Robert Downey Jr. is currently getting Oscar buzz for his acclaimed performances Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer. Awards pundits consider him as the current frontrunner to win Best Supporting Actor following his Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards victories.
The Christopher Nolan film marked Downey's first major big-screen role after playing Iron Man for the last time in Avengers: Endgame in 2019 and starred in the box office flop Dolittle in early 2020.
While the actor has been in contention at the awards season in the past, this is the strongest buzz that he has ever gotten and pundits believe that he has the narrative this time around that will propel him to Oscar victory this March.
However, for MCU fans, Downey has always been a terrific actor for many years as proven by his performances as Tony Stark in various films and they believe that he gave some of the best work in his career in the role.
As it turns out, the actor agrees with that as well.
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Robert Downey Jr. Opens Up About His 'Unnoticed' MCU Performances
In an interview with Rob Lowe's Literally! podcast (via Variety), Robert Downey Jr. discussed his tenure as Tony Stark/Iron Man where he expressed his belief that he gave some of the best performances in his career in the MCU and it was "unnoticed" due to the bias against the superhero genre.
The conversation came as Lowe shared his pitch on how he could return to the MCU and brought up the box office failure of Dolittle.
"I felt so exposed after being in the cocoon of Marvel where I think I did some of the best work I will ever do, but it went a little bit unnoticed because of the genre," he said.
"[I] did myself a favor, because the rug was pulled so definitively out from underneath me and all the things that I was leaning on as opposed to what my understanding of confidence and security was, boy did they evaporate. And it rendered me teachable."
Most fans are definitely agreeing with Downey's sentiments. Even if most critics also agreed that the actor's performance is one of the bright spots in the MCU throughout the years, he was never in serious contention for any awards consideration.
Iron Man was also credited as the reason behind Downey's major comeback after years of personal troubles and it turned him into an A-lister and movie icon for today's audience.
Now, the actor will likely finally get his first Oscar win this coming March. While it might not be for his MCU performances, it still contributed to the momentum and part of his narrative leading up to the potential victory.
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