Much has been said about Marvel Studios' decision to cast Robert Downey Jr. as the MCU's Doctor Doom. When the actor took to the stage to unmask at Comic-Con in 2024, it was an unforgettable moment...and then reality set in.
Had the studio revealed that the actor, fresh off an Oscar win for Oppenheimer, was coming back as an Iron Man Variant, fans likely would've been far more excited. While the prospect of him playing Doom was, and still is, intriguing, the Multiverse being in play immediately raised some troubling questions.
Is this Doctor Doom simply an Iron Man Variant? Yes, Downey has been confirmed as Victor Von Doom, but with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars both Multiversal stories, the fact that he shares the same face as Tony Stark will have to come into play, right?
We've previously heard that Doom will use his similarity to Iron Man to manipulate Earth-616's Mightiest Heroes. That hasn't gone down well with fans who have argued that a big part of this villain's character is that he never removes his mask because of the scarred face beneath.
Even in Secret Wars, when Doom became "God Emperor Doom," his face remained hideously deformed and wasn't healed until Mister Fantastic fixed everything (accomplishing something Doom never could).
Today, we may have a positive update for you. According to insider @MyTimeToShineH, "None of the heroes ever get to see that Doom looks like Tony in Avengers: Doomsday." Well, thank goodness for that, eh?
This points to the Russo Brothers doing right by these characters and treating Doom as a character in his own right. That won't be an easy feat for the filmmakers (especially as he's made no appearances before this). However, as many of you have hoped, Downey is simply returning to the MCU as another character, not an evil Iron Man wearing a different mask.
It's hard to shake the feeling that his past as Tony Stark won't come into play somewhere, but as The Cosmic Circus recently put it, "In the same way that Chris Evans can play two different characters in the MCU with the same face, so can Robert Downey Jr. play Victor Von Doom."
Let us know your thoughts on this rumour in the comments section below.
Avengers: Doomsday officially stars Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Mabel Cadena, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, and India Rose Hemsworth all make their Avengers franchise debuts.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, with Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum. The trades have pointed to Ryan Reynolds and Hayley Atwell also appearing in Avengers: Doomsday.
The Russo Brothers direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's Michael Waldron has also been enlisted to help.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.