Robert Downey Jr. will always be an iconic part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but many had come to terms with the fact that he wouldn’t be an active part of it after Iron Man’s heroic death in Avengers: Endgame. That all changed when the Russo Brothers revealed that Downey Jr. would be returning to the MCU with Avengers: Doomsday, but he wouldn’t be playing Tony Stark. Instead, he would be playing Victor Von Doom, and a recent event has revealed Downey Jr’s justification for returning to the MCU.
Kevin Feige took to the stage at a live event to tease some things for Avengers: Doomsday and the lead-up to it, and at one point, Feige revealed what Downey Jr. told him after Feige offered him the role of Doctor Doom (via Discussing Film). Feige said, “His exact words were, ‘I played the best hero… I can play the best villain.”
There are a lot of things we still don’t know about Robert Downey Jr’s return to the MCU, but we do have a few key details, and Feige did tease a few more during the event. Feige teased just how perfect Robert Downey Jr. is for the Doctor Doom role, saying, “He’s a scientist, he’s a technologist, he’s a sorcerer and a ruler, and to embody that complexity, that tragedy, that charisma of the character.”
From the CinemaCon footage descriptions, we know that Doom is incredibly powerful at this point, as he is able to raise the Sentinels from the ground and reanimate them to attack his enemies. On top of that, he stops Thor’s Stormbreaker not with another weapon, a shield, or even his hand, but with one finger.
As for conjecture, we aren’t sure if he is a version of Tony Stark from an alternate universe that has followed a different path, but that could very well be the case. Having a different Tony Stark come to our world as the biggest villain creates all kinds of opportunities for complex character reactions, especially amongst the original Avengers like Steve Rogers and Thor, who we know are a big part of this movie. The same goes for someone like Spider-Man, who will likely feel isolated to a degree now that no one remembers him, and now he will face a version of his mentor that is completely different.
There’s a measure of truth to what Downey Jr. is saying about playing the best hero, as while he’s not my favorite MCU hero, I would say his Iron Man and Evans’ Captain America are the best and most iconic heroes of the MCU to date. The same will hopefully be true of Doctor Doom, and hopefully we’ll get even more details soon.
Avengers: Doomsday lands in theaters on December 18th.
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