40 Years Ago, Robert Downey Jr. Starred In A John Hughes Teen Comedy With A Sci-Fi Premise

These days, Robert Downey Jr. is a global superstar who has done everything from appearing in the "Iron Man" movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to winning an Oscar for his turn in Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer." Back in 1985, however, he was still a relative unknown despite his famous filmmaker father, but he had the opportunity to showcase some of his talent in one of the strangest John Hughes films: "Weird Science." 

Don't get me wrong, "Weird Science" is honestly a whole lot of fun and is one of the best '80s teen movies out there. The film stars Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith as social misfits Gary and Wyatt, who use some seriously weird science to bring a toy doll to life and make her into their dream woman. That dream woman, Lisa (Kelly Le Brock), is as smart and capable as she is gorgeous, though she only wants what's best for Gary and Wyatt, making her slightly less of a sex symbol and a little more of a mother figure. (Oedipus complex, anyone?) Since the boys created her to win their teenage girlfriends away from school bad boys Ian (Downey) and Max (Robert Rusler), it's kind of wholesome, although the whole thing has enough strange sci-fi moments to more than warrant its title. 

For those who have not been blessed enough to see "Weird Science," the general premise is that Gary and Wyatt get their girlfriends stolen by bad boy jocks, so they hack into a government computer system and hook up electrodes to a fashion doll, creating Lisa. Lisa has magical powers that are never fully explained, such as the ability to turn Wyatt's awful brother Chet (a hilarious pre-"Aliens" Bill Paxton) into a gross mutant or summon a convertible car out of nowhere, but magic and "science" are used pretty interchangeably. Heck, there's even a scene where the guys throw a party since their parents are out of town and "Mad Max"-style motorcycle bandits crash the thing until Lisa goes full "Dirty Harry" on them and pulls a gun out of thin air. "Weird Science" is really, well, weird, but it's also a lot of fun.

Downey does get a bit more to do than just steal one of the protagonists' girlfriends, though, as Ian and Max also convince Gary and Wyatt to attempt to make them their own Lisa. However, they mess up the process and send a ballistic missile through the house instead. That means that we get to see Downey with a woman's brassiere strapped to his head, looking totally annoyed by it, and it's extra hilarious given his status as an actor these days. In 40 years, Downey went from a bully with a bra on his head to Doctor freaking Doom in the MCU, showing us he's capable of creating all kinds of sci-fi mayhem.