It’s a moment Marvel Studios enthusiasts likely won’t soon forget. From the Hall H level at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed that the name of the upcoming Marvel movie Avengers Five has replaced Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. to Avengers: Doomsday. The focus shifted from Kang the Conqueror, thanks to Jonathan Majors’ legal troubles, to the dominant risk of Victor Von Doom. But that was not the most important news. The Russo brothers, directors of several Captain America and Avengers films, would return to the MCU to direct Avengers: Doomsday and its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars. And they would bring lucky charm Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU.
The moment like this:
A post shared via CinemaBlend (@cinemablend)
A photo posted on
It was exciting to see Robert Downey Jr. return to the level of his Marvel brothers, return to the franchise that catapulted him to global stardom after killing Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame and then win a well-deserved Oscar for his performance on various levels. Once the PR buzz wore off, we started asking questions about how this would work in the MCU as a whole. Clearly, Marvel Studios needed to move away from Jonathan Majors. Instead of recasting Kang, Marvel deployed a bigger weapon in Doom. But then they took a major turn in that role to attract arguably the biggest star in the Marvel galaxy.
It may just work. And I have confidence in the Russos, especially if they sign up for those big movies. They want to have an idea of how to make it work. But here are the questions that came up following the announcement that Robert Downey Jr. is betting on Doctor Doom in the MCU.
Probably not, although I understand why enthusiasts might jump to that conclusion. We’ve learned a lot about the MCU variants throughout the Multiverse saga. But Marvel hasn’t been consistent in how they treat them. When Doctor Strange met various Stranges from swap universes, they all looked like him and were played by Benedict Cumberbatch. The same can be said for the various Wolverines (Hugh Jackman) that Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) encountered while jumping around in search of a replacement anchor being. Well, one of them wasn’t played through Jackman, and that was great. Let’s hope this isn’t a one-time appearance.
At the same time, several characters in the MCU have found variants of themselves and are portrayed through other actors. The MCU’s Peter Parker (Tom Holland) met two other Spider-Men in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which remains one of the most productive Spider-Man films. John Krasinski played Reed Richards in one MCU movie, but Pedro Pascal will play him in another.
All of this means that just because Robert Downey Jr. is playing the character, he doesn’t have to be Tony Stark. There are “What if?” » Odds that, in a multiverse, the genius Stark has become a megalomaniac hell-bent on global domination of an armored hero. But I don’t think we’ll see “Evil Tony Stark” in Avengers: Doomsday. I think he’s Victor Von Doom, that’s how Joe and Anthony Russo got him off the stage.
This is incredibly likely, as Matt Shakman’s Fantastic Four: First Steps will hit theaters on July 25 and will go a long way toward identifying the first Marvel family in the MCU. But if Marvel is smart (and we know they are), they’d use valuable real estate in this blockbuster to identify Doctor Doom before diving straight into Avengers: Doomsday.
While Doom has fought with almost every single hero in the Marvel Universe, his main enemy is the equally brilliant Reed Richards, and I’m all for casting Robert Downey Jr. just to see him consume the sets with Pedro Pascal. I expect the Fantastic Four to bring the MCU in the coming years, so making Downey a formidable foe for the team is a wonderful first step.
(Insert Deadpool’s joke about Disney forcing an actor to play a central role until age 90!)
There’s a sense in Hall H that Marvel needed to hit an undisputed home run to distract attention from Jonathan Majors’ debacle, and the sheer sense of the Russos returning with RDJ caused a stir.
But those who wanted to criticize the MCU fueled the fire, as this decision can be interpreted as desperate. The company wants to guarantee an intelligent press. Bring back the actor you’ve built your empire on. However, this begs the question: “Does this jeopardize Tony Stark’s sacrifice at the end of Avengers: Endgame? It’s possible, but it all depends on how Downey Jr. chooses to play Victor. ” Von Doom. I think the character wants to be completely different from Tony Stark’s arrogant arrogance. Doom is self-assured in a calculated, evil way. Downey is a fantastic actor and is able to find new nuances to play in Doom so as not to think about or remember Tony Stark. But I don’t need anything in Doom to remind me of Tony Stark. As Downey said from the level in Hall H:
New mask. Same task.
Get a new character. But the task remains the same: to entertain the MCU faithful with anything they like.
It will definitely be strange and devastating. As we saw in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tony Stark was considered a global savior for his sacrifice to prevent Thanos (Josh Brolin). I can’t believe how Peter Parker will react when he sees his old mentor, or anyone. who looks exactly like his former mentor, without seeking to control or destroy the MCU multiverse.
Can you believe the effect this will have on Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) or Morgan Stark?What if Marvel had created The Young Avengers after Secret Wars and the team was led by a teenage Morgan, creating his own armor to combat a villain who looks like his father?Chills.
We’ll start to see how this all plays out when Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25, 2025.
Sean O’Connell is a journalist and editor-in-chief of CinemaBlend. On the site since 2011, Sean has interviewed a host of directors, actors and makers and created ReelBlend, which he proudly hosts alongside Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. . And he’s responsible for LAUNCHING SNYDER’S CUT, the POWER-POWERED Spider-Man short story e-book, and an upcoming e-book about Bruce Willis.
“Return as what?”: Robert Downey Jr. explains his decision to return to the MCU as Doctor Doom
Cate Blanchett Talks Chris Hemsworth Giving Her Hammer Throw Lessons About Thor and Something Sweet She Didn’t Realize About the MCU Before Signing
I’ve waited and waited to gorge on the Mayfair Witches. Alexandra Daddario celebrates at Netflix, but she highlights a big challenge with AMC
Cinemablend is from Future US Inc, a leading foreign media organization and virtual publisher. Visit our corporate site.