Why Robert Downey Jr. Turned Down Iron Man Cameo in “Deadpool & Wolverine —” Even After 'Ryan Gave Him the Hard Press'

"Downey read the scenes, but what we didn’t know behind the scenes was this Doctor Doom thing,' screenwriter Paul Wernick said

Before Marvel announced Robert Downey Jr. will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom, Ryan Reynolds pitched him on appearing in Deadpool & Wolverine as  Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick, the screenwriters who have written each of Reynolds' three Deadpool movies, recently told IndieWire that they initially wanted Downey, 59, to appear in the movie alongside Jon Favreau's character Happy Hogan during Deadpool & Wolverine's opening scene.

"We had wanted him to do a cameo. We had written that scene [to start] with Happy and Downey," Wernick said, while Reese added that Reynolds, 47, "read the scene with both of them, so in the hopes we could get Downey." 

"But he also wanted Favreau, because they’re a great combo, and they were all in the scene together," Reese said.

The screenwriting duo said that while they were not clued in on Downey's negotiations to portray the villain Victor von Doom in two upcoming Avengers movies — as Marvel announced at San Diego Comic-Con on July 27 — they now realize, "there’s no way he was going to do both."

Related: How Can Robert Downey Jr. Be Iron Man and Dr. Doom? All About the New Marvel Villain

"And then we said, 'Oh, Downey doesn’t say ‘no’ to Ryan Reynolds, does he? No one says no to Ryan Reynolds,' " Wernick said. "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."

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The scene Reese and Wernick pitched Downey on appearing in featured Reynolds' Wade Wilson interviewing for a job with the Avengers with Favreau's character Happy, who quickly dismisses him and sends Wade back to his own universe.

"He just said he wasn’t a team player or whatever and questioned his team-player abilities," Reese explained of Tony Stark's role in their initial pitch. "So it was actually pretty close to the scene that you saw. It just had two guys instead of one. And then Jon [Favreau] was, graciously, connected to it from the start. It worked out great."

Related: Robert Downey Jr. Had 'Already Met' with Marvel for Doctor Doom Role in 2005’s Fantastic Four Before Iron Man

"I mean, look, we would’ve loved to have Downey. 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," he added. "So, to have him be Tony Stark? Knowing that Doctor Doom was coming on the heels of that? It just didn’t make sense."

Deadpool & Wolverine is in theaters now.

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