Tom Cruise As Iron Man AI Art Imagines MCU's Lost Illuminati Member

screenrant.com:

A new piece of AI-generated art images Tom Cruise as Iron Man, the MCU Illuminati member that never came to pass. For many fans, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/ Iron Man. The actor first played the role in 2008's Iron Man, a film that essentially kick-started the MCU as it exists today. Downey Jr. would go on to appear in two additional solo films and a host of Avengers team-up movies, ultimately saying goodbye to the role and the MCU in Avengers: Endgame, sacrificing himself to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin).

Now that Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is absent from the MCU, many fans are wondering who will be next to take up the mantle. After the introduction of the multiverse in Loki and its further expansion in Spider-Man: No Way Home, rumors swirled before the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness regarding what characters might be making appearances. Among those highly rumored to be in the film was Cruise as Iron Man, a multiversal variant of the character who would have been part of the Illuminati. While fans were treated to John Krasinski as Reed Richards and the return of Patrick Stewart as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Cruise was notably absent from the ensemble.

Related: Was Tom Cruise's Iron Man Ever Going To Be In Doctor Strange 2?

In a new piece of art generated using Craiyon, an AI image creation tool, fans can see a rough approximation of what Cruise would have looked like as Iron Man. The images in the grid see Cruise donning the early versions of the Downey Jr. Iron Man suit, but also depict the actor more casually as Tony Stark in a suit and tie. Check out the AI-generated image below:

While the veracity of claims regarding whether