One among RDJ’s most notable early roles—he was credited solely as “Robert Downey” right here—is as a jock named Ian within the John Hughes movie Bizarre Science. The film is about two pals who’re additionally pc nerds and by chance create a dream lady, who helps them stand as much as annoyances like Ian. Bizarre Science is not anyplace close to the most effective John Hughes film, however it’s fairly enjoyable to look again and see considered one of our most unusual stars standing out early on.

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One other early Downey Jr. function got here within the Rodney Dangerfield comedy traditional Again to Faculty, when he performed the roommate and solely buddy of Dangerfield’s son. Fairly customary function, however good, humorous film! If you have not seen it, definitely value your time (and you will get fairly just a few laughs out of it)

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Downey Jr.’s roles began getting meatier by the late ’80s, and one of many higher ones got here in True Believer, the place he performed a younger lawyer named Roger who involves work with a jaded however proficient legal professional performed by James Woods. This can be a very stable authorized thriller that gave audiences an early take a look at what RDJ can do.

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Richard Attenborough directed Downey Jr. in Chaplin, which explored the complete lifetime of one of many world-renowned silent movie star. This turned the signature function for the early a part of his profession, incomes him his first Oscar nomination and a BAFTA win. 1990 was a stacked 12 months—Downey Jr. was up in opposition to Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven, Denzel Washington for Malcolm X, and eventual winner Al Pacino for Scent of a Lady—and perhaps may’ve gained if the film had barely completely different timing.

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Downey appeared as a part of the ensemble in considered one of legendary director Robert Altman’s late-career masterpieces, Quick Cuts. Based mostly on the writings of Raymond Carver, this film options numerous intercut storylines that type of really feel like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, however launched six years earlier than Magnolia (PTA himself is an Altman devotee). Quick Cuts is not accessible to stream, however you must seize the superb Criterion DVD or Blu-Ray to test it out at dwelling.

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Oliver Stone’s 1994 darkly satirical thriller Pure Born Killers (based mostly on a script initially written by Quentin Tarantino) served because the car for maybe Downey’s most memorable function of the ’90s. The film follows a pair (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) who, after horrific childhoods, meet and develop into a famed serial killer couple; Downey Jr. performs a sociopathic tabloid journalist on their path, documenting all of it.

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Based mostly on Michael Chabon’s e-book of the identical title, Surprise Boys follows an creator (Michael Douglas) who’s first e-book was deemed a “nice American novel”—and has struggled to observe it up with something. Downey Jr. performs his editor in a memorable supporting function.

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For as bold as The Singing Detective is—a musical thriller comedy based mostly on a BBC sequence of the identical title—it is not notably good. But when it wasn’t for this movie, the place Downey performs the lead and, attributable to being at a very unreliable level in his life, wanted his insurance coverage bond for the movie (making certain he would full his work, or else the manufacturing be in any other case financially reimbursed) to be paid, consider it or not, by costar Mel Gibson, then the whole final twenty years of RDJ could not have ever occurred.

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Author/director Shane Black forged RDJ in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a brilliant enjoyable comedy/motion flick (like most of Black’s movies) the place he stars alongside Val Kilmer. Typically cited because the function that helped Downey land Iron Man, the star would finally repay the favor; he obtained Black the job directing Iron Man 3 just a few years down the road.

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Probably the most distinctive undertaking on this checklist may be A Scanner Darkly, directed by Richard Linklater and based mostly on a Philip Okay. Dick novel of the identical title; the film was shot in live-action, after which put by way of a rotoscope animation course of, giving it a particularly distinctive look. Downey was drawn to the undertaking due to the presence of Linklater as director and Keanu Reeves within the lead function; he performs a drug-addicted roommate of Reeves’s character.

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Downey Jr. was absolutely in his bag by the point he was starring in Zodiac, David Fincher’s true crime epic concerning the hunt for the serial killer who haunted California’s Bay Space throughout the ’60s and ’70s. Downey performs Paul Avery, a criminal offense reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle on the case, who’s at first dismissive of Jake Gyllenhaal’s obsessive cartoonist Robert Graysmith. Downey’s appeal and charisma are absolutely on show, however he additionally will get to flex the performing muscle tissues because the film goes on and Avery begins a descent.

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We’re solely going to incorporate one MCU film on this checklist, and it should be the primary—and most essential—one. And that is not up for debate. Whereas there are tons of different highlights throughout RDJ’s MCU run (together with nailing the finale in Avengers: Endgame), the easy reality is that if Iron Man did not work, the film enterprise as we speak, for higher and for worse, could be very completely different. However he nailed it, and set historical past on an entire completely different course.

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Between Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, Downey’s 2008 was fairly magical (he additionally had The Soloist, which was type of a failed Oscar bait film). However Tropic Thunder—which options RDJ in a clever-but-controversial function as a pretentious Australian methodology actor who’s so up his personal butt that he tries to methodology act as a Black character—is a uncommon comedy/struggle/satire flick that basically hits its marks and principally holds as much as this present day.

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The MCU wasn’t Downey’s solely franchise—in 2009 he starred within the a Sherlock Holmes movie, enjoying the world’s best detective himself (alongside Jude Regulation as John Watson) in a well-done movie from director Man Ritchie. The film spawned a 2011 sequel, and stays a enjoyable film to pop on once you’re bored or catch a little bit of right here and there when flipping by way of channels.

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After his MCU run got here to an finish in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Downey set to work (as a producer and on-screen interviewee) on Sr.—a documentary movie the place he paid tribute to his father, Robert Downey Sr., who was a prolific filmmaker in his personal proper, and who died in 2021 earlier than completion of the movie. It is an intimate look into an important relationship that performed an enormous function in shaping the actor into the person he’s as we speak.

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That brings us to Oppenheimer, the Christopher Nolan-helmed masterpiece that gained Finest Image, Finest Director for Nolan, Finest Actor for Cillian Murphy, and Finest Supporting Actor for Downey Jr. In case anybody truly thought that every one these years in Marvel land impacted RDJ’s capacity as an actor, that is definitive proof that he nonetheless very a lot has it. His portrayal of Lewis Strauss comes with layers; he is the movie’s heel, in a approach, however within the quieter moments you’ll be able to’t look away, and when he explodes, he calls for your consideration. Downey Jr. is unbelievable in Oppenheimer, and whereas he is returning to Marvel with Avengers: Doomsday, we cannot wait to see what other forms of flicks he does subsequent.

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Whereas The Sympathizer is a restricted HBO sequence and never a correct movie, we will rely it. Park Chan-wook, one of many best administrators alive, was behind the digital camera for the primary three episodes and served as a co-showrunner for this extremely reducing story of espionage within the time simply after the Vietnam struggle. Downey earned an Emmy nomination for enjoying numerous Individuals, all of whom have one factor in frequent: making an attempt to chew up and spit out the Vietnamese folks they conceivably are attempting to assist. The Sympathizer did not get as a lot consideration as another HBO reveals, or another motion pictures on this checklist, however it’s very a lot value your time.

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