Last summer, Marvel announced that Robert Downey Jr. would return to the MCU, as an increasing number of rumors suggested. But he wouldn’t play Iron Man, whose resurrection we expected for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Instead, RDJ would play another iconic Marvel character we’re dying to see in the MCU, Doctor Doom. He wouldn’t be the main villain of the The Fantastic Four reboot. RDJ’s Doom would replace Kang as the big multiversal villain that will start a new multiversal war.
That’s how we got Avengers: Doomsday to replace Kang Dynasty. Marvel needed this trick to keep the Secret Wars finale in place for the Multiverse Saga while having to abandon the Kang-centric story.
It’s not just RDJ returning as a new character. The Russo brothers are back as well, and they’ll direct both Avengers 5 and Avengers 6. All of this bought Marvel more goodwill with fans, generating the kind of excitement that was lacking for the most recent Multiverse Saga movies and TV shows. Truth be told, there wasn’t that much to be excited about.
While having RDJ back as Doctor Doom is a great publicity stunt, I also thought it was a clever way to hide Iron Man’s return. Marvel doesn’t have to explain why Downey is on set every day and can keep an Iron Man resurrection secret.
But Doctor Doom’s resemblance will need an explanation in the movie. A well-known leaker has provided that explanation early, and it’s something I didn’t see coming.
If it turns out to be accurate, this Doomsday plot detail is a massive spoiler for the upcoming Avengers movies. You’ll want to avoid what follows if you want to be surprised.
I’ve had my own theory since Marvel stunned fans at Comic-Con with RDJ’s Doctor Doom reveal. I thought Doom was actually a version of Iron Man from the multiverse gone bad. Well, he wouldn’t be evil or a villain in the true sense of the word. He’d just try to defend his reality, even if that meant fighting and potentially killing many Avengers teams from the multiverse.
The Russo brothers did not reveal why Doctor Doom has the same face as Iron Man, or whether this Doom is connected to Tony Stark’s death in any way. But they teased in an interview that Iron Man’s death is important. “We can’t explain that as it’s part of the story. But there’s nobody else in the world who could play this character the way he’s about to,” they said.
This enigmatic statement wasn’t enough to dispel my theory. I still believed that Doctor Doom is a version of Stark. But if MyTimeToShineHello apparently learned that Doctor Doom is exactly who Marvel is saying he is: Doctor Doom.
The striking resemblance to Tony Stark is something this Doctor Doom will use to his advantage. He’ll “present himself as an ally to the MCU,” which is certainly something one would expect.
As ComicBookMovie points out, we’ve had Doomsday plot rumors saying that Doctor Doom would lead a team of evil Avengers from other realities. As a reminder, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is also supposed to return in these Avengers movies.
In addition to believing Doctor Doom is a version of Stark, I also thought the Captain America variant might play could be an evil version of the one we’ve grown to love. Rumors say some of the actors involved in Doomsday and Secret Wars would pull double-duty jobs, playing both good and bad versions of their characters.
Marvel can afford to do that right now because we’re in the Multiverse Saga. The multiverse gives Marvel the perfect excuse to do anything it wants without having casting choices spoil the surprises. As a reminder, the casting rumors preceding Endgame all confirmed the Avengers who died in Infinity War would be resurrected.
Doctor Doom having Iron Man’s face is also a convenient tool for Marvel to deliver an emotional encounter between Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and the Doomsday villain. Rumors say Doctor Doom will show up in Spider-Man 4.
If the leaker is right, and Doctor Doom’s resemblance to Iron Man is accidental, Doomsday still has to explain how Doctor Doom came to find out that he could exploit this likeness. If Doctor Doom uses his face to pretend he’s Iron Man and recruit other Avengers to his cause from the multiverse, that’s a pretty big plot detail.
How did he find universes where Iron Man variants looked like him? It can’t be all an accident. Doctor Doom’s plan to defend his reality and conquer others can’t be built on fooling teams of Avengers into thinking he’s practically Iron Man from a different reality.
Avengers: Doomsday is filming this year and is set to premiere in May 2026.
