"Let's just say that the only thing I ever let go of had claw marks in it" Downey Jr said an interview with Empire. "There's a little bit of soul reclamation going on. I feel that the first time I played Tony, I did it best. Sorry! The affinity with Tony now is: how do you sustain something? I'm not stupid, I like to play ball, I love the company, I love the character, and the business side of things, I'm not [too] picky about that either."
In response to the idea of him someday being replaced in the armour, Robert was typically unperturbed:
"It would probably be the best thing in the world for me," he said. "You know, ego... but sometimes ego just has to be smashed. Let's see what happens. I take the audience very seriously - I feel bad when I see folks doing movies and the audience is like, 'Don't do that anymore.' I don't have to overstay my welcome..."
So, we're not a hell of a lot clearer on the subject. But at least he seems keen, whilst acknowledging that he won't get too old and keep going. Make sure you cross everything as rumours, especially when it comes to Iron Man 3 being his last turn as Tony Stark.
Iron Man 3 will be directed by Shane Black (Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang) and also features Guy Pearce (Prometheus) as Aldrich Killian, Ben Kingsley (Hugo) as The Mandarin, Gwyneth Paltrow (Contagion) as Pepper Potts and Don Cheadle (House of Lies) as James Rhodes/War Machine. It is released in the UK on April 24th.