Robert Downey Jr. recently shared his thoughts on Elon Musk, urging him to “control his behavior,” even though the actor admits they’ve only met “a few times.”
Downey Jr.’s famous Iron Man character, Tony Stark, has a lot in common with Musk, especially their shared love for technology.
Despite these similarities, the actor and Musk don’t usually hang out in the same circles.
While Musk has been making headlines for attending rallies, launching rockets, and sharing his opinions on Twitter, Downey Jr. spoke in an interview on the “On With Kara Swisher” podcast by New York Magazine.
During the conversation, Swisher pointed out that Musk has often been “cosplaying” as Downey Jr.’s Marvel character, who made his first movie appearance in 2008.
Tony Stark comes from the Marvel Comics universe, but interestingly, Jon Favreau, who directed Iron Man, said in a 2016 interview that Musk actually inspired parts of Tony Stark’s character.
Favreau explained that while Iron Man is “based on the comic book,” he mentioned on the Recode Decode podcast that both Downey Jr. and Musk spent time together to help prepare for the role. This gave a clearer idea of what living like Tony Stark might be like.
Musk not only influenced the character, but he also allowed scenes from Iron Man 2 to be filmed at SpaceX. Favreau even called him a “very good friend of the Marvel family” at the time.
Now, with Musk in the spotlight more often due to his ownership of Twitter and his support of presidential candidate Trump, Downey Jr. thinks Musk may need to tone it down a bit.
During his talk with Swisher, Downey Jr. said: “I’ve only met him a few times. I just wish that he would control his behavior a little more.”
He also commented on Musk’s Mars ambitions, saying: “This idea of ‘It’s all okay because we’ve gotta get to Mars’ doesn’t really hold water with me.”
Even with these critiques, Downey Jr. recognized Musk’s achievements and their importance over the years.
“You have to look at all that [Musk has] done that demonstrates why he’s valuable,” he stated.
“Nowadays separating the individual from their behavior is a tough thing to do because hell is other people—and that has been hijacked in this information age, to divide us rather than allow for discourse, debate, and dialogue.”
Interestingly, Musk wasn’t the only inspiration for Tony Stark. In 2022, Iron Man screenwriter Mark Fergus told New York Magazine that Stark’s personality was also influenced by people like former President Donald Trump and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
