Jon Favreau was famously unhappy about the decision to kill off Tony Stark/Iron Man in “Avengers: Endgame” but, on Tuesday night, he admitted that he was wrong on that one.
The director and Marvel star stopped by “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” this week, fresh off of a successful CinemaCon for “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” During his interview, he reflected on his time with the Marvel franchise (and if he might return in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”), and recalled how he actually called up the Russo Brothers about the decision to kill off such a major character.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know about — I don’t think people — I don’t know if people are going to like — I don’t know! I think it’s going to really impact people,’ because there they were kids that grew up with that character,” Favreau explained.
Kimmel readily agreed that Stark’s death did in fact impact audiences, but Favreau only had praise for how it turned out.
“But I have to tell you, it was handled so well by them,” he said. “And Gwyneth [Paltrow] and Robert [Downey Jr.] did such a wonderful job acting, and I think it added a poignancy to it, and it — I think they did a wonderful job. I was wrong. I was wrong.”
Favreau also admitted that even he was choked up when he watched the movie and saw Tony Stark sacrifice himself, prompting Kimmel to joke that they killed off Favreau’s baby. That said, Favreau is excited to see Downey return as Dr. Doom in “Avengers: Doomsday.”
You can watch Jon Favreau’s full appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in the video above.
