After Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. aims to clean up the earth

Downey made the announcement late Tuesday at the start of Amazon’s re:Mars conference in Las Vegas, where the online retailer and other companies are showing off how they use artificial intelligence and other technology. (File Photo By @jimmyrich via @robertdowneyjr/Instagram)

LAS VEGAS — After playing Iron Man for more than a decade, Robert Downey Jr. has found a real-life villain he wants to defeat: pollution.

The movie star says he plans to start an organization next year called the Footprint Coalition. He didn’t give any details of the initiative, but has spoken to experts who said robotics and other technology could help clean up the planet significantly in the next decade.

He plans to officially launch the Footprint Coalition in April 2020 and vowed to spend the next 11 years working on making some kind of difference in what he called “a massive threat to our future and the mess we leave behind.”

Downey made the announcement late Tuesday at the start of Amazon’s re:Mars conference in Las Vegas, where the online retailer and other companies are showing off how they use artificial intelligence and other technology.

As Downey talked on stage, images of plastic bottles and other litter flashed on the screens behind him. The actor, who has played Iron Man in several superhero movies, admitted that he hasn’t been kind to the environment in the past.

“I am a one-man carbon footprint nightmare colossus,” he said. “I want to change.”