Avengers Endgame: Iron Man Robert Downey Jr ‘didn’t want to film Tony Stark's final line’

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame.

The actor plays Iron Man in the MCU, who gave his life on the battlefield as he finally defeated Thanos once and for all.

Speaking in a new interview, directors Joe and Anthony Russo revealed that his final line – “and I am Iron Man” – was a last-minute addition shot in January of this year.

Downey Jr, it seems, was reluctant to get back into the emotional headspace necessary to film that ultimate send-off, after initially shooting a version where he didn’t say anything.

Anthony Russo told Sirius XM: “Robert… it’s emotionally complicated, it’s a difficult thing.

“He was very resistant, he didn’t want to come back and do it.”

Joe added: “He was getting ready for reshoots for another movie.

“He had thought he’d already said goodbye to the character and he had to do it one more time, so we had to talk him into it.”

Of the line’s conception, Joe recalled: “It took us a while to figure out what that line was.

“He wasn’t saying anything at one point, we were thinking ‘there’s too much pressure on a last line for a character that’s this popular’.

“So we had the reveal that he got the stones from Thanos and that he smiled and clicked his fingers, but in the edit room it just didn’t work.”

It was Jeff Ford, the editor, who ultimately suggested that last line – the perfect response to Thanos saying, “I am inevitable”.