The new year has kicked off with a rather bizarre rumor published by Radar. The site is reporting that Robert Downey Jr. is attempting to get two of his friends, Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster roles in Marvel‘s upcoming Avengers movies.

Jodie Foster has had some spotlight with her role in Elysium, but Gibson has been mostly off the radar since his high-profile anti-Semitic rant(s) and various domestic issues. All three are close friends.

Downey has a five-year deal with Marvel Studios that will most likely see him in the next two Avengers films. The next film, Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters in 2015.

All of this is from a “source” for the site, so take it with a massive grain of salt. Marvel is run by a prominent Israeli businessman, so I doubt Gibson will go over too well with him. While Downey himself got a second chance at a career after his publicized substance abuse issues, the same can’t be said for Gibson and he’s generally faded away or what films that have recently been released have bombed.

While I doubt we’ll see either, Foster is a more likely possibility out of the two.

(via Radar Online)