Happy Birthday Robert Downey Jr: 5 Times the Avengers: Endgame star proved he has the best sense of humour

Happy Birthday Robert Downey Jr

Robert Downey Jr turns a year older today and fans around the world are showering him with birthday wishes. There's no doubt when one says he is a legend. Apart from his spectacular performance as Iron Man aka Tony Stark, he has also been a part of some other memorable films in his career. At the age of five, he made his acting debut in Robert Downey Sr's film Pound. Later, he went on to star in teen films Weird Science and Less Than Zero. He essayed the role of the title character in the biopic 'Chaplin' for which he won a BAFTA Award. Some of his other films include The Singing Detective, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Zodiac, Tropic Thunder and more. How can we forget his remarkable performance in Sherlock Holmes? He absolutely nailed it! Speaking about his social media presence, Robert is one hilarious person and you know it! From making fun of himself to pulling his co-stars' legs, RDJ's hilarious Instagram posts will make you wish you were friends with him. His Instagram posts are funny and it proves he has the best sense of humour. On the occasion of his birthday, check out five Instagram posts of the actor that made us go ROFL.

Did you know that the Iron Man star was not the first or even second choice for the iconic Marvel superhero?

So, who were the two actors considered before Robert Downey Jr. and what was it about his past that finally landed him the role? Well...we've finally decided to let the cat out of the bag (for the uninitiated that is) on the actor's birthday.

Apparently, the first choice for the role of Iron Man was Tom Cruise. Now, you need to comprehend the fact that Dowey Jr. wasn't the big moviestar back then that he is today. In fact, it's Iron Man that has catapulted him to stardom. On the other hand, Cruise has been a genuine superstar since the 90s, with enormous box-office pull, and no doubt, still is (even more than RDJ to this day). However, the actor eventually stepped down from the project owing to differences of opinion on the script

After Cruise's exit, the makers had approached Sam Rockwell, but things didn't work out on that end either due to reason that are murky to this day. However, the Oscar winner did return to the franchise as Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2. Finally, the studio approached RDJ, with his dark past of substance abuse and various narcotic-related arrests (his career had seen a huge downward spiral from 1996 to 2001) actually clinching him the role as studio bosses felt that his troubled history was an ideal mirror to that of Tony Stark and given his acting credentials (he's a two-time Oscar nominee, after all), they believed that he had it in him to dig into that past and do justice to the part, which, of course, he did, and then some.

Well, with all due respect to Crusie and Rockwell — and we do love them — today, we can safely speak for everyone out there when we say, that RDJs born to play Tony Stark. Happy birthday, Robert Downey Jr. aka, the one and only Iron Man.