Robert Downey Jr. returning to MCU as Doctor Doom in 'Avengers: Doomsday' (original) (raw)

The franchise's most beloved actor will now play Marvel's most iconic supervillain.

Updated on July 27, 2024 10:42PM EDT

One character has been noticeably absent from the Fantastic Four teases so far: their longtime nemesis, Doctor Doom. But at Marvel's traditional Hall H panel at Comic-Con 2024 on Saturday, sibling directors Joe and Anthony Russo announced that the iconic supervillain is indeed coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and he's going to be played by the franchise's most beloved actor.

That's right, newly minted Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. is returning to Marvel, but not as Iron Man/Tony Stark. This time, he'll be playing Doom — first in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and then in Avengers: Secret Wars. Doom is integral to the Secret Wars comic and promises to serve a similar role on the big screen.

Robert Downey; the cover of Marvel's 'Infamous Iron Man' volume 2.

Getty;Marvel

In Marvel comics, Doctor Doom is often surrounded by replica Doombots, and the announcement was made in a similar fashion. A group of people in Doom costumes took the stage, only for Downey to reveal himself to massive crowd applause.

"New mask, same task," Downey said on stage while clad in Doctor Doom robes, after taking off his metal mask. "What can I say, I like playing complicated characters."

How could this possibly happen? There are some similarities between Stark and Doom in Marvel comics. They both wear metal masks, they're both rich, and they're both scientific geniuses at a level that impresses aliens and gods. But they've also intersected more directly before. Following the events of the 2016 Marvel comic Civil War II, Stark was in a prolonged coma, and Victor Von Doom took on the mantle of Iron Man in his place in the comic series Infamous Iron Man.

Now, we'll be seeing something of a reverse, with the actor known for playing Iron Man on screen taking on the mantle of Doctor Doom. Since this is a multiverse story (the Russos explicitly said it's building up to the collision of parallel universes in Secret Wars), it's possible that this is an alternate-universe version of Stark from somewhere out there in the Marvel multiverse.

Avengers: Doomsday is now dated for May 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars is dated for the following year in May 2027 — parallel to the Russos' previous MCU directing efforts, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, coming out a year apart.

—Reporting by Sydney Bucksbaum