Iron Man’, and will be returning as Tony Stark in the next two ‘Avengers’ films.
Downey still enjoys suiting up for the blockbusters but doesn’t want to overstay his welcome if he can’t perform to the best of his ability on screen.
Speaking to News Corp Australia, he said: "It’s this cyclical thing. I could have said when the first ‘Avengers’ came out, ‘It’s never going to get any better than that. Everybody stop.’ But to me it’s always about people and opportunities, like the ‘Avengers’ directors Anthony and Joe Russos, who I adore. Everyone says to me it’s like a glove that fits so well. I have to start over every time but I am starting over with a pretty solid base.
"I just never want to blow it for the last six or seven MCU movies, I have done by dropping the ball because I decided to go do it one more time.
"I just want to hang up my jersey before it’s embarrassing."
Downey can currently be seen as the character in the Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures co-production ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and he admits he was drawn to the film because of ‘Cop Car’ director Jon Watts who has helmed Spidey’s first full MCU adventure.
He said: "I felt like we were literally back in the writer’s room on the first ‘Iron Man’. So there was a real sense of a homecoming toward this – not experimental, because there is so much more data now and the process is so much more streamlined – but I didn’t feel like I was being asked to just fit in somewhere. They wanted us to bring our own little thing."
Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t want to drop the ball as Iron Man
