Kevin Feige Reveals That Clive Owen Passed on ‘Iron Man’ Before Robert Downey Jr. Got the Job

Robert Downey Jr.‘s portrayal of Tony Stark in the Iron Man and Avengers films is iconic, but according to Marvel boss Kevin Feige, Downey was not the first choice to play the billionaire superhero: Clive Owen was.

While delivering a commencement address to this year’s graduating class at the University of Southern California, Feige offered the students a lesson in adjusting your expectations, explaining that sometimes the first choice is not always the right choice.

“When we were casting the role of Iron Man, we looked at so many different actors. We had to find the perfect mix of heart and strength and charisma,” he said. “Being our first Marvel film out of the gate, the stakes could not have been higher.”

Feige continued, “The success of the film and the future of our entire studio rested on the shoulders of this one person. It was not an easy task, but together with my team and our casting directors and our director, Jon Favreau, we culled down our list, we pinpointed the right guy, and we extended an offer to our top choice – an actor who checked all of those boxes and who we were confident would be a huge hit. And his name, of course, was Clive Owen. He passed. He was not interested.”

The lesson here, Feige explained, was that “not getting your first choice might just be the greatest thing that can happen to you. Because you know what’s better than getting your first choice? Getting the right choice. And in our case, of course, that choice was Robert Downey Jr.”

It’s almost impossible to imagine anyone but Downey in the role as Mr. Pepper Potts, so even though Owen didn’t even appear in MCU, we can thank him for helping him shape it into what it has become.