New Line Cinema turned down an Iron Man movie in 2005

gamesradar.com:

Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially began in 2008, a new report says New Line Cinema passed on a 2005 adaptation of the comic book hero.

According to The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab), the studio had the opportunity to make an Iron Man movie but "let the option lapse" because Bob Shaye, chief of New Line at the time, argued that the concept didn't make sense: Iron Man was "too heavy to fly."

At some point in the mid-2000s, the studio assembled screenwriters David Hayter (X2: X-Men United), David S. Goyer (Blade), and Mark Protosevich (Batman & Robin) and paid them to sit in a room and to essentially spit-ball about Iron Man (via The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab)) – with Hayter eventually being chosen to pen the screenplay.

After the studio's decision to let the rights to Iron Man expire, Marvel reacquired them and cast Robert Downey Jr. as the titular billionaire philanthropist, deciding to make Iron Man the first official movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

It's hard to imagine someone else playing Tony Stark/Iron Man, though Tom Cruise reportedly expressed interest in the role – so much so that he was rumored in to show up as an alternate universe version in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Though Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark is technically dead in the MCU, the new Multiverse Saga opens the door for numerous possibilities – and for a new actor to step into the Iron Man suit.

For more, check out our list of upcoming Marvel movies and shows, and all the new superhero movies flying your way in 2022 and beyond.