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“Deadpool & Wolverine” co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick revealed in an interview with IndieWire that Robert Downey Jr. was approached to reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man for a cameo appearance in Marvel’s latest record-breaking blockbuster. Downey turned down the offer, which now makes sense to the writers, since he’s returning to Marvel in a bigger and shockingly different capacity as Doctor Doom. No one on the “Deadpool & Wolverine” team knew about Downey’s unexpected return.

“We wanted him to come out. We had written that scene [to begin with] with Happy and Downey,” Wernick said.

The scene in question takes place early in "Deadpool & Wolverine." Ryan Reynolds' Merc with a Mouth has used Cable's time machine to jump to The Sacred Timeline to pitch himself for a spot in the Avengers lineup. Deadpool has a meeting with Jon Favreau's Happy Hogan, who turns him down, saying Deadpool is too self-centered for the Avengers and just not a team player. The original idea for that scene was to have Downey's Tony Stark in the room as well.