The Marvel fans have been caught up by MCU’s recent surprising twist. Robert Downey Jr. is set to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not as the widely loved Iron Man or Tony Stark, but as the deadly villain Doctor Doom. RDJ appeared as Iron Man for the very first time in the 2008 film, Iron Man and he reprised his role for over next 11 years, in 10 Marvel films. However, with this recent announcement, the expectations of the Marvel fans have risen as they are expecting a new MCU chapter to begin.
Robert Downey Jr. Is Returning As Doctor Doom
Robert Downey Jr, the widely famous actor is all set to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On Saturday, Marvel revealed at the pop-culture convention Comic-Con that Robert Downey Jr is coming back to the universe as the most iconic villain, Doctor Doom in the upcoming movie, Avengers: Doomsday, which will be followed by another movie, Avengers: Secret Wars. Avengers: Doomsday will be released in 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars will be released in 2027.
Also, the forthcoming movies will be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and the directing duo is on the deck to helm these two movies, which will introduce Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom. The duo will be re-teaming up with RDJ for the first time since they killed Tony Stark in the 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Though Rober Downey Jr. stated in multiple interviews that he was open to returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans thought that he would come back as Iron Man. However, the recent announcement of his return as Doctor Doom has come as a shock to the whole fandom, including the audience who were attending the Comic-Con event in San Diego. To announce his return, RDJ made a victorious entry to Hall H, wearing the mask and green dress of Doctor Doom. Robert Downey Jr. said while revealing his mask on the stage that he now has a new mask but the task remains the same. He also mentioned that he likes to play complicated characters.
What To Know About RDJ’s New Character Doctor Doom
Victor Von Doom or Doctor Doom was introduced in the 1962 issue of The Fantastic Four. He is an intelligent scientist from a fictional European country, Latveria. The widely known supervillain has a special relationship with Reed Richards, who is also a member of the superhero team The Fantastic Four. Doctor Doom is an enemy or opponent of Reed Richards, who is played by Pedro Pascal. The character will debut in 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
It has been revealed that Doctor Doom gets damaged when a machine he invented explodes. Due to this, he is mandated to wear a mask and an armor suit. Later, he becomes the king of Latveria and dominates the people of the country. According to Marvel’s official website, Doctor Droom is one of those villains who crave for control, power, and acknowledgment and thinks that he is right in everything.
To achieve all these things, the iconic villain also uses magical spells. Previously the character of Doctor Droom was played by Julian McMahon in 2005’s Fantastic Four and Toby Kebbell in 2015 reboot. Also, the villain’s character had a special place in MCU’s 2015 Secret Wars comic.
Will There Be A Connection Between RDJ’s Role of Iron Man and Doctor Droom?
Since the announcement of the new Fantastic Four movie, it was expected that the villain, Doctor Droom would make a comeback. But the character of the supervillain will be played by Robert Downey Jr, one of the most beloved heroes of Marvel, was a complete twist. However, the upcoming movie Fantastic Four: First Steps will have a different storyline and will also take place in an alternative universe, so the character of Doctor Doom will originate from there and not from the mainstream Marvel timeline.
So, this means that the character of Doctor Doom will actually be an evil villain, which is completely opposite from the character of Iron Man. Though, the character may look like Tony Stark, but it will not imbibe the characteristics of Iron Man and will be entirely different. Also, at the Comic-Con event which was held in San Diego, the directors of the movies, Joe and Anthony Russo revealed that the character of Doctor Doom is still named Victor Von Doom.
The news of Robert Downey Jr’s casting as Doctor Doom came as a surprise for many fans because they thought that he would return to the MCU as Iron Man from an alternative world in Avengers: Secret Wars. However, we can never underestimate the Marvel Cinematic Universe given the infinite universes, and the return of RDJ as Tony Stark could still happen given the actor’s new role of a supervillain.
Release Date of RDJ’s Avengers: The Doomsday
Marvel Cinematic Universe announced that Robert Downey Jr and the stellar duo of Joe and Anthony Russo will return for the two upcoming crossover movies, which is an attempt to win back their fans around the world. This is because during the last few years, the Universe has faced a series of problems such as the exit of Avengers 5 director, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Jonathan Majors was fired because he was convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
All these issues resulted in receiving a ton of backlash. However, this new attempt to bring RDJ back into the universe is an attempt to revitalize the interest of people in the franchise. Robert Downey Jr will be returning to the universe as Doctor Doom in the upcoming movie, Avengers: The Doomsday which is slated to release on 1st May 2026, as part of MCU’s phase 6, though it was initially set to be released on 2nd May 2025.
The other Avengers movie which will include the character of Doctor Doom is Avengers: Secret Wars and this movie will arrive in theatres on 7th May 2027. However, with the release of Avengers: The Doomsday, Doctor Doom will be taking over Kang as the primary villain for this chapter of Marvel’s story.
