By Ryan Parsons | Image property of respective holders.
Robert Downey Jr.
It looks like it is time to change that 'movie rumor' to a 'casting update.' After being leaked to the web yesterday (here), it has now been confirmed that Robert Downey Jr. will in fact play Tony Stark in Paramount's Iron Man.
Robert Downey Jr. Confirmed for Iron Man
According to Variety, Iron Man will be Robert Downey Jr.'s first lead role in a big-budget action movie. Yesterday we announced that the actor could be the comeback king and so far that remains true.
Besides a first for Downey, Iron Man marks the first film to be self-financed by Marvel; Paramount will distribute.
"It's right along the lines of our other films, where we cast people who can become the characters," said Marvel production president Kevin Feige, pointing to the selection of Tobey Maguire, who'd never before starred in an action pic, as Spider-Man and the mostly low-profile cast of the X-Men movies.
Downey will play Tony Stark, a wealthy industrialist who invents a high-tech suit of body armor giving him superpowers when he is kidnapped; therefore becoming Iron Man.
The comics have Stark as an alcoholic, a trait that can coincidentally be tied in with Downey's own struggles with substance abuse. Though this is one of the character's "weaknesses" in the comics, Kevin Feige has announced that the first film will not deal with Stark's alcohol problems and would rather save that issue for later films.
Robert Downey Jr. 
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