THIS is why Robert Downey Jr. turned down 'Deadpool & Wolverine' cameo offer

Deadpool & Wolverine co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have revealed that Robert Downey Jr. was offered a cameo in the movie as his Iron Man character Tony Stark.

To the writers’ and lead star Ryan Reynolds' surprise, Downey refused the offer. It makes sense to them now that they know the actor is returning to Marvel as Doctor Doom.

“We had wanted him to do a cameo. We had written that scene [to start] with Happy and Downey,” Wernick told IndieWire.

In the scene in question, Deadpool would jump in time to pitch himself to the Avengers, who reject him as he’s not a team player. The scene would’ve had Tony Stark and Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan in the room.

“Ryan Reynolds read the scene with both of them, so in the hopes we could get Downey,” Reese said. “But he also wanted Favreau, because they’re a great combo, and they were all in the scene together.”

“Behind the scenes, we didn’t know about the Doctor Doom,” Werner shared. “And there’s no way he was going to do both.”

He added: “And then we said, ‘Oh, Downey doesn’t say “no” to Ryan Reynolds, does he? No one says no to Ryan Reynolds.’ And Ryan gave him the hard press. We wrote scenes, and Downey read the scenes, but what we didn’t know behind the scenes was this Doctor Doom thing.”

Reese sent on to note that the actor “was the only ‘no’ we’ve ever gotten, I think, in terms of people just saying, ‘Hey, I don’t want to do it.'”

“I mean, look, we would’ve loved to have Downey,” he added. “But, at the same time, I think Marvel had this ace in their hole, which is he’s about to come back in this different character. So, to have him be Tony Stark? Knowing that Doctor Doom was coming on the heels of that? It just didn’t make sense.”