In a personal and wide-ranging interview with Men’s Health, John Boyega denied a persistent rumor that he’ll be making his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel The Marvels.

“That’s not in the vision for me now,” admits the actor.

He adds, “I want to do nuanced things. . . . I want to donate my services to original indie films that come with new, fresh ideas,” explaining his MCU reluctance, “…because I know it’s real hard to top Iron Man in that universe.”

Aside from admiring Robert Downey Jr.‘s onscreen alter-ego, the feature also reveals Boyega’s looked up to Downey in other ways.

“I am very interested in people who go to dark spaces and are able to flip that,” he says, adding the star, who overcame addiction to become one of the world’s biggest movie stars, advised him about his career.

“You’re going to go through some turbulence. You’re going to try to find who you are within this. It might be rocky, but you’ll come out the end with a solid identity,” he continues, quoting the star.

Some of that turbulence included his turn in the Star Wars sequels, which began with racist trolling about him being a Black Stormtrooper and crescendoed when watching directors Rian Johnson and JJ Abrams marginalize his character Finn in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

Boyega is proud he was so outspoken about both. “I’m the one that brought this to the freaking forefront,” the actor says.

He insists Lucasfilm will now “make sure you’re well-supported and at least you [now] go through this franchise knowing that everybody is going to have [your] back. I’m glad I talked out everything at that time.”

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