Robert Downey out as "Iron Man"? Only if Marvel Studios wants to keep the franchise alive.

Having made nearly $2.5 billion since the release of the first film in 2008, the "Iron Man" franchise is without doubt one which Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures hopes has many miles yet to run before the movie-going public's attention inevitably shifts elsewhere. Accordingly, recent comments by actor Robert Downey Jr. may be cause for concern, as in an interview with News Limited, he expressed concern about "superhero blockbuster fatigue".

Or perhaps not. Despite claiming that he'd like to retire from playing the franchise's titular role "before it’s embarrassing”, the fact is that no one else is beating a path to Robert Downey Jr.'s door. (And before you bring up the "Sherlock Holmes" franchise, note that the last film was released in 2011 and no one really wants to see a third film). What this means is that despite what he says, so long as he keeps getting those nice multi-million dollar checks, Downey will be playing "Iron Man" until he's Harrison Ford's age, unless the studio decides to go with another actor. Personally, I think it's time Marvel and Paramount started looking elsewhere.

With the "Infinity War" film and another installment of the "Avengers" on the way, this would be a perfect time to tweak the team's tired lineup, as happened regularly in the comic book series. Besides establishing a solid foundation for future solo films, this would also bring to an end the rapidly escalating money train Downey's been riding the past few years, which in and of itself has to make continuing to feature him in the lead role less appealing to the studio. This would also be a good time to move forward with the "Captain America" franchise, as Chris Evans has indicated his unwillingness to continue playing the titular role for reasons I find less than compelling. Whatever though. Better to kill two birds with one stone now than derail two multi-billion dollar franchises, however briefly.

Immediately reaching a multi-movie deal with Anthony Mackie (who played "Falcon" in the Civil War films) would temporarily solve the latter issue, as the "Falcon" character assuming the role of "Captain America" proved immensely popular in the comic series, and Mackie isn't in a position to command the substantial backend deals Downey is rumored to have secured. Longer term, they'd do well to find a replacement with more of a physical presence, as while Chris Evans did a great job, it was abundantly clear, particularly whenever he was seen standing alongside Jeremy Renner ("Hawkeye"), that he was somewhat undersized to be portraying such an iconic figure as "Captain America" on film. I'm fairly certain finding a twenty-something actor standing at least 6' 4" and possessing a larger build to step into the role won't be terribly difficult, and with there still being a good deal of time between now and the release of the next "Avengers" film, my hope would be that Marvel Studios is already screening potential candidates.

Replacing Downey is somewhat more difficult. Sure, a new actor could fill-in as "War Machine" in a future "Avengers" film or two, but a franchise centered around a such a second-tier character isn't going to work. Now I know many of you will disagree with me on this, but hear me out... I think that if you want to move forward with the franchise, then this is your guy.

Yes. Joshua Jackson.

True, his film projects to date haven't exactly been blockbuster hits, but that's completely irrelevant here. He'd be stepping into the title role of an already established series... The only real concern is whether or not he has the acting chops and screen presence to pull it off. If you watch a few episodes of "Fringe" and his current show "The Affair", I think you'll agree that acting chops and screen presence are qualities he certainly has in abundance.

This is not to say that he's the only person who could prove a fitting successor for Downey, but putting aside the fact that Downey is a now too old to continue playing the part in my opinion, I have to admit that I never felt he truly fit the role. I'm fairly certain that no long-time comic book geek such as myself could have ever imagined they'd see the day when Robert Downey Jr. played "Tony Stark" on film. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that if most could've chosen the actor they'd prefer, Tom Cruise would've been the runaway first choice (though thankfully that didn't happen).

That having been said, Joshua Jackson has the experience, screen presence, range, and overall ability to properly portray THE iconic "Tony Stark" as seen in the original comic series, with all other possible contenders rating a distant second or worse, from my perspective. Regardless, it's abundantly clear that, at 52 years of age and new movies coming out several years apart, Robert Downey Jr.'s time is coming to an end sooner rather than later whether he and the studio want it to or not. Best they move now to get Pacey Witte... er, Joshua Jackson on board, as honestly, the last two films were a bit underwhelming, and part of that has to be placed directly on Downey's shoulders. Maybe it's just me, but since the release of the second film, I've gotten the feeling that he was "phoning it in", as they say. Yes, the later films had other issues, but for me, RDJ himself was arguably the biggest, and moving forward, fans would be best served by having an actor in the title role who at the very least didn't appear to loathe playing the part.