Robert Downey Jr. shows off his drastic new look after his kids shaved his head on Instagram

• Robert Downey Jr.'s kids shaved the actor's head for a new TV role.
• The star showed off his new look for the first time at the 2022 AFI Festival.

Robert Downey Jr. has taken a little time off in the last few years after saying goodbye to Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the emotional finale of "Avengers: Endgame." Aside from starring in 2020's "Dolittle," the actor has mainly stuck to producing projects like "Perry Mason" and "Sweet Tooth."

But Downey is set to star in HBO's "The Sympathizer," an adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's 2015 novel of the same name. To prepare for the role, Downey enlisted his two children into shaving his head, giving him a surprising new look that's a far cry from his slick hairdo as Marvel's genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist.

Downey Jr. debuted his shaved style at the 2022 AFI festival on Friday at the "Sr." premiere. The upcoming documentary explores the life of the actor's filmmaker father, Robert Downey Sr.

Directed by Chris Smith, the film is already being met with plenty of praise from critics, earning itself an early 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Aside from his new look, the star was dressed in a sharp blue suit and matching tinted glasses on the red carpet where he was joined by his wife, Susan Downey.

The duo was also joined by Downey's close friend Jon Favreau, who is also well known for directing the first two "Iron Man" movies as well as playing Harry "Happy" Hogan in various Marvel movies like "Avengers: Endgame," and "Spider-Man: No Way Home."

The actor took to Instagram in late October with a video showing off the transformation. In the clip, he surprised Exton Elias and Avri Roel as they were carving pumpkins with the chance to shave their father's head.

The two siblings had a lot of fun with it, and his daughter Avri even painted the back of Downey Jr.'s newly bald head to make it look like a pumpkin.

The video also gives fans an interesting tidbit of information about "The Sympathizer," as Exton Elias notes that Downey is playing "five roles or something." So it sounds like the actor is really pushing himself in a different way since his last MCU appearance in "Avengers: Endgame."