Robert Downey Jr. Rejoins MCU As Dr. Doom for Avengers: Doomsday

Comic Cons have always been explosive for superhero fans, and the SDCC on Saturday night simply blew it out of proportion. The Russo brothers, the most popular directors from MCU, announced that they have decided on the cast for the role of Dr. Doom. A masked man took center stage in the familiar green outfit and revealed his face—the crowd cheered their lungs out as they saw it was none other than Robert Downey Jr.

RDJ to don a new mask

Downey Jr. has played the role of Iron Man with such passion in nine movies for over a decade that for people, RDJ has become synonymous with Tony Stark. He basically immortalized the character who sacrificed himself to beat Thanos and his army in Avengers: Endgame. However, it seems that Robert’s part in the MCU is not yet done, as the Russos revealed on Saturday that he will be playing Victor Von Doom, one of Marvel's’ biggest baddies. 

“New Mask, same task” - Robert Downey Jr. captioned his Instagram post. 

The Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con burst into joy when they saw RDJ’s face when he unmasked. However, immediate confusion was noticed as the fans found their favorite hero would be playing the role of one of the most dangerous villains.

Switching roles isn’t new for superhero movies

A specific character being recast or one person playing different roles in the same cinematic universe is nothing new when it comes to DC and Marvel movies. We have already seen several iterations of Spider-Man and Batman played by so many brilliant actors, but they are usually ignored due to the fact that they were movies based on different stories or simply reboots. 

We have even seen Chris Evans playing the role of Johnny Storm/Human Torch on two previous versions of Fantastic Four and then immortalizing the role of Steve Rogers/Captain America in the MCU. Even the role of Bruce Banner/Hulk has been recast twice, and Iron Man’s sidekick Colonel James Rhodes/War Machine was recast after the first Iron Man movie. 

The main issue here is that the former movies or actors were either forgetful or didn’t garner as much love as to create confusion among the fans. Robert Downey Jr., on the other hand, has played the character of Tony Stark for twelve years, cementing his face as one of the most loved among the MCU fans. Now, the same face hidden behind a terrifying villainous mask does not sit as smoothly as the directors intended.

Fan theories circulating social media

As soon as the news of RDJ being cast as the new Dr. Doom hit the floor, fans started theorizing how it would fit into the current timeline of the MCU. Although movies like “Spiderman: No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” have already established that anything can happen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, people brought their own stories to justify his casting. 

Two of the most feasible suggest that either this Doctor Doom will be an evil version of Tony Stark or he will be an entirely new character with no ties with Tony or Howard Stark. The first theory may seem like an overdo, but fans did pull out pages from comics where Victor Von Doom and Tony Stark switched souls.

Russo's have something up their sleeves

However, we have seen that the Russo brothers have their own ways of telling stories while staying true to the comics. There have been multiple theories before the release of Avengers: Endgame, and none of them were accurate. Whatever the case, it goes without saying that Downey Jr. will deliver something new with the character. 

People who are doubtful about him playing a different and quite opposite role in the same storyline might be forgetting that he was nominated under the Academy Awards Best Actor category for “Tropic Thunder” and “Chaplin” and he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”. 

“What can I tell you?” Robert Downey Jr. stated. “I like playing complicated characters.”

Shifting focus from Kang to Dr. Doom

Another topic doing the rounds on the internet is why Marvel would bring back an actor to play a different role, especially after giving a truly fitting farewell to his previous character. Well, two reasons make the most sense. Firstly, the box office results of the recent few films have not been satisfactory for the team. 

Movies like “The Marvels” and “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" have not been able to pull a crowd like the previous MCU movies during the Thanos timeline. Although both the fans and producers are hopeful about “Deadpool & Wolverine” hitting the big screens on July 26, Marvel needed a solid push to regain its former glory. 

Another reason is the departure of actor Jonathan Majors, as Marvel cut ties with him after his conviction on assault and harassment charges. Instead of recasting the role of Kang and building the storyline of the Kang Dynasty as previously stated, the MCU will now go in a different direction, focusing on Dr. Doom.

Downey to be the anchor again

Robert Downey Jr. is already appearing as Victor Von Doom in the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday”, slated for a 2026 release and followed by “Avengers: Secret Wars”. However, we might get to see RDJ playing the mastermind villain sooner, as some reports suggest that he will be a part of the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. 

Downey is known for demanding huge paychecks for his roles, especially when it comes to donning the helm of a superhero. He started his journey with Iron Man with a paycheck of only $500,000. Fast forward to his last MCU movie, Avengers: Endgame; he got a whopping $20 million upfront and $75 million in total. Fans are wondering how much he asked this time for playing a villain.