Robert Downey Jr.’s Oscar Win Completes Improbable & Incredible 23-Year Comeback

Robert Downey Jr.’s long-awaited win at the 2024 Oscars has placed a ribbon on a remarkable decade-spanning career comeback. Considered the clear favorite to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor going into the 96th Academy Awards, Downey Jr. entered the night with two previous Oscar nominations under his belt. He was nominated for Best Actor in 1993 for his outstanding portrayal of silent film star Charlie Chaplain in Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin and Best Supporting Actor in 2009 for his controversial role as Kirk Lazarus/Hot LZ in the classic Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder.

RDJ can finally call himself an Oscar winner despite never being recognized by the Academy for his world-famous role of Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Downey’s performance as J. Robert Oppenehimer’s backstabbing associate Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer earned one of seven Oscars received by the historical epic, which also included Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Director, and Best Picture. Downey Jr. also notably had a back-and-forth with Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel during the broadcast but was all smiles during his acceptance speech that highlighted the support of his wife, Susan.

Robert Downey Jr.’s Promising Career Almost Came To An End 23 Years Ago

Before becoming one of the highest-grossing actors of all time, Robert Downey Jr. rose to prominence as a stage actor during the 1980s. He was able to become a cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1985, which was ultimately short-lived. RDJ had two breakout roles in Tuff Turf and Weird Science in 1985 followed by a notable performance in 1987’s Less Than Zero. Downey’s early film success placed him on a fast track for more leading roles throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, starring in titles such as Chances Are (1989), Air America (1990), and Soapdish (1991).

Downey’s first Academy Award nomination for Chaplin made him a Hollywood star, but his acting career became complicated by addiction-related setbacks starting in 1996. During a five-year period from 1996 to 2001, Downey was arrested several times on charges related to drug possession. According to CNN, Downey was “arrested in 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded .357-caliber Magnum, given three years of probation and required to undergo mandatory drug testing.” Downey skipped multiple drug tests and was sentenced to three years in prison. He ended up serving 15 months in state prison in Corcoran, California, in 1999.

Iron Man & The MCU Helped Turn Robert Downey Jr. Into One Of The World’s Biggest Stars

Downey started his road to recovery in 2001 and completed a 12-step rehabilitation program, which started to open up more doors for him professionally despite initially having expensive insurance costs. Downey reestablished his commitment to acting and sobriety with films such as the Halle Berry-led Gothika (2003), Shane Black’s directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005), and Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly (2006). The momentum for Downey’s comeback reached new rights with his part in David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007) before getting the definitive role of his lifetime in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man (2008).

Downey was still considered a liability hire by Iron Man producers but soon silenced all his critics with the box office success of Iron Man, in which he was the clear highlight of the film. Prior to Iron Man, RDJ hadn’t really branched into blockbusters, but the success of the superhero movie proved that he was the perfect choice for the enigmatic protagonist Tony Stark. Over the course of 11 years and 10 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Downey improbably became one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, ending with his heroic sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, the second highest-grossing movie ever made.

Oppenheimer Finally Gave RDJ The Oscar-Winning Role He’s Waited 32 Years For

Chaplin brought RDJ his first Oscar nomination when he was still a relatively new actor, making it seem like it would only be a matter of time until he secured the award. Before his professional road bump during the late 1990s, RDJ was on a fast track to Hollywood stardom but remarkably was able to make an unlikely comeback that catapulted him into stardom. Downey’s win for Oppenheimer is in part a career achievement award for the celebrated actor, considering all the steps that needed to happen for him to get the chance to play such an integral part in Christopher Nolan’s most awarded movie.

Outside of RDJ’s personal history, the actor’s impact as Tony Stark/Iron Man on the trajectory of filmmaking and Hollywood at large is a historical feat in and of itself, one that was never officially recognized by the Academy. Downey’s Oscar victory for Oppenheimer continues the theme of the film’s success that finally gave Nolan his first Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture. With all that Nolan’s films and Downey’s performances have done to shape modern cinema, it’s only right that the two larger-than-life figures take home their long-overdue and well-deserved Oscars under the same umbrella.

Robert Downey Jr.’s Oscar Win Marks The Beginning Of A New Chapter In His Career

Now that Downey is an Oscar winner, and is understandably experiencing some major MCU fatigue, he will likely turn to more dramatic roles that allow him more range and versatility similar to Lewis Strauss. Strauss is the unsuspecting antagonist of Oppenheimer whose grand reveal of betrayal at the end of the film is only made possible by Downey’s nuanced performance. RDJ will hopefully continue to work with the best active filmmakers of this 21st century and set himself up in a good position for more Academy Award success down the line.

Downey has the release of the upcoming HBO series The Sympathizer on the horizon, which could earn him some Golden Globes and Emmy hype for his leading role. The 58-year-old actor is likely to be done with the action genre for the immediate future but is still attached to the questionable Sherlock Holmes 3, which was first announced back in 2018. Downey also starred in the anticipated directorial debut of Jamie Foxx All-Star Weekend which has yet to be released and may have been permanently shelved. Following his first Oscar win, RDJ has made an improbably yet legendary return to form.