Robert Downey Jr. might be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a new report claims he may be related to an upcoming Doctor Doom story. Ever since his ending in Avengers: Endgame, the MCU audience has been actively hoping to see Downey Jr. come back at some point. With The Multiverse Saga fully underway, the idea of seeing alternative versions of Iron Man exists, but has yet to come to fruition, leading to multiple theories about how this could happen in upcoming Marvel releases.

In his latest newsletter, Jeff Sneider claims that while the Doctor Doom casting for The Fantastic Four reboot has yet to happen, the reporter is hearing that Robert Downey Jr. might be coming back to the MCU timeline, but with a massive Marvel twist. According to Sneider, the Iron Man star could be playing a variant version of Stark who ends up becoming Doctor Doom in his world, stating the following:

Speaking of Doctor Doom, there’s still no word yet about his casting in Fantastic Four , as insiders denied my inquiry about Robert Downey Jr., who I was told might come back as an alternate-universe Tony Stark who becomes Doctor Doom instead of Iron Man. It seems far-fetched, yes, but I figured that if there was any hope of Downey coming back, there’d have to be a new wrinkle for him to play. So, for now, we continue to wait…

Who Is Infamous Iron Man & Why RDJ Would Be Great

The idea that the MCU report seems to be loosely based on is Marvel’s Infamous Iron Man comic run, where Victor Von Doom served as Iron Man. Created by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, it explores Doctor Doom as a hero, carrying Tony’s hero title. There are certainly a number of directions the MCU could go with this concept, and having Downey Jr. as part of that equation would be crucial for numerous reasons.

Given how big of an impact the actor had on the MCU by the time of Avengers: Endgame, having Downey Jr. return but giving him a very different arc and character to play would avoid decreasing the effect of his initial sendoff. Marvel Studios could always approach the idea of Tony as Doctor Doom either by having him be a morally gray hero or a traditional villain. Having him as an antagonist would also allow for some emotional heartstrings to be pulled for the Earth-616 heroes, as they would have to battle someone who in their timeline was an ally.

If the report turns out to be true, it will be interesting to see what Downey Jr. would do as a version of Doctor Doom, as this would be a very unexpected way of having that villain make his MCU debut. Should Downey Jr. actually be returning to the MCU in this capacity, it wouldn’t be shocking if his reappearance was addressed at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. But for now, the MCU audience will have to wait and see if Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom is happening at all.