Today is Robert Downey Jr.'s 60th birthday - many happy returns, sir! - and the Russo Brothers have celebrated by sharing an awesome piece of Doctor Doom fan art...with a few nods to Tony Stark and Iron Man included for good measure.
The Oscar-winning actor will return to the MCU in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, where he'll play the Multiverse Saga's new big bad, Victor Von Doom. We know very little about what to expect from this take on the character, though many fans remain convinced he'll somehow be linked to Iron Man.
It's certainly possible, though surely just as likely that 18 years after first playing Tony and 7 years since bidding farewell to Iron Man - by the time Avengers: Doomsday is released - the actor has simply been enlisted to take on a completely different role.
Yes, there are many other actors Marvel Studios could have turned to, but few have Downey's drawing power, acting ability, or can create the sort of buzz his casting has since this long-awaited MCU return was announced last summer.
While it's hard not to get bogged down in the notion of the Oppenheimer star playing an "evil Iron Man," if he fully commits to being Doom - and we've heard that is indeed the case - then the result should be spectacular.
Last month, the Russos confirmed that Downey was attached to play Doom before they agreed to return. "That was Kevin [Feige], and interesting enough about that was, that conversation was had a while ago," Joe explained. "And then Robert tried to talk us into doing it, and we said 'no,' weirdly because we said we wouldn't come back."
Admitting that they "were resistant for a while" due to not "[having] a way in," he added, "One day, Steve McFeely, one of our key collaborators, said: 'I have an idea.' He called us, and we went, 'That's the story, that story has to be told. It's a really powerful story.'"
It seems the biggest draw of that story is Doom himself, as the filmmaker went on to say, "We love villains who think they are the heroes of their own stories...that's when they become three-dimensional and when they become more interesting."
While we anticipate meeting Doom for the first time in The Fantastic Four: First Steps' post-credit scene, for the Russos, "a lot of [their] focus is going" towards making Victor Von Doom a compelling antagonist.
"When you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a well-shaped, three-dimensional character for the audience," Joe teased.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive in May 2027.