Will Robert Downey Jr. Return As Iron Man? Trade on Kalshi With Promo Code WINGGPREMAR

Zachary Roberts Published 25/08/2026

This year, many classic Marvel characters are coming back in Avengers: Doomsday, but Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man isn’t going to be one of them, seemingly. The star actor is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe he helped start, but he’s not playing Tony Stark.

Chris Evans is returning as his original character, Steve Rogers. Some of the classic X-Men, like Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and James Marsden, are coming back as their characters from decades ago. With all that said, could Robert Downey Jr. be back as Iron Man this year?

Kalshi traders predict whether Robert Downey Jr. is back as Iron Man

Will Robert Downey Jr. play Iron Man again?

Photo via Kalshi

According to Kalshi traders, there is a low chance that Robert Downey Jr. will return as Iron Man or Tony Stark this year. Downey has said in the past that he’d be willing to play the character again since it’s such a key piece of who he is now, but he’s cast as Victor von Doom this time around.

Be sure to use our promo code WINGGPREMAR — you can get up to $500 in bonus trades.

Currently, the likelihood that he comes back as Iron Man is sitting at a 29.5% chance according to traders buying contracts at Kalshi. The chances peaked at 44.9% on July 25, and they’ve dropped since. People are less convinced now that the lynchpin of the MCU is coming back in Doomsday, which is the only Marvel movie left on the docket for this year, ergo the only one that qualifies for this prediction market.

Recent career

Iron Man was the breakthrough role that helped get an embattled RDJ back into the limelight all the way back in 2008. After that, though, it dominated his career. He spent 11 years playing the character in various projects before his death in Avengers: Endgame.

After Iron Man, his career was populated by Marvel, but it wasn’t exclusive. He was also in:

Tropic Thunder in 2008
The Soloist in 2009
Sherlock Holmes in 2010
Due Date in 2010
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in 2011
Chef in 2014
The Judge in 2014

Then, when he was done with Marvel, he first appeared in Dolittle in 2020. Then, in 2023, he truly broke out and won an Oscar in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. He has only been in The Sympathizer, a TV show, since then, though, and is uncredited in the post-credits scene of The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).

As per IMDB, the 61-year-old has five projects, including Doomsday and Secret Wars, coming up.

Editor’s take

While it’s hard to predict whether or not Iron Man will show up, a 29.5% mark on Kalshi right now feels way too low. It’s the same actor, and there’s literally a multiverse storyline. There are multiple Marvel universes crashing into one another, and one of them could very well have an RDJ Iron Man variant.

Plus, David Harbour recently said in an interview that one of his lines from the movie points out that Doctor Doom looks like Tony Stark. This, to me, hints that Marvel will address the elephant in the room; they can’t ignore that the MCU’s greatest villain is connected to its first hero.

All it would take is one variant of Doom/Stark in the Iron Man suit or some backstory where he begins as Iron Man. It may not happen, but it’s really surprising that, given the connection and the sheer amount of heroes returning, traders aren’t more convinced at Kalshi.

Feature image credit: IMDb

Zachary Roberts

About Zachary Roberts

Zachary Roberts is an avid gamer and writer that loves to merge those things. He’s been featured on VideoGamer, ComicBook, New Leaf, Esports.net, and Sportskeeda as well as the On SI network of Sports Illustrated and Sporting News.

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