Never say never. "Iron Man" star Robert Downey Jr. revealed at San Diego Comic-Con that he's returning to the MCU, but in a different role. He still gets to wear a metal mask, though.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Never say never, Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. revealed at San Diego Comic-Con that he's
00:06returning to the MCU, but in a different role.
00:09He still gets to wear a metal mask, though.
00:12With the news that Jonathan Majors was out as Kang the Conqueror, rumors have been bubbling
00:16that the forthcoming Avengers films would pivot to a new villain, Doctor Doom.
00:21At the same time, there have also been whispers that Marvel was looking to bring back Robert
00:25Downey Jr.
00:27After he stretched his acting muscles and got an Oscar by playing Louis Strauss in Oppenheimer,
00:32the theory goes a truck full of Disney movie could look appealing again.
00:35Well, at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Marvel confirmed that both of these rumors are true.
00:41In fact, they're one and the same.
00:43Downey is returning, but not as a revived, sacred timeline Tony Stark.
00:47No, he's going to play Victor Von Doom.
00:50The actor came out on the Hall H stage in a green robe, adorned with shoulder pads connected
00:54by a golden chain, mimicking Doom's Jack Kirby-designed costume.
00:58The fifth Avengers movie, previously subtitled The Kang Dynasty, is now called Avengers Doomsday.
01:04Both that and the follow-up film, Avengers Secret Wars, will be directed by previous
01:09Avengers directors, Joe and Anthony Russo.
01:12Doom is the villain of the Secret Wars comics, both the 1985 original and the 2015 version.
01:18Funny enough, Downey once auditioned to play Doom in the 2005 Fantastic Four film.
01:23This is gonna be fun.
01:25Looks like he got the part, only 20 years late.
01:28But is this the right move?
01:29Doctor Doom's primary nemeses are the Fantastic Four, but he also has a longstanding rivalry
01:34with Iron Man.
01:35Both Victor Von Doom and Tony Stark are men clad in armor, after all.
01:39In the 2016 comic Infamous Iron Man, a reformed Doom even rebrands as Iron Man to fill in
01:45for a comatose Tony.
01:46After the announcement Downey would be playing him, many fans initially thought Doom would
01:50be rewritten as a Tony Stark variant, which would have been a terrible choice.
01:55He is far too big a personality to be just a variation on the familiar.
02:00Before introducing Downey on stage at Hall H, though, the Russo brothers explicitly referred
02:04to his character as Victor Von Doom, not as some variation on Tony Stark.
02:09So it sounds like Downey is playing the Doctor Doom.
02:12Plus, the Fantastic Four cast is confirmed to be appearing in both Doomsday and Secret
02:17Wars, so hopefully Doom's enmity with them, especially Mr. Fantastic, will be kept intact.
02:23But that still feels like semantics.
02:25This casting alone transforms Doom into a dark mirror of Iron Man.
02:29That's not getting into other issues, like Doom's Romani heritage, which has never been
02:33acknowledged in the actors chosen to play him or how he never removes his mask, whereas
02:38Downey and Marvel will definitely want the face time.
02:41Doom is the greatest Marvel Comics villain, even surpassing Magneto and Thanos.
02:46It's definitely a risky gambit to bring back a very familiar face to play him.
02:50Avengers Doomsday arrives in theaters in May 2026.