It has been 10 years since Robert Downey Jr. first donned the Iron Man suit on the big screen and that one movie was just the beginning of the biggest movie franchise in the whole world.

Monday night was the premier of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and Marvel has come a long way in these 10 years, to say the least. The fans have been waiting for a really long time and we’re not the only ones excited and emotional about this movie.

Well, actually it was even more emotional for Robert Downey Jr because he’s the man who launched it all with ‘Iron Man’ in 2008. He got upfront and personal when he took the stage before dozens of his cast mates and told the crowd of thousands, saying, “I gotta few words. Hope you all brought a bag lunch.”

Referencing his battle with addiction, he said, “I want to talk about the past, present, and future. The past for me was 30 years of dependency, depravity, and despair… otherwise known as ‘An Actor Prepares!”

He went on, “The present is this moment of glory for all of us. And the future…? That is always uncertain. But looking at these friends behind me — it seems like things might brighten up after all.”

What a great feeling it must have been to be a part of something this huge.

He went on with his emotional speech and paid a tribute to the Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, the man behind the 19 interlocking blockbusters so far that have come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

He said, “This is a miracle. And if any one of us took credit it would be heresy. It would be blasphemy.” Then he curtsied. “Screw it … you’re welcome!”

Talking about the entire MCU, he said that it is an ‘isolated incident’ in a sense that even with the huge cast, no one was ‘in competition with each other’, but instead were ‘competing for each other — and for you’.

Just to jog your memory, here’s the entire MCU cast at their Class Photo that they took last year.

© Marvel

He went on with his speech and said, “If you play a superhero in one of these movies, and it works, you become a big star! And it … is … meaningless. Unless you use that to achieve something higher. You have to take direction from peers, and your family, and occasionally even an actual director.”

He even mentioned how “dangerous” it is to direct a Marvel movie, saying, “It’s like a crucible. You either come out steel or dust.”

He also took this opportunity to talk about the lack of diversity behind the camera, before saying that things have finally started to change. He said, “Now at least half a directing team is female. Making these movies is so taxing that it is clearly a woman’s job. It’s essentially gestation. But we don’t know how to do that.”

While talking about diversity, he was sure to praise Black Panther, the movie that made history by introducing us to our first superhero and has so far earned over a billion dollars. “Wakanda rules the day and rightfully so.” He also did the iconic crossed-arm salute to Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, saying, “Wakanda forever!”

After praising Jon Favreau and Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo, he explained that he had begun scribbling these thoughts just the night before, coming back from the international tour for the film.

“I was up late. I got a tattoo — I don’t want to talk about it! It’s none of your business! I was up late and wrote this, and …”

He had solid finisher for his rollercoaster of a speech, though. “I think this might be the greatest speech ever written! Or maybe I’m just emo and exhausted.”

I agree with both the parts, tbh.