Robert Downey Jr. a small appearance as Iron Man's alter ego Tony Stark in the 2008 film "The Incredible Hulk", as a part of Marvel Studios' depicting the same Marvel Universe on film by providing continuity among the movies. After "Iron Man", Downey appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Jack Black in the Stiller-directed "Tropic Thunder". The three actors play a Hollywood archetype—with Downey playing self-absorbed multi-Oscar-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus—as they star in an extremely expensive Vietnam-era film called "Tropic Thunder". Lazarus undergoes a "controversial skin pigmentation procedure" in order to take on the role of African-American platoon sergeant Lincoln Osiris, which
Robert Downey Jr. the Brat Pack. In 1987, Downey played Julian Wells, a drug-addicted rich boy whose life rapidly spirals out of his control, in the film version of the Bret Easton Ellis novel "Less Than Zero". His performance, described by Janet Maslin in "The New York Times" as "desperately moving", was widely praised, though Downey has said that for him "the role was like the ghost of Christmas Future" since his drug habit resulted in his becoming an "exaggeration of the character" in real life. "Zero" drove Downey into films with bigger budgets and names, such as "Chances Are" (1989) with Cybill