Here’s The Iron Man Line Robert Downey Jr. Wrote For The Avengers (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Robert Downey Jr. had a habit of making Tony Stark’s lines snappier, and The Avengers was no exception. The film originally had Stark waking up after nearly dying and asking, “What’s next?” But RDJ wasn’t having it. Joss Whedon, who had already reworked Zak Penn’s script, scribbled out multiple new versions in a notebook, trying to find the perfect fit.
But even with those revisions, Downey still wasn’t satisfied. The actor wanted something lighter, more offbeat. That’s when he threw in a completely random suggestion: Shawarma. A throwaway joke? Hardly. The improvised line made the final cut and led to one of the most iconic post-credits scenes in Marvel history.
At a press conference – just days after The Avengers‘ Hollywood premiere – Robert Downey Jr. casually let slip that the cast was reuniting that night to film an extra scene. Whedon had realized the shawarma gag had comedic potential if they actually showed the Avengers following through on it. So, despite the chaos of wrangling the entire cast post-premiere, the scene was shot.
The now-famous sequence showed the battle-worn heroes silently chewing on shawarma, exhausted and speechless after saving the world. There was no witty banter, no dramatic tension, just six superheroes munching on pitas in a half-destroyed restaurant. Chris Hemsworth later admitted to EW the endless takes nearly made him sick: “I ate one [pita] each take, you know! And by the end, I was like, ‘Whooooaaa!’”
Meanwhile, Chris Evans had a bigger problem. He had grown a beard for another role and had to cover it with a prosthetic. That led to some well-timed on-set roasting. Robert Downey Jr. walked in joking, “Where is Chris Evans? Getting his face replaced?” Jeremy Renner took it up a notch with a Silence of the Lambs impression: “I’d f–k me!”
Mark Ruffalo, watching the chaos unfold, simply shook his head and muttered, “Oh no.” Even Whedon, trying to keep things under wraps, couldn’t help but crack. “Thank you for having every reporter ask me what we were shooting,” he sarcastically told Downey. But it was worth it.
The last-minute scene added an extra layer of charm to The Avengers, cementing Tony Stark’s legacy as not just a genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist but also the guy who made shawarma cool. From an overwritten notebook to a spontaneous joke to an iconic post-credits moment – Robert Downey Jr. once again proved that sometimes, the best lines aren’t scripted.
