Will we finally see Tom Cruise make his MCU debut in 2027?
Cruise has been linked to the role of Tony Stark since the first Iron Man movie was released back in 2008, and is believed to have been one of the actors Marvel was looking at to play the Armored Avenger prior to Robert Downey Jr. being cast.
Rumors persisted that Kevin Feige was eager to have the Hollywood megastar join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a Tony Stark variant, and reports have claimed that Cruise was in talks to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness before a scheduling conflict forced him to decline the offer.
Cruise has generally side-stepped questions about his potential involvement with the franchise, but did share the following response when asked how close he came to playing Stark during a 2023 interview with ComicBook.com.
“Not close. Not close. I love Robert Downey and I can’t imagine anyone else playing this role, and I think it’s perfect for him." However, he then added: “I look at a movie and think, you know, I don’t rule anything out. It’s what’s the story? What’s the character? Does it interest me? Do I feel this is what an audience would like to see me in? What can I learn? What can I contribute? That’s really how I look at things.”
With Downey Jr. set to return to the MCU as Doctor Doom, the door is open for another actor to step into the role of Tony Stark, and MTTSH is now claiming that Marvel Studios is "talking with" the actor about a potential role in Avengers: Secret Wars.
Nobody would blame Kevin Feige for wanting one of the biggest actors on the planet to bring his star power to the MCU, but that doesn't mean Cruise would necessarily have much interest. If he does agree to appear, could we see him play the villainous Superior Iron Man, perhaps?
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were hit with significant delays last year, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Doomsday will star:
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.