Robert Downey Jr. has called on Elon Musk to ‘control his behavior’, even though he has only interacted with him ‘a few times’.
Downey Jr.’s character Tony Stark in Iron Man shares some similarities with Musk due to his passion for technology, yet the actor and the tech billionaire do not frequently mingle in real life.
While Musk has been involved with activities like attending Donald Trump rallies, launching rockets, and engaging on Twitter, Downey Jr. took the time for a podcast interview on New York Magazine’s On With Kara Swisher.
During the conversation, Swisher mentioned that Musk seemed to be ‘cosplaying’ Downey Jr’s Marvel character, first seen in a film in 2008.
The character of Tony Stark comes from Marvel Comics, but notably, Iron Man director Jon Favreau admitted in 2016 that Musk was an influence on Stark’s portrayal.
Favreau emphasized that Iron Man is “based on the comic book,” but revealed on the Recode Decode podcast that Downey Jr. and Musk collaborated to provide insight into Tony Stark’s character.
Favreau also mentioned that Musk allowed scenes from Iron Man 2 to be filmed at SpaceX, calling Musk a “very good friend of the Marvel family” at that time.
However, with Musk currently receiving more attention due to his acquisition of Twitter and his strong support for Trump, Downey Jr. believes Musk should moderate his actions.
He told Swisher: “I’ve only met him a few times. I just wish that he would control his behavior a little more.”
The actor also commented on Musk’s ambition to send humans to Mars, expressing skepticism: “This idea of ‘It’s all okay because we’ve gotta get to Mars’ doesn’t really hold water with me.”
Despite these criticisms, Downey Jr. recognized Musk’s significant achievements over the years.
“You have to look at all that [Musk has] done that demonstrates why he’s valuable,” he said.
“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.”
In addition to Musk’s influence, Iron Man screenwriter Mark Fergus mentioned in 2022 to New York Magazine that Tony Stark’s demeanor was also inspired by Trump and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.