Sherlock Holmes represents Robert Downey Jr.'s best career path after Iron Man, and he's already making moves in that direction. With the first Iron Man movie in 2008, Downey's Tony Stark became the first pillar of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Downey returned as Tony Stark in two direct Iron Man sequels along with numerous Avengers crossovers and mentored Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in multiple movies including Spider-Man: Homecoming.
During his Iron Man run, Downey Jr. also established another tentpole franchise with the Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes movies. With the first Sherlock Holmes debuting in 2009 and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, little solid news has been heard on the development of Sherlock Holmes 3 in the time since then. However, with Avengers: Endgame acting as Downey Jr.'s Iron Man swansong in 2019, the Sherlock Holmes franchise is starting to get rolling once more.
Two Sherlock Holmes spinoff shows are reportedly in development for HBO Max, with Downey Jr. reportedly acting as producer. News on Sherlock Holmes 3 itself remains largely quiet, with the official report simply stating that "a third movie in the franchise was in development but never moved beyond that stage." While Sherlock Holmes 3 itself seems to not be on the cards in the immediate future, the two HBO Max spinoff series could finally help set it in motion. Moreover, with Downey Jr. having ended his Iron Man arc in Avengers: Endgame, here's why the Sherlock Holmes franchise offers the best direction for him to head in after such a long run as Tony Stark.
Tony Stark Consumed Most Of Downey Jr.'s Career From 2008 To 2019
While Iron Man was the kick-off of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Robert Downey Jr.’s take on Iron Man led to his performance being hailed as his big comeback. Following the difficulties in his career and personal life stemming from his since-kicked substance abuse issues, Downey’s portrayal of Tony Stark saw virtually unanimous praise. Tony would become Downey’s signature role, and to a greater extent than is usually the case for an actor’s breakout character.
In the 11-year span between Iron Man and Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark practically swallowed Downey’s career whole. While he's great as Tony Stark, Downey was seldom seen on-screen in non-Marvel films. While that’s clear testimony to the popularity of his performance as Tony Stark and his importance to the MCU, that also left Downey comparatively unestablished in his comeback outside of playing Iron Man, except, that is, when it came to Sherlock Holmes.
The Sherlock Holmes Movies Were Big Hits For Downey Jr.
During Downey Jr.'s Marvel run, his biggest success outside of his Tony Stark tenure was in the Sherlock Holmes movies. The first Sherlock Holmes, arriving in theaters on Christmas Day 2009, amassed $524 million worldwide and enjoyed largely positive reviews. Just $61 below the first Iron Man’s $585 million gross, and on a much lower $90 million budget, Downey Jr. rode the wave of his Iron Man acclaim to a completely different character. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows did even better with $545 million during the 2011 holiday season.
Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Sherlock was almost as praised as his performance of Tony Stark, and the two films really gave Downey Jr. a chance to venture outside of superhero waters and solidify his bankability. Downey Jr., a real-life Wing Chun exponent, also brought great skills to the movie’s fight scenes, which were frequently showcased in Guy Ritchie's typical slow-motion to display Sherlock’s brilliant analytical skills in the middle of combat. Talk of Sherlock Holmes 3 has swirled in the years since A Game of Shadows, albeit without Guy Ritchie directing, and the two HBO Max spinoff shows are the first real signal in years of movement on the Sherlock Holmes franchise. With Downey Jr.’s time as an Avenger having concluded, the success of the Sherlock Holmes movies indicates where the next act of his career can ideally take him.
Why Sherlock Holmes Return Is Downey Jr.'s Best Future
Since the end of his Iron Man arc, Downey Jr.’s only begun releasing new projects relatively recently, which the pandemic partly to blame for production delays. His first post-Iron Man movie, 2020’s Dolittle, was, unfortunately, a major financial disappointment. Though Downey Jr. has boarded Christopher Nolan’s upcoming WWII-era film Oppenheimer in the role of Lewis Strauss, Tony’s heroic death defeating Thanos remains, to a large extent, the last big moment for him on theater screens. With Downey Jr.’s career after Iron Man still being mostly a blank canvas, Sherlock Holmes is the perfect franchise for him to continue with.
While the first two films were produced during the midst of Downey Jr.’s Marvel tenure, the role itself is distinct enough to point to where Downey Jr. would really be doing something different with a Sherlock return. With the approach Downey Jr. and Guy Ritchie took with the Sherlock Holmes movies, reprising his role as Sherlock could also really allow Downey Jr. to shift his career into an action hero-detective hybrid with its shared emphasis on Sherlock’s deductive mind and his skill as a martial artist. With Robert Downey Jr.’s time with Marvel having wrapped up, the lack of his biggest commitment for over a decade frees him up greatly for a wide array of different projects he didn’t get to do at the time. With the two spinoffs in the works, Downey Jr. could also pop in for a cameo or two as Sherlock as a way to refamiliarize viewers with his detective before his complete comeback in the role.
Downey Jr.'s time as Iron Man is one that will be warmly remembered for years to come both within the superhero genre generally and in Downey Jr.'s own career. Having done relatively little since Tony's universe-saving snap in Avengers: Endgame, Downey Jr. arguably hasn't established the full picture of what his post-Marvel career will look like. It'll still take some time for that to happen, with Oppenheimer not arriving until July 21, 2023. With the success Downey Jr. had in the Sherlock Holmes films, returning to his second most iconic role would be a wise step after Iron Man.