Some characters are played by certain actors so well that it even feels weird to imagine another one in their stead. Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark aka Iron Man is one of those roles. Once in 2004, the American actor was almost set to play the role of Superman’s nemesis, Lex Luthor, in a movie that eventually did not happen. But it makes us wonder if RDJ would still have chosen to play the iconic role of our beloved genius and billionaire playboy had he been cast as Lex Luthor.
Also read: Every Secret Wars Theory That Brilliantly Sets up Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man Return
The Superman movie that never happened
Before Bryan Singer ever started working on Superman Returns which starred Brandon Routh in the titular role, the American director McG was working on a Superman movie called Flyby back in 2002. A young J.J. Abrams was supposed to be the screenwriter of this movie and once revealed in an interview with Collider, that he had some interesting insights about the project. Abrams said,
“The thing that I tried to emphasise in the story was that if the Kents found this boy, Kal-El, who had the power that he did, he would have most likely killed them both in short order. And the idea that these parents would see – if they were lucky to survive long enough – that they had to immediately begin teaching this kid to limit himself and to not be so fast, not be so strong, not be so powerful.”
However, the movie was never able to start filming due to a conflict of opinions between McG and Warner Bros Studio, about the location of filming.
Robert Downey Jr. almost ended up portraying the role of Lex Luthor
McG and Warner Bros had not decided on the actors for the movie. However, in an interview with IndieWire, the director did mention how he had his eyes on one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, Robert Downey Jr. to portray the role of Lex Luthor. McG said,
“We had Robert Downey Jr. locked up to be Lex Luthor, which I think would have been extraordinary”
The Supernatural director further went on to that he was planning on getting Henry Cavill to portray the role of Clark Kent aka Superman in the movie.
According to McG, he wanted to shoot the movie in New York City but the Studio was adamant about filming the movie in Australia. McGeventually decided to shut down the project because he could not travel to Australia because of his fear of flying.
