Downey Jr.’s Iron Man character Tony Stark, who loves technology, may have a lot in common with Musk, but the actor and the tech magnate don’t usually hang out together.

While Musk has been busy attending Donald Trump rallies, blasting rockets into space, and debating it all on Twitter, Downey Jr. sat down for an interview with New York Magazine’s On With Kara Swisher podcast.

Swisher stated in the interview that Musk had been ‘cosplaying’ Downey Jr.’s Marvel character, who made his film debut in 2008.

Tony Stark is, of course, based on a Marvel Comics character, but Iron Man director Jon Favreau admitted in 2016 that Musk impacted him.

Favreau clarified that Iron Man is ‘based on the comic book’, but he told the Recode Decode podcast that Downey Jr. and Musk spent time together to ‘give us some insight into what it’d truly be like to be Tony Stark’.

Favreau also stated that Musk enabled the filmmaker to film a portion of Iron Man 2 at SpaceX, describing the CEO as a ‘very good friend of the Marvel family’ at the time.

But, with Musk being in the limelight more than ever before, owing to his ownership of Twitter and his strong support for presidential candidate Trump, Downey Jr. believes he has to tone things down a bit.

He said to Swisher, “I have only met him a couple of times.” I simply wish he could control his conduct a bit better.”

The actor then referred to Musk’s goal to send humans to Mars, stating, “This idea of ‘It’s all okay because we’ve got to get to Mars’ doesn’t really hold water with me.”

Having said that, Downey Jr. acknowledged Musk’s notable accomplishments throughout the years.
“You have to look at all that [Musk has] done that demonstrates why he’s valuable,” he told me.

The information age has exploited this phenomenon, dividing us instead of fostering discourse, debate, and dialogue.

In 2022, Iron Man screenwriter Mark Fergus told New York Magazine that Musk, Trump, and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs all influenced Tony Stark’s demeanor.