An Iron Man BTS image shows Robert Downey Jr. trying on his character's helmet. It's been 12 years since the MCU kicked off, and the franchise continues to grow exponentially over the years. However, none of this would've been possible had it not been for Jon Favreau's 2008 film that launched Downey as Tony Stark.

The MCU is currently on an extended break due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. After the Infinity Saga ended with Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home functioning as an epilogue, the franchise is looking on treading new grounds with a slate of sequels and origins stories. Aside from big-screen projects, Marvel Studios is also officially producing TV series exclusively for Disney+. Unfortunately, fans would have to wait a little while longer for those new endeavors with the MCU going on a full year without releasing any new content. This has forced some of its loyal followers to look back at the past, and what better way to do that than start at the very beginning with Iron Man.

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Shared on Reddit by Meowwwwwwwwni is a behind-the-scenes image of Downey wearing the Iron Man practical helmet. As seen in the photo, the headpiece fully closes and has a snug fit, which could be limiting in terms of the actor's mobility. Check out the cool image below:

In a recent guesting on Netflix's My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Downey told David Letterman how difficult it was to wear the practical helmet for Iron Man. The actor particularly recalled an instance where it fully closed, and he could barely see anything other than the blinding lights from the headpiece itself. Over the years, Marvel Studios found a way to make things more comfortable for Downey until the helmet became fully-added during post-production through CGI. While it's more comfortable for Downey not to put on an actual headpiece when suited up as the MCU superhero, there's just something so special about seeing Tony Stark don a practical suit. It helped sell the idea that this genius billionaire is flying around wearing metal armor he made — no matter how ridiculous it sounded in the real world at that time.

As Marvel Studios move away from the Infinity Saga, that also means that they have to leave Iron Man, who sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos in Endgame, behind. But while other founding heroes in the franchise have their replacements already set-up, Tony Stark remains without a clear successor. Whether or not this was an intentional decision from Kevin Feige and his team is unknown at this point. In any case, there's no need for them to rush introducing someone who can fill the massive void that he left, having been in the MCU since the start with Iron Man. The universe has a wealth of characters they can focus on in the meantime.

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Source: Meowwwwwwwwni