Although Iron Man was the biggest movie Robert Downey Jr. starred in during 2008, as it kicked off his 10-movie run as Tony Stark and propelled him to new levels of popularity, let’s not forget he also played Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder that same year. The comedy saw him playing an extremely method Australian actor who inappropriately donned blackface to inhabit the role of Lincoln Osiris, and one of Downey’s costars was Tom Cruise, who played the foul-mouthed, ill-tempered studio executive Les Grossman. However, Downey and Cruise never shared any actual screen time in Tropic Thunder, and the former brought that up when he was asked about Tropic Thunder 2.
15 years after Tropic Thunder’s release, every now and then, there’s still chatter about releasing some kind of follow-up, whether that be a direct sequel or the long-talked-about spinoff centered on Grossman. The former was specifically brought up while Downey was talking with ExtraTV about his new show Downey’s Dream Cars (which can be streamed with a Max subscription), with the interviewer mentioning that Cruise is interested in doing another Tropic Thunder movie, and then asking if Downey was game. That led to the following interaction:
Robert Downey Jr.: Look, alls I’ll say is this. Tom Cruise and I have not done a project together, and that’s kind of a yes. And hen we’ll figure out what the title is.
Interviewer: What about Iron Man 4?
RDJ: Does he want to do that? Tom! Don’t take it, don’t take it!
Given how Kirk Lazarus spent the majority of Tropic Thunder trapped in the Vietnamese jungles with Ben Stiller’s Tugg Speedman, Jack Black’s Jeff Portnoy, Brandon T. Jackson’s Alpa Chino and Jay Baruchel’s Kevin Sandusky, while Les Grossman was back in Hollywood verbally abusing those around them and threatening to go scorched earth on Flaming Dragon, naturally there wasn’t any opportunity for Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise’s characters to hang out. Sure, the two actors may have crossed paths during the press tour, but that’s not the same as starring in a movie together, and Downey is definitely game to make that happen, whether that be in Tropic Thunder 2 or some other kind of project.
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Well, there is one exception, as he’s clearly determined to keep Cruise away from Iron Man 4. That’s especially amusing considering that before Downey was cast as Tony Stark, which Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has described as “probably one of the most significant decisions in the history of Hollywood,” Cruise has turned down the role of the Armored Avenger. Then in 2022, it was rumored that Cruise would appear as a Tony Stark variant in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, though that obviously didn’t end up being true. Given how Cruise is keeping busy with various projects, including now wanting to play Mission: Impossible’s Ethan Hunt for another two decades, not to mention there being no indication that Downey will return to the MCU following Tony’s death in Avengers: Endgame, I think we can safely take an Iron Man 4 starring the two of them off the table.
Needless to say CinemaBlend will let you if/when the day comes that Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise decide to tackle Tropic Thunder 2 or something else together. As for what they have going on separately, Cruise will be back in action as Ethan Hunt for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, which opens on July 12, while Downey will be seen as a member of Oppenheimer’s extensive cast when that movie comes out on July 21.
