Photo: Carlos Tischler / Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images; Marvel/Walt Disney Pictures/Kobal/Shutterstock

Tom Cruisealmost suited up as Iron Man.
TheTop Gun: Maverickactor, 59, was at one point pitched to play a variant of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, screenwriter Michael Waldronrevealed toRolling Stone. The new Marvel movie explores alternate realities with vastly different versions of the Avengers than audiences have come to know (plus some surprise cameos along the way).
Waldron, however, tried to make the fan theory come to fruition.
“Yeah, that was totally made up. I mean, there’s no cut footage ofTom Cruise,” he said of the online rumors. “But I loveTom Cruise, and I said to [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] at one point, I was like, ‘Could we getTom Cruise’s Iron Man?’ I remember reading about that in Ain’t It Cool News back in the day, thatTom Cruisewas going to be Iron Man.”
He added, “As it was being talked about online, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’d be cool!’
Courtesy Marvel Studios

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Waldron clarified that he doesn’t believe Cruise was ever reached out to, likely because it seemed too far out of reach to pull off given theMission: Impossiblestar’s busy schedule: “I just don’t think it was ever an option, because of availability.”
Back in 2005, Cruisetold IGNabout being approached to play Iron Man for the MCU at the time (the firstIron Mancame out in 2008) and why it didn’t pan out. “They came to me at a certain point and, when I do something, I wanna do it right. If I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know it’s gonna be something special. And as it was lining up, it just didn’t feel to me like it was gonna work. I need to be able to make decisions and make the film as great as it can be, and it just didn’t go down that road that way.”
The filmearned $185 million at the domestic box officeduring its opening weekend, according toVariety, making it the biggest debut of a movie so far this year, beating out Robert Pattinson’sThe Batman, which opened to $134 million.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessis now in theaters.
source: people.com