Robert Downey Jr.’s Wife Susan Reflects on the Actor Offering Advice to His Marvel Costars at Chris Evans' Wedding

Robert Downey Jr. is a stand-up friend to his Avengers costars.

While reflecting on Robert’s tendency to look out for those around him, his wife, Susan Downey, told Vanity Fair that the actor has a special bond with many of his former Marvel castmates as she shared rare insight into Chris Evans’ ultra-private September wedding. 

“I even saw it at Chris Evans’ wedding,” Susan, 50, said as she recalled an interaction between the former Iron Man star, 58, and his costars at the Cape Cod, Mass., ceremony between Evans, 42, and Alba Baptista. 

“Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth were talking to Robert” at the wedding, she said, and it reminded her of her husband's role as a source of advice and guidance to many of his fellow actors.

“I was like, ‘Oh right,’ he is the guy who is…I don’t want to say a mentor, but I just see him as the dude who knows a lot. He’s been through a lot of scenarios, both in life and in work, and has survived a lot," Susan explained.

She said the skills her husband has picked up from those experiences is part of what “made him wonderful and weird” to her when they first met in 2003 — and “is still who he is today.”

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige echoed Susan’s sentiments about Robert as he told the outlet, “We used to joke and say that Robert was the head of the acting department because everybody there looked up to him.”

Feige added, “He took them all under his wing, but not in a subservient sense. He just became their cheerleader.” 

Evans’ wedding was a major Avengers reunion as Hemsworth, 40, and Robert were joined by Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner to celebrate the Captain America star and Baptista, 26, who began dating in 2021.

After attending the wedding, Robert and Susan went to dinner with Johansson, 39, and her husband, Colin Jost, near Cambridge, Mass., and an onlooker told PEOPLE that the group was “extraordinarily nice” as they dined together. 

Though the nuptials nearly three months ago marked one of the rare instances when much of the cast were seen together, many of the stars often share updates about each other and provide fans a glimpse into their friendships outside the Marvel universe. 

After Evans was named PEOPLE’s 2022 Sexiest Man Alive, Hemsworth revealed that he and several others were jokingly roasting the actor’s cover pose over text.

“We have an Avengers text chain, and it very quickly was like, ‘What are you doing with your hands back there?’" the Thor actor said. "It was like, Downey said he was being arrested, I said it was a beautiful mugshot, and Jeremy Renner said a series of things which we won't repeat. ... Filthy.”

Hemsworth, who was Sexiest Man Alive in 2014, said it was the "passing of the torch" and that he was "absolutely" proud of Evans. "He is indeed a sexy man," he joked.

The cast is also always there to support each other in times of need. After Renner’s serious snow plow accident in January, Johansson and Evans visited their former costar and were “so f------ happy to see him” recovering.

“I didn't know if I was ever going to see him again,” Johansson told Variety. “To not only see him again but to see him thriving and in such an amazing space, mentally.”

Evans said of the visit, "No tears at all. A lot of laughs and smiles and hugs. Leave it to Jeremy to take something this potentially tragic and turn it into something so inspiring."

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The cast’s group text chain was also brought up as Johansson revealed that the costars began to joke about Renner’s superhero-like recovery. 

“On the Avengers text chain, we're like, 'Okay, you beat us all. That's it. You won,’ ” she recalled. “That's like real superhero stuff. It's unbelievable.”