Robert Downey, Jr.’s ride with Marvel Studios lasted more than ten years, but what if someone else had worn Iron Man‘s armor in 10 movies? Many years back, Tom Cruise was rumored to be the one set to step into Tony Stark’s metal suits. Just how different would that have been? The guys from Collider asked themselves the same questions, and made a hilarious deepfake video in which Cruise plays the Marvel Cinematic Universe godfather.
You can check the full video out in the player below.
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The video features some of the most important moments for Tony Stark in the MCU. It’s quite destabilizing not to see Robert Downey Jr. inside the armor of Iron Man, but at the same time, the character gains a little bit of the gravitas inherent to Tom Cruise. The epic answer to Thanos’ “I’m inevitable” sounds even more powerful when said by someone with Cruise’s credits.
Cruise does fine as an action hero in his own right these days, headlining the Mission: Impossible franchise and more. He would have been perfect for the action scenes in which we saw Tony Stark fighting his enemies. But there might be something missing, which could have lead Marvel Studios to pick Downey Jr. and not him. Yes, he can do all the stunts, but could he pull off an eccentric genius multimillionaire character as well as Downey?
Would you have liked to see Tom Cruise as Iron Man? Let us know your answer in the comments section below.
What would the MCU be like if Tom Cruise was #IronMan? Using deepfake technology, we replaced Robert Downey Jr.'s performance throughout the MCU! pic.twitter.com/lwXSIeTnTb
— Collider Extras (@ColliderVideo) August 29, 2019