One character has been notably absent from the Fantastic Four teasers so far: their longtime nemesis, Doctor Doom. But during Marvel’s traditional Hall H panel at Comic-Con 2024 on Saturday, directors Joe and Anthony Russo announced that the iconic supervillain will appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and be played by one of the franchise’s most beloved actors.
Yes, Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. is returning to Marvel, but not as Iron Man/Tony Stark. This time, he’ll be playing Doom, first in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and then in Avengers: The Secret Wars. Doom was a staple of the Secret Wars comics and is promised to play a similar role in the film.
Robert Downey on the cover of Marvel’s “Infamous Iron Man” Volume 2.
Getty; Marvel
In the Marvel comics, Doctor Doom is often surrounded by replica Doombots, and the announcement played out in a similar fashion: A group of people dressed as Doom walked onto the stage, and Downey appeared to thunderous applause from the audience.
“New mask, same job,” Downey said onstage, after removing his metal mask and donning the robes of Doctor Doom. “What can I say, I love playing complex characters.”
How could this happen? In Marvel Comics, Stark and Doom have some similarities: they both wear metal masks, they’re both wealthy, and they’re both scientific geniuses on a level that would impress aliens and gods. But they’ve also directly crossed paths before. After the events of 2016’s Marvel Comics Civil War II, Stark was put into a long coma, and Victor Von Doom took over the title of Iron Man from Stark in the comic series Infamous Iron Man.
Now we could see a reversal of sorts, with an actor known for playing Iron Man in the films taking on the role of Doctor Doom. Since this is a multiverse story (the Russo Brothers made it clear they were setting up for parallel universes to collide in Secret Wars), this could be an alternate universe version of Stark from somewhere in the Marvel multiverse.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled for release in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars due to follow in May 2027. This parallels the Russo brothers’ previous MCU films, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which were both released one year apart.
—Reporting by Sidney Bucksbaum