While there’s a chance we may not see him suit up for Iron Man 4, even if it is a big gimme payday when you get down to it, Robert Downey Jr. has signed on for the next two Avengers films, the first of which is schedule for May 1st, 2015. The third installment in the trilogy has not been scheduled at this point. Downey’s participation in the film has been said to be a given by Joss Whedon for awhile now, but with the way contracts work and Downey finishing out his initial commitment to the character after starring in the 2008 launch film, negotiations were expected to be tricky and you could see aspects of it playing out in the media a bit with some of the back and forth and the casual nature he took with it when asked about any Avengers sequel.
Production for Avenges 2 is set for March 2014 and now that Downey is on board, negotiations and plans can go from there as to which other Avengers characters will come in. Due to the fluid nature of the team overall, it doesn’t require all of them to come back if it doesn’t make sense for the story, and we already know that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch will be making their debuts in the film as they’re personal favorites of Whedon’s.
According to Deadline, “Downey’s past two Marvel films, 2012’sMarvel’s The Avengers and this year’s Iron Man 3, rank as two of the top five grossing films of all time, collectively earning over $2.7 billion worldwide to date. Marvel.com said it will be revealing additional casting updates, new characters coming to Marvel movies, and more in coming weeks.”