Deadpool & Wolverine co-writers explain why Robert Downey declined cameo in Marvel movie

Deadpool & Wolverine co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have recently explained why Robert Downey Jr declined cameo offer in the movie.

Speaking to IndieWire, Rhett and Paul revealed they didn’t know about the new casting so they approached Robert to appear in Ryan Reynolds’ third Deadpool movie as Iron Man.

“Behind the scenes, we didn’t know about the Doctor Doom [casting],” said Paul.

He continued, “And there’s no way he was going to do both. And then we said, ‘Oh, Downey doesn’t say “no” to Ryan Reynolds, does he? No one says no to Ryan Reynolds.’ And Ryan gave him the hard press.”

“We wrote scenes, and Downey read the scenes, but what we didn’t know behind the scenes was this Doctor Doom thing,” mentioned Paul.

Elsewhere in the interview, Rhett shared Robert “was the only ‘no’ we’ve ever gotten, I think, in terms of people just saying, ‘Hey, I don’t want to do it’”.

“I mean, look, we would’ve loved to have Downey,” remarked Rhett.

He pointed out, “But, at the same time, I think Marvel had this ace in their hole, which is he’s about to come back in this different character.”

“So, to have him be Tony Stark? Knowing that Doctor Doom was coming on the heels of that? It just didn’t make sense,” added Rhett.

Meanwhile, Robert will make a comeback to the MCU in the Avengers movies Doomsday, which is going to release in 2026, and Secret Wars, scheduled for 2027.