It’s time to raise a clenched fist above your head, channel your inner Darth Vader, and scream a very trite “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” into the air…

Robert Downey Jr., that glorious thespian who’s synonymous with drunken, armored romps on the big screen, has abandoned The Avengers 2 and the role of Tony Stark. While we still haven’t heard the official word on the matter, I have no doubt this was initiated by money. We’ve known for some time that Marvel is tight with their purse, axing Terrence Howard after that actor refused to accept a decrease in salary. Since Downey Jr. already commands such a high paycheck ($50 million for The Avengers after everything was accounted), and he had just reached the end of his initial contract following the completion of Iron Man 3, the old dog may have wanted too much money.

And as if that news wasn’t hard enough to bear, the House of Ideas has already leaked the name of their replacement. Again, nothing’s been 100% confirmed yet (even though I think this Tweet counts as 100% confirmed), as I’m sure exec.Kevin Feige and crew are hammering out an extensive contract to ensure another Downey Jr. style fiasco doesn’t happen again, but it looks like Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm will be the new billionaire/playboy/philanthropist.

Pardon me diehard fanboys as I say… this choice isn’t actually THAT bad, but Hamm doesn’t possess the necessary mixture of playful sass and silver fox charm that made Downey such a catch.

Here’s the official tweet from Marvel, which only delivers a minimum amount of information, but you may want to see it.

What do you guys think on the matter? I love me some RDJ, but even I have to admit, Hamm is a brilliant replacement. Make sure you check out our Source link below, too.

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