Toddler cries after discovering that Downey Jr isn't really Iron Man

Robert Downey Jr. inadvertently made a toddler cry because he wasn't the 'real' Iron Man.

The actor - best known for playing the superhero and his billionaire alter ego Tony Stark - left 18-month-old superfan Jaxson Denno in floods of tears because he wasn't wearing his character's trademark red and gold suit in public.

Heather Denno, Jaxson's mother, was left to console her sobbing son, who was devastated to discover his favourite Marvel comics hero was a work of fiction.

She told People magazine: "He was fine as soon as he talked to him. [He] was so confused because I kept telling him it was Iron Man and he knew it wasn't. Well, not Iron Man in the suit."

The 48-year-old star - who appeared visibly worried about having dashed Jaxson's dreams - ran into the mother and son while out for a walk in their neighbourhood of Sunderland and Shelburne Falls where he is shooting his new drama, 'The Judge'.