Robert Downey Jr is close to signing a deal with Marvel Studios to appear alongside Chris Evans in Captain America 3.
The Civil War storyline from the Marvel comic books will pit Downey Jr’s Tony Stark against Evans’ WWII hero Steve Rogers (aka Captain America).
According to Variety, the plot of the film will see the pair feuding over the introduction of the Superhero Registration Act “which forces anyone with superhuman abilities to reveal their identities to the U.S. government and agree to act as a police force for the authorities”.
While Stark supports the initiative Rogers says it threatens civil liberties leading him to go on the run to avoid arrest.
The report added: “The moral question and battle with his Avengers teammate essentially makes Stark a villain of sorts in Captain America 3, providing Downey with a meaty role he could play out into future Marvel films, including a fourth Avengers.”
Last week Downey Jr revealed he would not return for Iron Man 4 and in a recent interview with The Telegraph said he thought superhero movies were getting “a little bit old”.
Captain America 3 is scheduled to begin shooting next spring and will be released in UK cinemas April 29, 2016.
Downey Jr will return to play the canned crusader in next summer’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron in cinemas April 24, 2015. He is also contracted to reprise the role in a second Avengers sequel.
The actor appears next on screen in The Judge in cinemas this Friday (October 17).