Tom Cruise Says He Was 'Not Close' to Playing Iron Man Over Robert Downey Jr.

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Tom Cruise may be indestructible as an action star, but that still doesn't make him Iron Man!

The actor, 60, revealed in a new interview with podcast Phase Zero that while rumors have been circulating over the years about him potentially playing the iconic Marvel hero, he wasn't anywhere close to actually snagging the role.

"Not close," he confirmed. "I love Robert Downey Jr., and I can't imagine anyone else doing that role, and I think it's perfect for him."

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The statement comes nearly a year after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness screenwriter Michael Waldron revealed to Rolling Stone that Cruise was pitched to play a variant of Tony Stark in the 2022 film.

And even before then, fans were passing along the rumor that Cruise was considered for the original Iron Man role, which Downey Jr., 57, took on in 2008 to kick off the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"Yeah, that was totally made up. I mean, there's no cut footage of Tom Cruise," Waldron said of the online rumors. "But I love Tom Cruise, and I said to [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] at one point, I was like, 'Could we get Tom Cruise's Iron Man?' I remember reading about that in Ain't It Cool News back in the day, that Tom Cruise was going to be Iron Man."

He added, "As it was being talked about online, I was like, 'Yeah, that'd be cool!' "

Waldron clarified that he didn't think anyone reached out to the actor "because of availability."

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Back in 2005, Cruise told IGN about being approached to play Iron Man for the MCU at the time and why it didn't pan out. "They came to me at a certain point and, when I do something, I wanna do it right," he explained. "If I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know it's gonna be something special."

"And as it was lining up, it just didn't feel to me like it was gonna work," he added. "I need to be able to make decisions and make the film as great as it can be, and it just didn't go down that road that way."

While Cruise may not be part of the MCU, those who have been over the last decade say they see their costars as more than just costars.

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In December, Don Cheadle told PEOPLE that it's "always like home when we go back" — referring to the MCU.

The star, who has played Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes (aka War Machine) in the films since joining the cast of 2010's Iron Man 2, added, "I've kind of grown up over the last 12 years with this cast who I really have fun with."