I expected Marvel to detail the remaining projects in the Multiverse Saga leading to Avengers 5 and Secret Wars at Comic-Con. I also expected to see the new title for Avengers 5 now that Kang is seemingly out of the picture. Finally, I also expected Marvel to confirm that Anthony and Joe Russo are returning to direct the upcoming Avengers movies. But I never expected Marvel to reveal Robert Downy Jr.’s return to the MCU so soon.
It happened. It would have been difficult not to reveal who would play the titular character in Doomsday. Doctor Doom is a massive character, and you can’t keep RDJ’s involvement secret.
Thus, Marvel granted the wish of MCU fans who have been dying to get RDJ back, with a big twist. RDJ will play Doctor Doom, a villain, instead of Iron Man, a superhero. Or will he? I believe Marvel’s Doomsday reveal was actually a misdirect.
Yes, RDJ will play Doctor Doom, but I think he will be a Tony Stark variant. Not only that, but I think I know where this Doctor Doom is coming from.
This has nothing to do with the comics, which I admittedly haven’t read. However, I do know everything that has happened so far in the MCU.
Before I tell you why I think RDJ’s Doctor Doom isn’t Victor von Doom but Tony Stark, I’ll tell you that spoilers from everything that has happened in the MCU so far, including Deadpool and Wolverine, will follow below.
What is Avengers: Doomsday?
Kevin Feige announced at Comic-Con 2024 that the Russos are returning. The two brothers talked about their affinity for Secret Wars, revealing they will direct the final Multiverse Saga movie. But they also need to make Avengers 5 to get there. That’s how Marvel revealed the new title. Doomsday replaces The Kang Dynasty. Just like that, we get a new villain, one that audiences are dying to see in the MCU.
Plus, we get RDJ back. Audiences definitely wanted him back.
But the audience didn’t exactly get what they thought they’d get. Instead, we’re getting a villain who has yet to see the screen in the MCU. Furthermore, Downey Jr. isn’t playing Tony Stark anymore. But I think that all of that is just misdirection.
Before I get to that, I’ll draw the obvious parallels that will explain what Doomsday is. Rumors said that Marvel is aiming to deliver the same shock and awe they achieved with Infinity War and Secret Wars with the upcoming Avengers movies. It appears that’s what Marvel is doing.
Doomsday is the equivalent of Infinity War, the film where the villain of the story wins. Unlike Infinity War, where we had no idea how big the role of Thanos (Josh Brolin) would be, we know that RDJ will play the titular character in Doomsday.
Secret Wars is the equivalent of Endgame, where a team of superheroes from all over the multiverse will join forces to defeat the ultimate threat. This is where I posit to you that RDJ’s Doctor Doom might not necessarily be the bad guy in that movie.
Now, I’ll explain Marvel’s clever misdirect, which might aim to bring Iron Man back to the MCU.
How Thanos shows us who this Doctor Doom is
We might never know whether an RDJ version of Doctor Doom would have been part of The Kang Dynasty before real-life events forced Marvel to pivot. But I’m sure RDJ was always supposed to return, at least for one of these two Avengers movies.
Now that Doomsday is official, we have a problem. Marvel “wasted” much of Phases 4 and 5 without disclosing the identity of Doctor Doom. It’ll have to get us there quickly.
But I’ll point out the obvious here: RDJ’s Doctor Doom isn’t from the main MCU reality. I have no insider information about the plot of Doomsday, but we’re in the Multiverse Saga. The threat the Avengers have to face is unlikely to come from the 616 universe. Also, it’d be weird if the same reality had two characters that looked exactly like Robert Downey Jr.
Thanos had to be a villain from this reality because nobody knew of the multiverse until Endgame. Even now, knowledge of the multiverse is limited within the MCU.
But plenty of Avengers characters have come to terms with the fact this reality isn’t the only one out there. This would explain why Doctor Doom hasn’t appeared in the MCU so far. The universe is a lot bigger than before. The Avengers will not come into contact with the current saga’s main villain as often as they did with Thanos.
Also, Kang isn’t exactly out of the picture. I still expect Marvel to recast the character and bring it back to the MCU. It could happen in Doomsday, or later in Secret Wars.
As for Marvel, it has plenty of time to tease the villain in the future. But is he really a villain? This is where I think things will get interesting.
Why did Marvel pick RDJ for Doctor Doom?
When the Russos introduced RDJ as the main character of Doomsday, they referred to him as Victor von Doom. As for Downey Jr., he said this after removing the Doctor Doom mask: “New mask. Same task.” He also said he liked playing “complicated characters.”
Moreover, the Russos said they needed “the greatest actor in the world” to play Doctor Doom. RDJ is “the one person” who could play Victor von Doom.
I think all of that is misdirection from Marvel, cleverly hiding its true intentions for Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Yes, I think RDJ is playing a variant of Doctor Doom from the multiverse. But I don’t believe this is going to be Victor von Doom. Instead, we’re probably getting a version of Tony Stark, who never became Iron Man in his reality. Instead, he became Doctor Doom.
Wait, did we see this Tony Stark? We did not, at least not directly.
Where does Doctor Doom come from?
While Marvel is forced to make some lemonade with the lemons it has, the task isn’t that difficult. I often said that I hoped Marvel would give us more of Earth-838, which we first saw in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I hoped that reality would want revenge and that would generate at least one incursion that could lead to the doom of at least one reality.
Remember what happened back then? An incredibly dangerous Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) overpowered that universe’s Illuminati as well as Earth-616’s Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a big battle on Earth-838.
That world is vastly superior to the Earth-616 reality. The superheroes in that reality never had to deal with a defeat against Thanos. They beat him easily compared to our Avengers. Also, the Illuminati killed one of their own when it became apparent that Doctor Strange was a huge threat.
Moreover, Earth-838 has a successful Ultron project, where Stark’s drones are helping superheroes protect the universe.
This is where I think Marvel’s Doctor Doom for Doomsday comes from. Wait, hang on, how could this universe, where evil does not stand a chance against Avengers, deliver a supervillain like Doctor Doom?
Doctor Doom isn’t a villain
Back to the Doctor Strange-Illuminati scene, I’ve always felt that a character was missing, that a chair wasn’t occupied. That might have always been the Tony Stark of that reality.
A vain, full-of-himself billionaire who is playing a crucial role in defending the world against evil with the help of the Illuminati, Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and all the other groups in action in that world might have snoozed that meeting.
This is a Tony Stark who has not experienced loss in the way the MCU’s Iron Man did. This Tony Stark never had to suffer defeats, like the Ultron project going wrong or the Infinity War loss against Thanos. He might have never split from his Avengers as the main Tony did.
But, make no mistake, when Wanda vanquished the Illuminati, Tony-838 had to suffer. He must have wanted revenge, just like Tony-616 would have done in his early years.
What I’m getting at is that the Doctor Doom we’ll see in Doomsday will be a villain from the Earth-616’s perspective. But from his perspective, Doctor Doom would be a superhero on a mission. To find the Earth-616’s bad guys (Strange and Wanda) and bring them to justice.
Thanos was a hero in his own mind. He wanted to kill half the universe so life could thrive. Doctor Doom might accidentally hurt realities just so he can get his revenge.
At least, that’s how I think things will go down. It’ll be interesting to see whether Tony-838 was always known as Doctor Doom in his reality. Maybe he got that title after the events in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Maybe Tony Stark wants to bring doom to the other reality and save his own, hence the Doctor Doom name. Again, a real Doctor Doom villain could not exist in this universe, where the superheroes would have probably defeated him.
The bigger plot twist for Secret Wars
Doctor Doom might beat the Avengers in Doomsday, but he might not necessarily be a true villain until the end of Secret Wars. I think we’ll discover that Kang was the real villain all along. This Tony will have a change of heart and help the Avengers multiverse alliance beat the big villain.
I think Marvel needed RDJ to play Doctor Doom because it needed this particular face in Doomsday. Imagine Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) seeing this Tony at the head of an army attacking Earth.
We must experience the heartbreaking shock of Iron Man’s former friends and partners when fighting a real Tony-like villain. Unlike Captain America: Civil War, this Tony-like version will not pull his punches. He’ll want revenge for his reality.
Then there’s Loki (Tom Hiddleston) overseeing the multiverse. It’ll be interesting watching this Loki actually fight Doctor Doom, as the latter threatens multiple realities. After all, Loki is safeguarding all realities, and is looking to prevent multiversal wars. Whether he realizes it or not, Doctor Doom might be after multiversal wars.
I’ll also remind you that Deadpool & Wolverine just introduced Anchor Beings, or characters so important to a reality that their death can lead to that universe’s entire collapse. I speculated that Iron Man is one such character. Doctor Doom coming to the MCU reality might help save that reality when we find out his name is Tony Stark.
If all this plays out in this fashion, then RDJ’s Doctor Doom would actually turn out to be an Iron Man revival of sorts rather than a tale of the big villain from The Fantastic Four stories. That is, the Fantastic Four will eventually need to meet the real Victor von Doom later down the road.
