Marvel Studios usually sends shockwaves through Hall H — and pop culture news — whenever it drops its upcoming slate at San Diego Comic-Con and this year was no different. On Saturday, it was revealed that Joe and Anthony Russo will direct the next two Avengers films, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. But the biggest shock was that Robert Downey Jr. is also returning to the MCU as The Fantastic Four’s archnemesis, Doctor Doom. Reactions are mixed, and it’s not surprising, while Downey has honed his post-MCU talents with projects like Oppenheimer and The Sympathizer, it doesn’t feel like he’s the right fit for Doom.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Casting Misses a Vital Element of Doctor Doom’s Backstory
By casting Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, the MCU is continuing a troubling trend regarding live-action versions of Doom; namely, ignoring his Romani heritage. Victor Von Doom grew up in a Romani tribe, combining the sorcery he inherited from his mother Cynthia and his innate intelligence to protect his people. In fact, the hardships he suffered as a child are what led him to take over his homeland of Latveria — he wanted to make a home where his people could be safe. Previous film incarnations of Doom have ignored this, with Julian McMahon playing Von Doom as an ersatz Lex Luthor and Toby Kebbell playing him as an antisocial scientist. Considering the work that went into previous MCU films like the Black Panther franchise and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, this feels like a step backward.
Dr. Doom’s Appearance May Be Too Early in the MCU
Downey’s appearance as Doctor Doom also raises another major question: Is it too early for the character to appear? Doom is often regarded as one of the greatest villains in the Marvel Universe, but it took time for him to get to that position in the comics. Doom doesn’t even face off against The Fantastic Four until the fifth issue of their comic; he eventually rose to his current prominence in the 1980s with the original Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars maxiseries — Doomsday and Secret Wars are likely using said maxiseries as inspiration for their plot.
Doom’s appearance also feels like a last-minute decision, particularly considering the original plans for the next two Avengers movies. Doomsday was originally titled The Kang Dynasty and was meant to feature Earth’s Mightiest Heroes battling Kang the Conqueror, but the one-two punch of Destin Daniel Cretton departing the project and Jonathan Majors‘ trial, combined with being fired from his role as Kang, left a major shakeup. While Doom did play a role in the original Secret Wars, it would have been far more compelling if he was built up to be a major threat or faced off against The Fantastic Four first.
Downey’s Return Feels Like It’s Taking the Wrong Lessons From Other MCU Successes
It’s no secret that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is looking to make Doomsday and Secret Wars the same kind of blockbuster event in the mold of previous MCU films like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. It’s also no secret that the Russos had been aching to adapt Secret Wars, with Joe Russo calling it the comic that made him fall in love with the Marvel Universe at SDCC. But what all parties are forgetting is that those successes were the result of patience. It took time to build up the events that led to Infinity War and Endgame — and even the first Avengers film. By racing to get Doom in the picture, Feige and the Russos risk underselling the menace that the Lord of Latveria was in the source material.
Bringing Downey back also feels like a Hail Mary plan to reel in MCU viewers who are distant from the franchise, and Marvel Studios should have looked to two of its previous successes when figuring out Doom’s role. Spider-Man: No Way Home brought Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire‘s versions of Peter Parker back to the silver screen, but they weren’t the main focus — Tom Holland’s web-slinger still took center stage. Deadpool & Wolverine also takes a similar tactic, using most of its screen time to focus on the dynamic between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman‘s mutants, which is reaping rewards at the box office. Downey coming back feels like the same kind of blatant nostalgia play that drove Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Flash, and the creatives involved will have to work to make Doom an actually compelling character.
Marvel Studios Might Be Missing Out on an Iconic Comic Book Rivalry
Introducing Doctor Doom as the next big bad of the Avengers movies misses out on a compelling conflict: the rivalry between himself and Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic. Doom feels that he is superior to Reed and tries to prove it at every turn, from his attempts at world conquest to his battles with The Fantastic Four. The biggest example comes in 2015’s Secret Wars by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic; when the Marvel multiverse was destroyed, Doom obtained godlike power and pulled together the fragments of various realities to create Battleworld. But he also stole Reed’s family Sue, Valeria, and Franklin in the process. It wasn’t until Reed and Doom battled on the collapsing Battleworld that Doom finally admitted Reed was better than him. Of course, this could be fleshed out in future properties, but not having their rivalry as a foundation of their relationships risks losing one of the premiere character dynamics between the pair.
What makes the 2015 Secret Wars so compelling is that it served as the culmination of a years-long story Hickman had crafted, beginning with his work on Fantastic Four. Marvel Studios should give Doom’s appearance the same care, and not just regulate him to the Avengers franchise; if The Fantastic Four: First Steps turns out to be a success, future Fantastic Four films could use him as a character. Downey uttered the phrase “New mask, same task,” in Hall H — hopefully, that was a figure of speech and not an indictment of the storytelling approach the Russos are taking.
Avengers: Doomsday premieres in U.S. theaters in May 2026, while Avengers: Secret Wars will premiere in May 2027. Avengers: Endgame is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
