Mark Wahlberg Wants to Be the Next Iron Man

There will come a day when Robert Downey Jr. takes off the Iron Man suit for the final time, forcing Marvel to finally recast the role that launched their insane level of success. Luckily for Marvel, Mark Wahlberg is ready to take on the role. In an interview with Yahoo! Movies (via Screen Rant), the Ted star revealed that he would love to follow Downey in the iconic role.

“I would like to take over the ‘Iron Man’ franchise for Robert Downey… [but] it’s one of those things where I kind of like playing real people, [so] I’ve never been asked.”

Immediately, I scoffed at the idea of Wahlberg playing Iron Man. But, upon further consideration, it kind of makes sense. Like Downey, Wahlberg has a bit of a wild past to base an interpretation of Tony Stark on. Wahlberg is roughly six years younger than Downey, so I'm not quite sure how much additional life Marvel could get out of the character with this recasting.

Downey has signed on for two more Avengers movies, with 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron being the first. If The Avengers 3 sticks to the pattern, we'll see Downey as Iron Man again in 2018. Unfortunately for Wahlberg, that might be too late for him to eventually assume the role.