No, he’s not a billionaire yet. But at this point – or soon – Robert Downey Jr has to be at least halfway there. The Hollywood Reporter published an articleearlier this weekabout the Avengers and their paycheques. Of all the Avengers, RDJ has made the most money – and this is not surprising, nor is it unfair.Iron Mankicked off everything in 2008. He is the undisputed leader of the team in real life. For the firstIron Man,RDJ reportedly made $500K but ended up negotiating at some point for back end profits when the MCU expanded around him. For the first Avengers movie in 2012, he apparently got $50 million. THR is saying that went up to $75 million forInfinity War. And, well, I’m sure you’ve heard about the box office forEndgameso, if his deal still holds, he’s looking at the same or even more by the time everything is counted. And remember, none of this accounts for how he invests his Marvel money so the current estimate of his net worth at $300 million is probably conservative.

So many of our faves from ten or more years ago have become problematic and/or cancelled. Ten or more years ago, RDJ was a big risk. Jon Favreau had to lobby for him as Tony Stark. Look at what’s happened since. RDJ is what Johnny Depp was supposed to be.

SPOILERS NOW

如果你还没有看到ENDGAMEIT’S TIME TO GO

ONE MORE TIME: SPOILER ALERT

So will RDJ continue to be part of the MCU or is it done for good? I knew it was going to happen. Itried to prepare you, I tried to prepare myself! It was the right thing, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t devastating – because, for me, Tony Stark is the whole reason I’m into the Avengers. Tony Stark hooked me in 2008 and that was it. I don’t read the comics, I don’t know the backstories, I just know that this is a Hollywood hall of fame character who brought an entirely new demographic to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and that 10 year investment came to a heartbreaking (albeit fitting) conclusion.

But…the hammering at the end, after the credits, did you hear the sound? Was the hammering to do with Iron Man? With a Stark? We now know there’s another Stark, a new Stark. Morgan H Stark!

We know Tony has suits to spare. He made Pepper a suit for her birthday – the sight of the two of them fighting back to back in their suits nearly broke me – and Tony being Tony, he was in that garage a lot. He’s a mechanic, you cannot shut off that mechanic genius brain. There is no doubt that Tony Stark’s daughter is going to be a genius. And there’s lineage here: Tony’s father Howard was a genius, Morgan’s middle name is, presumably, Howard. Tony found old film of his father talking to him, telling him he was special, and teaching him how to save his own life. You’ll recall, inIron Man 2,Tony was being poisoned by his arc reactor and through his dad’s work, he was able to discover a new element to build a new arc reactor that made him even stronger. Like Howard Stark before him, Tony left a video message at the end ofEndgame.

If he could leave one video message, who’s to say there aren’t more messages? Tony recorded himself in his workshop all the time – we saw this in previousIron Manmovies. You can’t tell me all that footage is going to waste. Tony is dead, yes. But Tony can also live on digitally. As a mentor. When Morgan comes into her own. As a future member of whatever the next next next stage of the Avengers will be. Tony can’t be gone. There’s too much money for him to be gone!

“No one’s ever really gone.”

SOBBBBBBB.