While he’s been scanned digitally during his tenure with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Robert Downey Jr. is warning “all future executives” against the idea of reanimating him using computer graphics tech. 

In a sit-down with the On with Kara Swisher podcast, Downey talked about McNeal, his Broadway debut, which deals with artificial intelligence. 

The conversation soon switched to one of the sticking points of the recent Hollywood strikes: studios using digital replicas of actors without their permission.

With regard to his previous digital likenesses — and their possible future use — Downey said of the Marvel Cinematic Universe gang, “I am not worried about them hijacking my character’s soul because there’s like three or four guys and gals who make all the decisions there anyway and they would never do that to me, with or without me.” 

That said, he warned anyone else from doing so. “I would like to here state that I intend to sue all future executives just on spec,” he said, using a Hollywood term for a trial balloon script project.

“You’ll be dead,” Swisher noted, to which Downey replied, “I know, but my law firm will still be very active.”

Downey also admitted that despite the ubiquity of AI like Chat GPT and other tech, “I haven’t really played with any of these things,” adding of the play, “I wanted to maintain a bit of innocence going into this, and really have the character’s point of view, as this is taking place in the supposed near future, where it will all be different anyway.”

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