{"id":371719,"date":"2025-12-25T21:35:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T21:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/371719\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T21:35:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T21:35:08","slug":"robert-downey-jr-debuted-as-his-best-non-mcu-character-16-years-ago-today-were-still-waiting-for-a-third-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/371719\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Downey Jr. Debuted As His Best Non-MCU Character 16 Years Ago Today (& We’re Still Waiting For a Third Movie)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re still waiting for Robert Downey Jr.<\/a> to return as his best character outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 16 years after his debut in one of the character\u2019s best live-action adaptations. While he spent 11 years in the MCU as Tony Stark\u2019s Iron Man, and is soon set to return as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday<\/a>, Robert Downey Jr.\u2019s career extends far beyond just Marvel movies. In fact, he even brought another of his best characters to life during his time as Iron Man, and we are desperate to see him return.<\/p>\n

Robert Downey Jr. took on the role of the best-known fictional detective in Guy Ritchie\u2019s Sherlock Holmes, a feature film adaptation<\/a> of author Arthur Conan Doyle\u2019s classic stories that released on Christmas Day, 2009. Set in 1890, Sherlock Holmes follows the titular \u201cconsulting detective\u201d and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law), who team up to investigate the crimes of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a mysticist\u00a0who has risen from the dead. Sherlock Holmes garnered a huge box office draw of $524 million on a budget of $90 million, leading to a similarly-successful sequel in 2011, but we\u2019re still waiting for a third.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

What We Know About Sherlock Holmes 3\u2019s Story & Release Date<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows explored original storylines, they were both inspired by the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, which gave them a sense of authenticity and electricity. The movies\u2019 action sequences, performances from Downey and Law, and unique visuals were praised, making both commercial successes, despite mixed reviews. Unfortunately, a third movie in the series had been planned, but has since spent years in development hell.<\/p>\n

In 2019, it was announced that Dexter Fletcher (Sunshine on Leith, Rocketman) would replace Guy Ritchie as Sherlock Holmes 3\u2019s director. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed back development even further, but, in 2023, Fletcher revealed that he and Team Downey\u2014Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan Downey\u2014were still working on a script. In 2020, also, Team Downey revealed plans for a Sherlock Holmes franchise to be explored in spinoffs and TV shows, but nothing has yet come to fruition.<\/p>\n

During a conversation with Collider<\/a> in October 2025, Susan Downey revealed that they \u201ccame pretty close at one point\u201d to finally getting Sherlock Holmes 3 off the ground<\/a>. She suggested it was for the best that version didn\u2019t see the light of day, but that she \u201cwould love to bring a third Sherlock [Holmes] to the world\u2026 we\u2019ve been playing with it for a long time.\u201d She also noted the third movie could be set in the United States, putting Sherlock in a completely new environment, which could be a fun evolution for the character, but is also a wild risk for what could be a budding franchise\u201416 years in the making.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and\u00a0join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re still waiting for Robert Downey Jr. to return as his best character outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[142421,64,63,134,78173,344,57974,201096,201097],"class_list":{"0":"post-371719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-answer-feature","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-jude-law","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-robert-downey-jr","15":"tag-sherlock-holmes","16":"tag-sherlock-holmes-3"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}