Is this talented actor just phoning it in anymore?

Apologies for the late reply. I did finally get around to watching The Judge this month. It wasn't anything earth-shattering, and it ran a bit long, but it was still pretty solid cinema (with the performances being the best part of course). Robert & Robert scenes were very potent. I wasn't that pleased with it at first, because the Hank character seemed to be a rather familiar RDJ arrogant/pompous type (à la Tony Stark), but his arc was nice, and the movie grew on me. I agree that it shows good promise for Team Downey projects.

Your theory about RDJ seeing himself as an entertainer and choosing to please the masses by playing a physical role while he still can--seems reasonable.

I'm glad for the feedback here. I'll go back to being quiet and patient. :)

I don’t think he is phoning it in and i think superhero films are sadly undervalued. When it comes to its artistic merits.

Superhero films can make actors give performances as good as any Oscar film, spending so much time with that character gives them the challenge to make the characters grow and evolve with time like with tv shows.

A well written superhero like Tony Stark and most of the stars of the MCU make their actors do stretch their acting. It helps them grow their imagination and we have to believe they are scared of those super villains which we would never really see in real life.

We see our characters fight and reconcile with each other.
Avengers EndGame gave us some of the best acting in superhero movies, many got a little angry for the less quantity of action compared to Infinity War but it had a lot of character development and that film showed the most human side of our heroes.

So because of an is not doing something Oscar friendly doesn’t mean they are phoning it in. The best franchises don’t work because of the special effects but because of characters that fans get involved with.

Maybe the storylines are quite basic but they write characters in a way that the actors have a chance to connect with audiences.

I wouldn't say RDJ is "phoning it in" per se. But he's definitely become the kind of movie star who just shows up and plays himself and goes home. He's definitely talented and could be doing more, but why? He's too filthy damn rich from Iron Man to give a squat. But he may start taking challenging roles again. Truth is, doing gritty character work can actually damage your image with your adoring public. Nobody wants to see Iron Man as a drug addicted gay prostitute, for instance. It's bad for his brand. It's bad for MCU's brand. It's just bad business. But now that that's over, he can do whatever he likes now. These sorts of things have been an issue in the past for actors playing James Bond as well. When you assume a certain role, it comes with career limitations.