Disney is gunning for a possible Best Supporting Actor nomination for this year’s Academy Awards for Robert Downey Jr.’s performance as Tony Stark/Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame. The actor’s name wasn’t initially on the list of the House of Mouse’s “For Your Consideration” list despite garnering buzz after the release of the Joe and Anthony Russo-directed flick back in April. This bummed many of his supporters as getting acknowledged by the organization would’ve been a great way to cap off his run as the MCU’s poster boy.

Downey’s Iron Man directed by Jon Favreau in 2008 kicked off the MCU. After brilliantly portraying the egotistic, yet charismatic industrialist in the first film, he went on to reprise the role 10 more times including his cameo in The Incredible Hulk’s cameo. He finally hung up his superhero suit in Endgame where he delivered arguably his best outing as Stark. So naturally people were expecting for Disney to put his name there for at least an Oscar nod, and now, after weeks since their campaign began, it’s confirmed that they are indeed pushing for a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

From Disney Studios Awards’ official website is the full list of the House of Mouse’s “For Your Consideration” selection for Endgame. While most of the information on the page has been previously divulged to the public, the company also unveils their bets on Best Supporting Actors including Downey. Interestingly, he’s not the only one; he’s joined by Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin, Paul Rudd and Don Cheadle. Meanwhile, Disney also has a number of candidates for Best Supporting Actress like Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan and Brie Larson.

It was last month when Downey explained that he personally dissuaded Disney from pushing on his behalf for an Academy Award nomination for Endgame. He, however, didn’t get into specifics for his reasoning. The actor is not new in terms of getting some Awards season love, he’s been nominated twice before for Chaplin (Best Actor, 1992) and Tropic Thunder (Best Supporting Actor, 2008) - losing to Al Pacino and Heath Ledger respectively.

The decision to eye a Best Supporting Actor nomination rather than a Best Actor one for Downey might be surprising to some, but in hindsight, it makes sense in a couple of ways. Avengers: Endgame was an ensemble film, and while he played a pivotal part in the overall narrative, not to mention having the longest screen time among his castmates, the films technically has no one lead character. It can also be viewed as a studio strategy to give Downey a better chance at securing a Oscar nomination considering the much tighter race for Best Actor this year with strong contenders like Joaquin Phoenix for Joker, Robert De Niro for The Irishman, Leonardo DiCaprio for Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and Taron Egerton for Rocketman. What’s baffling at this point is that Disney is also pushing for a lot of other people other than Downey for their performances in the movie.

More: Oscars 2020: Best Supporting Actor Predictions

Source: Disney Studios Awards

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