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Iron Man’s sacrifice at the end of Avengers: Endgame still stings. But, in a recent interview with Joe Rogan on his podcast, Robert Downey Jr. revealed the one thing that could lure him back into that suit. Nothing is forever in the world of comic books and that fact has given a lot of fans hope that they could one day see the actor flying through the sky firing repulsor rays at bad guys. Downey has gone on the record numerous times about the decision to take his character off the table at the conclusion of the Infinity Saga. It seems like the door is pretty firmly shut, but things are always changing and it has become pretty clear that audiences really loved this version of Iron Man. For now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe moves forward, but one day there could come a time that we see that red and gold armor in the heat of battle again.

“To me, starting up again is off the table. I feel like I’ve done all I could with that character. There would have to be a super compelling argument and a series of events that made it obvious,” Downey said of the possibility of a return.“But the other thing is, I wanna do other stuff.”

He’s had to answer some version of this question in every public appearance since Endgame debuted. But, ever the showman, the Iron Man actor just leaves that door open just a crack for fans.

"Yeah, anything could happen. I’m really enjoying…" Downey revealed in a previous interview before his wife interjected. He added, "As far as I’m concerned, I hung up my guns and I’m good to let it go. I also think Marvel is on this journey now and they’re trying a bunch of other stuff, and I’m excited for them to see how all that goes. It’s hard to project."

But, throughout all these questions about the future. Downey has been resolute about what makes this series appeal to so many fans.

"It was all there in the universe to begin with, and that's why I think the Marvel comics have been so numinous to kids and grownups and people," he shared. "There's this love for it because it speaks to the world but it also speaks to the democratic American projected dream, which is far more complicated than that (laughs), but there's an ideal there that's always been trying to express itself, and strangely, in some ways the best of it has been expressed in these little two-hour segments of entertainment."