It's been confirmed that there's no connection between Iron Man and Doctor Doom in the MCU, but the way they're portrayed on screen won't be all that different.
In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, the Russo Brothers confirmed that motion-capture was partially used for Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as Victor Von Doom. This likely explains several discrepancies in the costume, including why the belt buckle is different in promo art and why Doom's mask in toys doesn't match what's in the trailers.
After all, if the villain is being brought to life with the help of visual effects, then the filmmakers can make any tweaks they like in post-production. This has become commonplace in their MCU films, but why was it necessary for Doom?
"He was on set performing everything," the Russos stated. "Because of the way we’re creating the character with a digital layer, we also get a second pass at him in terms of what we can do on a digital level."
"There was a lot of experimental performance," they added. "It's incredible, but also unexpected. What he brings to the table, you couldn’t see coming."
So, Downey was on set, but it seems the Russos wanted to tinker with Doom's appearance in post. Does this mean the Oscar-winner didn't wear the mask? It's a possibility, especially if it was beneficial to the actor and his co-stars for his face to be shown while they were interacting in certain scenes.
When it was revealed that Joe and Anthony reportedly put Tobey Maguire in a mo-cap suit for his return as Spider-Man in Avengers: Doomsday, the response was largely negative. After all, his costume was fully practical in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Hearing that Doom is also a motion-capture creation—to some extent, at least—likely won't make those fans any happier.
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.
Avengers: Doomsday 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, India Rose Hemsworth, and Wesley Holloway 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.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18.