It’s been previously reported that Robert Downey Jr.’s contract with Marvel Studios will dry up after this summer’s Iron Man 3. We can all hope that the studio will offer him another so he may appear in future Iron Man and Avengers films, but in an interview with GQ he seems to indicate he may be finished with the character. When asked about the injury he sustained on the set of the latest film, Downey got existential.

“It got me thinking about how big the message from your cosmic sponsor needs to be before you pick it up. How many genre movies can I do? How many follow-ups to a successful follow-up are actually fun? Because, as quiet as it’s kept, I come from a family of very innovative writers and directors and actors and artists, and the circle of friends they were in were the people I heard having pun-offs playing poker at two in the morning, and it was just the most comforting aspect of my childhood. So there’s this kind of legacy of souls from what I consider to be a very particular time in entertainment, and I’m sensing a return to that—it’s what me and the missus are doing next. It’s not unlike: I heard Brady signed on for three more years with New England, and then he’s done being a QB, because he’ll be 40. I’m 47, and I’ll be 50.”

When asked to elaborate on what he meant about what stops when he turns 50, Downey remained mum.