Robert Downey Jr has maintained it was his decision to not be involved in Oscar campaigns for his Tony Stark/Iron Man character.

On Monday, Robert made the surprising revelation during an interview with US broadcaster Howard Stern, after the presenter complimented his performance in the Marvel franchise as “excellent” and “totally believable.”

However, when Howard suggested the reason the actor had been deprived of an Oscar nomination for his Iron Man role was because of the movies’ superhero genre, Robert admitted the push for an Oscar nomination stopped with him.

“I’m so glad you brought this up because there was some talk about it, and I said, ‘Let’s not,’” he said in the clip.

“Doing [the Marvel movies] was their own reward. I don’t know that it’s time or if I am the guy… to have the Academy recognise.”

Robert made the comments after the two dissected director Martin Scorsese’s recent remark that Marvel movies are “not cinema”.

The Iron Man star downplayed the criticism, saying that different perspectives were welcome.

“I was happy to be part of the problem if there is one,” he said.

Iron Man, Avengers movies and other Marvel spin-offs that Downey has appeared in have reaped billions of dollars since he made his debut as Tony Stark in 2008.

“It is this very large, multiheaded Hydra at this point,” he said.

Robert’s character was killed off in Avengers: Endgame but will reportedly return to Marvel in a Black Widow prequel movie.

At least he’ll always have his Oscar nominations for Chaplin and Tropic Thunder…

Last year, the Academy recognised Marvel in a big way, when Black Panther became the first of the franchise’s films to be nominated in the Best Picture category.