Listen, this isn't about whether Robert Downey Jr. would actually win an Oscar, or even be nominated for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor for playing Tony Stark/Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame. It's about Disney not even adding him to its "For Your Consideration" lineup on the studio's official awards site.
Unless Disney is just waiting to figure out which Oscars acting category Robert Downey Jr. should go in for Avengers: Endgame ... yes, this is a snub. It's really a snub either way, though, since the studio didn't wait, it went ahead and listed several other categories for Academy Awards consideration.
Those "For Your Consideration" campaigns are exactly that -- organized campaign pushes by studios for Academy Awards to consider nominating these people in these categories.
I see the campaign list includes Avengers: Endgame producer Kevin Feige for Best Picture, and Anthony and Joe Russo for Best Director. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are on the list for Best Adapted Screenplay. The campaign also mentions Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Score.
Where's RDJ? What would it cost them to at least add him "for consideration" as a nod to his 10+ years starting and ending the Infinity Saga for the MCU? He is the godfather of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from Iron Man to Avengers: Endgame. Here's a fan on my wavelength when it comes to leaving out RDJ:
Yes. They should at least try. I'll leave room for Disney to add RDJ later, but since they already have the lineup posted, Downey's absence is conspicuous. Some fans are very upset about Disney leaving RDJ off the list:
Robert Downey Jr. could still get an Oscar nomination without a campaign push from Disney. Disney would just be there to help, since every studio will be pushing its own team. Look at all the Game of Thrones stars who ended up submitting themselves for Emmy nominations -- and it worked.
However, the point is that Disney isn't going to bat for Robert Downey Jr. for his final MCU movie, even though fans and Avengers: Endgame's directors have all been very public about the power of his performance in this specific film. Co-director Joe Russo previously argued why RDJ deserves an Oscar for playing Tony Stark in Avengers 4:
I just want to stump for one thing, and that’s Robert Downey… We don’t make movies for awards. Yes, making this was exceedingly difficult. We made the two most expensive movies ever back-to-back. But I just want to stump for one thing, and that’s Robert Downey. I don’t know if I have ever seen -- in movie history -- a global audience react to a performance the way they did to Robert Downey in that movie. There were people bawling in movie theaters, hyperventilating. I mean, that is a profound performance, when you can touch audiences all over the world to that degree. We’ve never seen anything like that, and if that doesn’t deserve an Oscar, I don’t know what does.
It's not like an Avengers: Endgame campaign -- again, not even a nomination, just a campaign to try and GET a nomination -- would just be for RDJ's time with the MCU or for starring in the highest-grossing movie of all time. He really managed to give fans a raw, emotional performance in Endgame. That's not easy to do with such a huge cast, with everyone surrounded by CGI.
But, hey, at least Avengers: Endgame made Disney's Oscars 2019-2020 campaign cut at all -- along with four other movies, leaving out plenty of other films in the Marvel Studios/Disney/Lucasfilm family.
