Iron Man wasn’t too bent out of shape over Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscars cracks.
“I don’t care,” Robert Downey Jr. told Esquire. “I love Jimmy Kimmel. I think he’s a national treasure.”
During Kimmel’s monologue at the 2024 Academy Awards in March, the late-night host took aim at Downey’s past drug use.
“This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career,” Kimmel, 56, said. “Well, one of the highest points.”
The broadcast cut to Downey, who didn’t smile.
Kimmel added: “Is that an acceptance speech in your pocket, or do you just have a very rectangular penis?”
Downey, 59, also told the magazine that he’d be open to playing Tony Stark again in future Marvel movies — despite his character kicking the bucket in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
“Happily,” the actor said when asked if he would like to make more Marvel movies.
“It’s too integral a part of my DNA. That role chose me.”
Downey appeared in 10 MCU films — including three stand-alone “Iron Man” movies — from 2008 to 2019. “Iron Man,” in fact, was the first entry in what became the sprawling, 33-movie MCU.
Loyal to his old bosses, he defended the Disney-owned Marvel Studios and its leader Kevin Feige.
“Look, I always say, never, ever bet against Kevin Feige,” Downey said. “It is a losing bet. He’s the house. He will always win.”
The MCU has struggled recently at the box office and with critics. “The Marvels,” released last year, grossed just $206 million worldwide, becoming the MCU’s worst-performing movie ever. It holds a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Downey, however, had a stupendous year.
Not only did his film “Oppenheimer,” directed by Christopher Nolan, gross $968 million — the film won the Oscar for Best Picture and Downey Jr. took home his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy in that order,” Downey joked during his acceptance speech.
“I’d like to thank my veterinarian — I mean my wife, Susan Downey, over there. She found me a snarling rescue pet and you love me back to life. That’s why I’m here.”
The actor will next appear in the new HBO drama series “The Sympathizer” about a Vietnamese spy living in the United States during the Vietnam War.
