A big shock for fans of the Iron Man series resulted from actor Robert Downey Jr's announcement on social media that he has been unemployed for two days. With The Avengers: Age of Ultron still filming, some speculate that Downey Jr's character Iron Man has been killed off in the film.

His "two day unemployment" could possibly mean that his character would only play a minor role in the second film of the Avengers franchise. According to some reports, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are now in the picture, meaning the story could shift focus on to them. Downey's character was in the focus of the previous Avengers film, so it may be the others' turn to stand in the spotlight.

Film director Joss Whedon also raised a lot of commotion with his recent tweet saying that filming will still continue for a few more months. The film started shooting mid-February and if Downey's scenes are done, it would be possible that Iron Man has been killed off early in Avengers 2.

No official word yet from the actor or the production team regarding the issue has been released, but it would be heart breaking for the fans of Iron Man to see him crushed prematurely in the film. Regardless of what fate lies before Iron Man, the movie is highly anticipated and set to be a bigger hit at the box office than the first film of the series.

Additionally, fans are concerned that with an outcome of death for Iron Man in Avengers 2, the upcoming Iron Man 4 will be affected.

Director of the first three Iron Man films, Jon Favreau somehow assured the fans in his statement recently, "I think people would love to see Robert Downey continue the Iron Man character but he's done it quite a bit now. I've had a few movies off, so it's a lot easier for me to say that it should be done. I hope he continues doing it and, as long as he fits in that suit, there's no reason he shouldn't," he told ComicBook during the premiere of his new movie Chef.