VisionQuest actor Paul Bettany thinks “snobbery” stopped fellow MCU star Robert Downey Jr. from winning an Oscar for Iron Man.

“Robert Downey, in my opinion, should have won an Oscar for that role [in Avengers: Endgame],” Bettany said in an interview with Buzzfeed Australia.

“It’s extraordinarily hard to do. It’s only some sort of snobbery regarding superhero movies that I think stopped that from happening. Because anybody who has ever had anything to do with making a movie knows that it looks hard to do, and it was. They did it brilliantly.”

Ironically, Joaquin Phoenix won Best Actor for Joker in the year Robert Downey Jr. was eligible, though that was presented as a darker crime noir film that happened to take place in a superhero universe rather than a traditional DC movie. Robert Downey Jr. eventually got his acting Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Oppenheimer as Lewis Strauss.

Whatever your opinion on the MCU, there’s still a prevailing feeling that superhero films are largely shut out at the Academy.

As of writing, only two Marvel Studios films have won Oscars – Black Panther and its sequel, Wakanda Forever. Additionally, Black Panther remains the only MCU entry to be nominated for Best Picture; no actors have received the nod in any acting categories.

While that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, Robert Downey Jr. is taking on his next challenge as the tragic Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday.

Already, Downey Jr. has made a bold declaration about his role.

Speaking on the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast, the Doctor Doom actor declared, “What brought me back was the opportunity to redefine the genre of superhero movies.”

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18.

For more, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and the Marvel timeline.