The Iron Man Weapon Robert Downey Jr. Begged For So Often, They Finally Gave It To Him

With everything that we’ve seen in the trailers for Captain America: Civil War, there have been a few things that have really excited the fans. One of those things was Spider-Man, of course, but another was a sequence between Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes. The Winter Soldier takes a shot at Iron Man that would have put a hole in Tony Stark’s hand were it not for a particular device attached to his wrist. It turns out the man that Tony Stark can thank for that is actually Robert Downey Jr. himself.

We first spotted the device in the trailer that aired during the Super Bowl. Tony Stark activates a watch on his wrist, and an Iron Man gauntlet grows out of it and forms around his hand. In an interview with The Short List, Downey says that the gauntlet was actually his idea and while the Russo Brothers apparently didn’t grab the idea at first, they eventually gave in.

Here’s why I love the Russos: that was not in the script. And I said, ‘What if I had this watch that kind of turned into a glove?’ They humored me for a couple of weeks, but I kept bringing it up. Eventually they had someone measure me for the hand-glove.

For the record the "hand-glove" is not the device’s official name, it doesn’t apparently have one. We have to say we’re now curious how the scene originally played out in the script if the gauntlet was not part of the sequence. Maybe the combat wasn’t quite so close quarters. The reason the idea works so well is that the device makes perfect sense. We’ve seen Tony Stark call the entire Iron Man suit onto his body from a wrist device before. We’re sure he’d build something like this just in case. Although for our part, the best part of the sequence isn’t the creation of the glove itself, it’s the look on Tony’s face after Bucky fires the gun and Stark realizes the guy actually tried to shoot him.

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In the end, we’d have to guess the main reason the Russo’s weren’t initially excited about the "hand-glove" idea probably had more to do with the film’s budget than anything else. Every time Tony Stark goes Iron Man, the digital effects department has to create that stuff, and it’s not cheap. We don’t know how much Robert Downey Jr.’s idea increased the film’s budget, it probably wasn’t noticeable in the grand scheme of things. Except by the accountants. They always notice. 

Some might assume that Captain America: Civil War will be Robert Downey Jr.’s last Marvel movie. As it turns out, we know of at least THREE more Marvel movies he plans to do…. And maybe even more than that! Want to know where you’ll see RDJ on screen in a Marvel movie again? Of course you do. Read on!

Robert Downey Jr. IS Iron Man. It’s impossible to separate the two at this point. Which is why Marvel doesn’t plan on letting Downey walk away from the role of billionaire, playboy philanthropist Tony Stark any time soon. Where will we see RDJ as Tony Stark next after Captain America: Civil War?

Click Here To Find Out Which Marvel Movie Just Cast Robert Downey Jr. In A Supporting Role

That’s not all. Downey Jr. is contractually obligated to appear in two other Avengers movies.

Here’s everything we know about The Avengers: Infinity War

And earlier this week, Robert Downey Jr. said he’d be open to starring in ONE more Marvel movie. Here’s what he said

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.