Marvel Studios’ casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom is the furthest thing from lazy, and I’m incredibly excited to see how such an iconic actor will bring one of the biggest Marvel villains to life. Having already played Iron Man for over ten years in the MCU, Marvel’s closing SDCC announcement that Downey would be playing Doctor Doom certainly came as a major shock. That said, the potential for some truly dynamic multiversal storytelling has me very excited to see RDJ in this new villain role.

At SDCC 2024, Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige confirmed that Avengers5 has been officially renamed as Avengers: Doomsday. Likewise, Infinity War and Endgame’s Russo Brothers are returning to direct the film as well as Avengers: Secret Wars. However, the ultimate reveal from Marvel Studios was naturally Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, an announcement that’s been generating record social media numbers, and all kinds of opinions both for and against the casting. To that end, I believe that RDJ as Doctor Doom is a very bold creative swing, one that’s certainly high risk while offering very high rewards.

Why Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom Is Perfect MCU Casting

There’s Some Strong Poetic Symmetry Going On

Right off the bat, I’m absolutely loving the poetic symmetry behind RDJ’s casting. After all, Marvel Studios has decided to take one of the biggest actors in Hollywood, whose success can largely be attributed to Marvel themselves, and is now giving them the role of one of the biggest villains in all of superhero fiction, after he’s already played one of the biggest superheroes of all time. After seeing all the reactions online, quoting The Dark Knight’s Harvey Dent feels like a cliché, but it just works so well: “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

By agreeing to come back to Marvel and work with the Russo Brothers again (something that was reportedly a key condition for his return), Robert Downey Jr. is becoming the embodiment of the above sentiment simultaneously. It’s a chance to do something brand-new in the universe that RDJ helped build from its very beginning in 2008. However, the “poetry” goes even further, seeing as how Robert Downey Jr. was nearly cast as Victor von Doom in Fox’s Fantastic Four movies (which Kevin Feige also helped produce). 19 years later, it’s finally happening.

Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom Casting Criticisms Addressed

There Are Valid Concerns

That said, there are some valid concerns regarding this major new MCU casting. Many feel as though Victor von Doom deserves to be his own entity, rather than being a variant of Tony Stark as will likely be the case. While that’s not yet been confirmed, connections to Iron Man are likely why RDJ was cast in the first place, whatever the narrative ties may be. Additionally, there are also criticisms that the casting is “lazy” and/or “desperate”, with speculation that Marvel Studios is simply looking to reclaim the pre-Endgame glory days (and box office success) by bringing back both RDJ and the Russo Brothers.

Selecting proven entities for future projects was obviously something Marvel saw value in. However, it’s hard to see the move as lazy in any creative sense. Lazy would have been Marvel bringing back RDJ as Iron Man, especially following Tony Stark’s truly perfect ending and death as seen in Endgame.

Instead, casting RDJ as Doom can only be seen as a major creative swing, a gamble that goes bigger than casting anyone else in the role because it’s Robert Downey Jr. To that end, the gamble might not pay off or work out as well as Marvel wants it to. Nevertheless, I’m extremely optimistic about the version of Doom RDJ will be bringing to the table.

There’s Precedence For A Tony Stark Doctor Doom Variant In Marvel Comics

It’s Happened Before On The Page

There’s great precedence in the original comics for a version of Doom connected to Tony Stark in some form. The most well-known is 2016’s Infamous Iron Man run where Doom took over the mantle of Iron Man while Stark was in a coma, taking place in the aftermath of both 2015’s Secret Wars and Civil War II. Perhaps the MCU is looking to flip the script by debuting an Infamous Iron Man before their own Secret Wars, one who’s a darker Stark who’s become Doom.

However, there’s also the more classic What If…? Marvel Comics where Stark was Doom’s college roommate instead of Reed Richards. This resulted in Doom switching their minds so that Doom-as-Stark could use all of his family’s wealth and resources, such as Stark Enterprises. Creating versions of their classic armors and masks with reversed colors, Doom’s eventual defeat resulted in Stark keeping Doom’s name as he’d made it honorable, while Doom had associated the name “Tony Stark” with greed and corruption.

Hailing from Earth-5012, there’s another variant of Tony Stark who becomes Doom in the comics, while also forming an intense rivalry with Reed Richards (also known as the Iron Maniac). To that end, Marvel Studios may be looking to do something similar to close out their Multiverse Saga, and it’s worth noting that the rebooted Fantastic Four will exist in an alternate universe to the main MCU’s Earth-616. The same could be just as true for Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, debuting as an alt-reality Tony Stark with much darker origins.

How RDJ’s Doom Can Close Out The MCU’s Multiverse Saga In Spectacular Fashion

A Completely Different Kind of Performance

While a dark Iron Man variant of Doom feels likely, Robert Downey Jr. could also just as easily be playing a more legitimate Victor von Doom. After all, it certainly helps that Doom almost always wears his iconic metal mask to hide his presumably scarred face. RDJ has proven his ability to play more intense roles and antagonists, such as Lewis Strauss in 2023’s Oppenheimer (a role that coincidentally features a rivalry with a much smarter and popular man). Likewise, Downey’s impressive range was on full display with his four roles in HBO’s The Sympathizer.

Keeping that in mind, I truly believe that the MCU’s upcoming version of Doctor Doom is a unique and remarkable chance for Robert Downey Jr. to do something completely different from Tony Stark performatively, whether he ends up being a variant or the genuine article. If done right, Doctor Doom is a role that RDJ could completely embrace and execute with striking dynamics beyond the norm (not unlike Heath Ledger’s Joker). With that in mind, I couldn’t be more optimistic and excited to see what Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom will be like in the MCU (my fingers are tightly crossed for something epic and extraordinary).