what was rdj doing before iron mna?

Robert Downey Jr. was doing a mix of film work and a major career comeback before Iron Man made him a global superstar. In the years leading up to 2008, he had already built a long acting résumé, had taken on darker and smaller roles after earlier personal struggles, and was being considered for other Marvel parts before landing Tony Stark.

Before Iron Man

• He was an established actor from childhood, with a career that started decades earlier.
• By the mid-2000s, he was rebuilding his reputation after well-known legal and substance-related setbacks.
• He was already in conversations for Marvel roles, including Doctor Doom, before Marvel settled on him as Iron Man.

What changed

Iron Man became the role that turned his comeback into a full-scale revival, and Marvel later described his casting as one of the biggest risks in the company’s early history. The gamble paid off, and his performance helped define the MCU’s early identity.

TL;DR

Before Iron Man , RDJ was an experienced but riskier Hollywood name trying to reestablish himself, not yet the MCU icon he would become.