Though his heart seems to belong to DC Comics (his youngest son is named Kal-El, after all, and he was seemingly supposed to play Superman throughout the 1990s), Cage floated his interest in the part back in 1997—when an Iron Man movie was already a long-gestating project, held up in development purgatory. He's only a year older than Downey, so it wasn't as if he aged out of it by the time they were actually making the film, but by then he had signed on to bring another Marvel character—Ghost Rider—to life. Or death. Either way.
If you look up "quick-witted, nimble hero type," Cruise's picture is there, so naturally he was a candidate for the role, too. But eventually the Mission: Impossible star lost faith in the project's potential.
"It's not happening. Not with me," Cruise was quoted telling reporters in 2005. "They...came to me at a certain point, and you know, when I do something, I want to do it right. And, you know, if I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know it's going to be something special. And that...as it was lining up, it just didn't feel to me like it was going to work."
That's OK, Tom, you can't complete everyone. But asked years later, in 2018, how close he was to being cast, Cruise clarified that he was "not close. Not close and I love Robert Downey Jr. I can't imagine anyone else in that role and I think it's perfect for him."
He's dashing and he knows it. In 2004, a source working on the Fantastic Four set (the FF with future Captain America Chris Evans) had "overheard Rob Lowe's name a couple of times," according to a now-defunct fan site, per IGN. "He might be under consideration. Not much of a star, though?"
Maybe not in movies anymore. Lowe had just finished his career-reviving run on The West Wing, but more TV stardom was in his future rather than a return to being a big-screen leading man.
Ironically, when he signed on to direct Iron Man in 2006, Jon Favreau was set on casting an up-and-comer rather than a Tom Cruise (or Rob Lowe)-caliber star.
"What's nice is that those movies don't require an expensive star; Iron Man's the star, the superhero is the star," he told MTV News. "The success of X-Men and Spider-Man without being star-driven pieces reassures [executives] that the film does have an upside commercially."
Favreau added, "I don't know that a movie like Daredevil did better for having Ben Affleck than Spider-Man did having Tobey Maguire, who was a relative unknown at the time. It gives you a little bit of latitude, because there's a lot of money that goes into getting that face on the poster."
Presumably Leo was considered for just about everything after Titanic, and though he never took a meeting, count Iron Man/Tony Stark among the parts where his name came up.
The Australian star, already a member of the Marvel universe (if not the not-yet-launched MCU) as X Men's Wolverine, was thought of for the role of the cheeky brilliant billionaire.
Jackman, who would get plenty of mileage out of Wolverine over the course of seven movies, said in 2013 that he'd certainly be down for an X Men-Avengers crossover.
"I actually just asked the other day, I said, 'I don't know what the legal situation is, but why don't these companies come together? Why isn't it possible?'" he told Screen Rant. "Because personally, I would love to mix it up with Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man and kick his ass. It'd be great." He chuckled. "There you go. There's your quote."
The British actor had proved he could help bring a graphic novel to life playing a heavy in the highly stylized Sin City, but he wouldn't have brought the same combination of gravitas and humor that RDJ had in the role.
Favreau was justified in thinking the multifaceted actor could pull it off, but Olyphant reportedly auditioned on the same day as Downey. Timothy who?
Favreau was very into the idea of the character actor suiting up as Iron Man—and he did eventually bring him into the fold as the villainous Justin Hammer, a rival arms manufacturer, in Iron Man 2. Rockwell said yes before he even saw a script (which, fun fact, was penned by Favreau and Justin Theroux).
About being in consideration to play the titular superhero, the future Oscar winner told MTV News in 2009, "We had a phone conversation about it, and then I didn't hear anything and that was it."