2008’s Iron Man heralded what would become the biggest film franchise ever conceived. However, shortly before, New Line Cinema had the rights to the character and they cut the playboy genius loose for a very odd reason.
The history of the original Iron Man film is riddled with casting rumours and potential plots as New Line Cinema tried to conceptualise how to bring the character to the big screen. The most notable and commonly known was that of Tom Cruise playing Tony Stark.
That particular rumour circulated so regularly, that it was suggested Cruise would play an alternate version of the character in Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness.
The studio let the rights revert back to Marvel Studios in 2005, when it seemed that an Iron Man film just was not possible.
Love Film & TV?
Get the latest Film & TV news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
A recent report from The Hollywood Reporter has suggested that the reason this decision was made was that New Line Cinema’s founder Bob Shaye thought the character didn’t make sense as he would be too heavy to fly.
In 2022 alone we’ve seen Doctor Strange fight an evil Doctor Strange, Thor get caught in a love triangle between an axe and a hammer, Moon Knight find friendship in a talking hippo and She-Hulk twerk with Megan Thee Stallion. So, the idea that Iron Man is a bit unrealistic seems slightly unreasonable.
But, 2005 was still the early years of the superhero genre and was victim to the notion that comic book characters were too colourful and silly for the real world. It was this idea that led to the X-Men wearing all black leather outfits and the Fantastic Four fighting a big angry cloud.
Had New Line Cinema held onto the rights and developed a Tom Cruise led Iron Man, the entire MCU (if it even would have existed) would have been drastically different.
But all hope is not lost. With iconic multiverse crossover comic Secret Wars being adapted into Avengers: Secret Wars in 2025, maybe there is still hope of seeing Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. battling it out as Iron Men.
