Robert Downey Jr. is a long-time actor and celebrity, whose name is now synonymous with Marvel and the cinematic universe that he has featured in as a staple character. During interviews you often see Downey wearing glasses, but does he actually have any problems with his eyesight, or perhaps even colorblindness?
Robert Downey Jr. is not colorblind or has at least never made any mention of being so. The most Downey has ever said about his eyesight is that he is slowly losing his eyesight due to his advanced age.
Downey has never made any mention of being colorblind, so in all likelihood, he has no issues seeing the full rainbow of colors that life has to offer. Considering some of the color schemes of the characters in the franchise he is a part of, you’d think if there was any problem then it might have come up once or twice.
Green Ironman And Red Hulk
Based on some of the characters that he has been around, and played himself, it’s a good thing that Downey doesn’t suffer from any kind of red or green colorblindness. One of the most popular characters in recent memory, from the Marvel superhero movie franchise, is clad in a red suit.
That’s right, it’s the role that Downey is most adored for, the wise-cracking defender of Earth, Ironman. We’ve never heard any slip-up from a protanomaly-afflicted Downey talking about how he loves the dull-green suit of his Ironman character.
Likewise, there’s never been any mention of deuteranomaly-colored Hulk, running around like a raging red giant instead of his quintessential green color that has been consistent throughout his superhero career.
We doubt there’s any conspiracy here, and that Downey is just secretly keeping the information to himself. With all the celebrity interviews and convention panels that he has been a part of in the promotional work for Marvel, we’re pretty sure that if there was any chance he was colorblind then we would have heard about it.
If you’re curious about what Ironman might look like to the colorblind, one Reddit user who claims to have the condition posted an image of a green Ironman. It’s jarring, to say the least, and invokes feelings of seeing a cheaply manufactured imitation toy, but is probably all too normal for anyone who has a severe case of red-green colorblindness.
No More Vision
He certainly doesn’t have monochromacy, the inability to see any colors whatsoever, but Downey was actually once at risk of losing a lot more than the color in his life. A near-miss accident on the set of Ironman put the entirety of his vision at risk.
When we see Downey sporting the Ironman suit that he wears in those movies of the same name, we might think that the wonders of computer graphics have put together the visuals of the suit or at least massively assisted them in some way.
That idea is true for the most part, but there was an actual physical suit involved in a lot of the filming, one that Downey had to wear. Being stuck inside a bulky helmet for the majority of a film shoot isn’t too pleasant, even more so when you consider what happened to Downey while he was in it.
Apparently, during a scene where he was submerged in darkness for a long period of time, a light came on in the inside of his helmet. This sudden change from dark to light apparently almost blinded him.
Thankfully, Downey didn’t lose his eyesight from the ordeal. He did make sure that he was never going to be putting that same helmet back on again, however, and we can’t blame him for that one.
Speaking of his overall vision, you will see Downey often wearing one of many designer pairs of glasses, which aren’t purely for style. He has actually been slowly losing his eyesight as he ages, like many of us do, which he divulged as a guest during Joe Rogan’s popular podcast.
During the podcast he expressed that he didn’t feel too urgent about his slowly fading eyesight, even citing a few reasons that he saw as being beneficial. They were likely for comedic effect, but it seems that the Marvel actor takes everything in his stride as much as the character that he is most well-known for.