Our long, national nightmare is over: Robert Downey Jr. has struck a deal with Marvel to reprise the role of Iron Man in at least two more films, 'The Avengers 2' and 'The Avengers 3.' We're pretty sure Hulk's glad he doesn't have to smash anyone over this.

Marvel made the announcement that Robert Downey Jr. was able to come to an agreement with Marvel Studios over his lapsed 'Iron Man' contract. After the completion of 'Iron Man 3,' the star's contract came to an end, which meant that the studio would need to negotiate new terms -- and more money -- to get the actor to return as Tony Stark/Iron Man in any future films.

As of now, Robert Downey Jr. will return as Iron Man -- just not in a hoped-for 'Iron Man 4' ... at least, for the time being. Instead, he's signed on to reprise his role in both 'The Avengers 2' and 'The Avengers 3.' As 'Avengers' helmer Joss Whedon said in an interview recently, there was no way they were going to do the sequel without Downey Jr., and he seemed very confident that a deal would be made relatively quickly. We're glad he was right.

And it's just good business for Marvel to keep RDJ happy: his two most recent Marvel films, 'The Avengers' and 'Iron Man 3,' are two of the five top-grossing films of all time.

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