Happy Victor Von Valentine's Day!
In celebration of the most romantic day of the year, Robert Downey Jr. has shared a Doctor Doom-themed Valentines's Day card.
As we're sure all of you are aware, RDJ is set to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the iconic villain in Avengers: Doomsday (or before if he shows up in a certain post-credits scene). Whether he'll be a Tony Stark variant gone bad or a version of Doom who just happens to resemble Iron Man remains to be seen.
The image obviously doesn't feature the MCU's Doom (it's one of the earliest depictions of the character), but we don't imagine the Academy Award-winner's take on the mask/outfit looking a million miles away from the most recognizable incarnation of Doom.
Earlier this week, we got confirmation that Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to begin filming in the United Kingdom next month, and while Captain America: Brave New World star Anthony Mackie did recently indicate that it might be closer to April before cameras actually roll, MCU actors have reportedly been making their way to London over the past few days.
Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and co-director Joe Russo have been spotted in the UK, and we've heard reports that Tom Holland (Spider-Man) was also seen, but we don't have any photographic evidence to back this up!
The Doomsday cast is expected to be pretty jam-packed, and there have been rumors that we might even meet the MCU's new T'Challa in the movie. We have heard that at least one actor has been offered the role, which would indicate that the character will make his debut before Black Panther 3.
While speaking to Variety on the red carpet of the Brave New World premiere, producer Nate Moore made it clear that we'll be waiting quite a while to see the third Black Panther movie.
Doomsday plot details are still under wraps, but we do know that Marvel had plans in place for a Kang-focused story in the fifth Avengers movie (FKA Avengers: The Kang Dynasty), but were forced to go back to the drawing board when actor Jonathan Majors was convicted of assault.
The decision was then made to pivot to Doctor Doom, who will be played by Downey Jr.
"We've always worked very closely with Markus and McFeely through all the work that we've done together," co-director Joe Russo said last year when Stephen McFeely joined the writing team. "It's a little bit like getting back on a bike. We have a really codified process that we all work together through. It's very complicated to iron out a story of this scale."
"These are gonna be very, very big movies with a lot of characters in them and a lot of storylines coalescing," added Joe Russo. "We're really happy with how they're coming together right now."
If cameras are indeed set to start rolling in March, we should start to get some official updates from the trades fairly soon.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027. Both films will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Have another look at some photos Downey Jr. shared to Instagram after the big reveal below.