Iron Man star: I'll do it if Mel Gibson directs

Robert Downey Jr starring as Iron Man.

Robert Downey Jr says he would return to play Tony Stark in another Iron Man sequel if Mel Gibson was hired to direct it.

The actor is still mulling over a return to the Marvel comic book blockbuster franchise, and admits his decision would be helped if his old friend Gibson was asked to take charge of Iron Man 4.

Downey Jr insists the time is right for Hollywood's bigwigs to forgive Gibson for his past indiscretions and scandal-making headlines, and offer him the chance to prove himself as a top moviemaker again.

"Nobody should make a case for somebody who just wants forgiveness but hasn't changed, but he's a fundamentally different guy," the 49-year-old told Deadline.

"I think it was just the very worst aspects of somebody's psyche being treated as though they were the blanket statement about a person.

"But honestly we are talking about a competitive business and it all comes down to this: because he is so gifted as a storyteller and a director, I don't know that he requires some sort of mass forgiveness.

"He has changed, but at the same time he's still Mel. He and I are so similar in so many ways. He really, honestly is the first to admit his character defects and also is just a great, great collaborative guy."

Downey Jr insists anyone who really needs to know the truth about Gibson should look at the Braveheart director's kids.

"I always say too that if you want to judge a man or a woman then look at their kids," he said.

"He has the healthiest, happiest, most productive kids you could ever meet or know, and I'm fortunate to be friendly with several of them.

"He did a lot right, and there's stuff he taught me about parenting that didn't sink in at the time but have proven to be true."

Gibson, who has directed the epics The Passion of the Christ and Braveheart, became Hollywood's favourite villain when he showered a Jewish traffic cop with anti-Semitic remarks during an arrest in 2006.

He was also investigated for domestic violence in 2010 in reference to an incident between himself and ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his baby daughter Lucia.

- WENN