Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom may have a surprising connection to an important scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel’s Doctor Doom announcement comes in the wake of the MCU cutting ties with Kang actor Jonathan Majors, with Victor Von Doom replacing the antagonist as the villain for Avengers 5. Many people have waited long for Doctor Doom’s MCU debut, and bringing back Downey Jr. to play him only increased their anticipation.

However, Marvel may have been setting this up for a while. The Avengers 5 movie was initially titled The Kang Dynasty before becoming Doomsday, but Doctor Doom has an important role in the Secret Wars storyline. As such, it’s quite possible that prior Multiverse Saga plans may have seen him be the central villain of this chapter already, with Marvel deciding to make him the villain for both films once the MCU moved away from Kang. Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom might not be as sudden as people think, and Marvel could have set it up nine years ago in Age of Ultron if one MCU theory is true.

Tony Stark’s Vision In Age Of Ultron Could Explain Doctor Doom’s Origins

Tony’s vision could have happened in an alternate reality.

In Age of Ultron‘s opening scene at Baron Strucker’s compound, the Avengers have their first encounter with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Wanda corrupts Tony Stark’s mind during the battle, giving him a vision of his worst nightmare. In the vision, Tony sees all the Avengers dead in space as the Chitauri Army invades Earth without its best defenders. Tony believes this is a premonition of what’s to come, inspiring him to build Ultron as a “suit of armor around the world.” Ultron turns evil, and the Avengers eventually defeat him, but there could be more to Tony’s vision.

Instead of just being a manifestation of Tony’s psyche, this vision could be a glimpse into another multiverse where this happened, and The Avengers died fighting Thanos’ army, meaning the variant of Tony was the only one left. After this event, it would make sense for the character to take steps to ensure this never happens again, leading to his descent into becoming an authoritative tyrant named Doctor Doom. Tony has an obsession with protecting the people he loves, and he could turn to the dark side if everyone is taken from him.

Doctor Strange 2 Established That Dreams Are Visions Of The Multiverse

Dreams have the power to show variants of oneself in the MCU.

Fortunately, the MCU recently explained how this theory could be true. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Stephen Strange has a dream with America Chavez. He believes it to be a vision, but after discovering his body from a different reality, he realizes that dreams are “windows into the lives of our multiversal selves.” When a character has a dream, it’s thus potentially something that is happening to a variant of themselves in another reality.

While Tony wasn’t sleeping when he had this vision, it’s possible that Scarlet Witch’s powers showed him a reality where the worst outcome occurred. As Doctor Strange said in Infinity War, the Avengers lost to Thanos in 14,000,604 realities, so Tony could have seen into one of these timelines. The other Avengers also had visions via Scarlet Witch, and it’s possible that all these visions were from realities where their desires or worst fears came true.

Is Doctor Doom A Tony Stark Variant?

Doctor Doom’s origins are still unknown.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Robert Downey Jr. said he is playing Victor Von Doom, not Tony Stark as Doctor Doom. The actor said he and Kevin Feige discussed Doctor Doom, and Feige said, “Let’s get Victor Von Doom right.” As such, it looks like Downey Jr. will be playing a version of Doctor Doom who happens to look like Tony Stark, which is possible. Chris Evans’ cameo as Johnny Storm in Deadpool & Wolverine showed that two characters can look identical to each other, but exist in different realities.

However, it’s still possible that this makes the character a Tony Stark variant. Perhaps Doctor Doom grew up as Tony Stark, but something happened that caused him to take on the name Victor Von Doom as a moniker. It does seem weird for Marvel to bring Robert Downey Jr. back as Doctor Doom and not connect it to Iron Man, but there are still plenty of mystery surrounding Avengers: Doomsday. It’s a choice receiving mixed reactions from audiences, but it seems likely that Marvel will have a good explanation for this approach, which may well also factor in story aspects like those raised in Avengers: Age Of Ultron.