I’m not sure how I missed this, but now that I know I’m not too pleased with the decision. Apparently Paramount and Jon Favreau have cast Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man. Now, I’m a huge X-Men fan and have never really been into Marvel’s other flagship titles: Captain America, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man. That being said, I have seen every Marvel comic book turned movie. Some great, some not so great. In my opinion, a lot of it comes down to casting. Ben Affleck as Daredevil? C’mon, that was a crap decision and it shows. I generally like it more when leading characters are played by unknowns. That way you have no preconceived notions of what the actor can do. Nicholas Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider? Well, we’ll see what happens with that.

I do have to admit that Robert Downey, Jr. and the character Tony Stark do have some similarities. I just don’t think it’s enough to cast him as the main guy.

“The Marvel characters are not just about how high they jump or how fast they fly, they’re about their character flaws,” Feige said. “They’re about their inner demons. They’re about the struggles that they go through between being a man and being a hero.”

Downey, who has battled his fair share of inner demons, worked hard to get the role, getting in shape and even growing a goatee like the one Stark sports in the comic books.

As always, when I’m unhappy with decisions like these with Marvel movies, I hope I’m wrong. If they’re great, they’ll do more. But who am I kidding, they’ll do more anyway, they just might not be any good. Seriously though I’m being cautiously optimistic and hoping for the best.