When it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. was set to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, fans initially assumed that this take on the iconic villain would be a Tony Stark variant who went down a dark path. Marvel Studios later appeared to suggest that this would not be the case by making it clear that RDJ will play the Victor Von Doom.
Doom just happening to bear such a striking resemblance to Stark always seemed like a bit of an odd choice, and a very interesting theory doing the rounds online may provide an explanation.
This was apparently posted to Reddit a while ago, and is now being shared by several online scoopers. We're not labelling it a rumor because, as compelling as this is, it might be a bit too convoluted to be worked into a movie that already has so much going on.
Basically, the theory points to He Who Remains "rewriting" Doom into the 616 timeline as Tony Stark. When Iron Man sacrifices himself in Avengers: Endgame and He Who Remain is killed by Sylvie in the Loki season 1 finale, all versions of Doom come back into existence, with the Doom we'll follow in the next Avengers movie regaining his memory.
There's a lot more to it, so have a read at the link below and let us know what you think.
Majestic (we're still not sure whether to trust this guy yet) is also claiming that Doom will gain access to the “Library of the Worlds” in the movie.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies 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.
Doomsday will star:
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.