At the panel for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie (which I am becoming more and more excited about all the time), Kevin Feige, studio head and Chief Creative Officer, announced that the Russo Brothers would be returning to direct the next two Avengers movies.
Anthony and Joe Russo directed some of my very favourite MCU films (Captain America: Winter Soldier and Civil War, and Avengers: Infinty War and Endgame), so I was over the moon to hear they were back for more. Hopefully they can bring writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely with them too.
The Russos came onstage to talk about the honour and challenge of helping to wrap up the MCU's latest 'saga'. They also announced that 2026's Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was being renamed Avengers: Doomsday, presumably as part of a pivot away from the actor who had been playing the time travelling villain Kang, Jonathan Majors. No change to Avengers: Secret Wars (2027), which makes a lot of sense since the Russos had both said that was one of the few titles that might draw them back to Marvel from their own projects.
Doomsday obviously suggests that the new villain du jour is none other than the monarch of Latveria and perennial foil of the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, arguably the best villain in the entire Marvel pantheon. And the Russos wasted no time in introducing the actor they had selected to play this iconic figure, and in such a stylish reveal:
That crowd reaction gives me chills every time I hear it, even though I have tremendously mixed feelings about casting Robert Downey Jr., the man who played Iron Man, as Victor von Doom. And judging from what I am seeing on the interwebs, I am not alone in my concerns.
But I am also cautiously optimistic!
Now, those of you less invested might be surprised that the return of a beloved actor to such a pivotal role in this immense movie franchise would be met with nothing but sheer joy, but the apprehension is actually quite understandable.
You see, the fear is that Doctor Doom, this distinct and well-established character (who actually pre-dates Iron Man by almost half a year!), an imperious and arrogant monarch of a fictional European nation whose mask conceals a horribly scarred visage, will become some twisted, alt-universe, "What If...?" version of our martyred Saint Tony of Stark.
This is not an unreasonable assumption to make either; the cowardice of (most) studio executives is legendary and the idea of spending so much money on an actor and then not showing his face will be a hard sell. The Thanos Saga had many heroes, but the major arcs coalesced around wise cracking, irreverent, smart-ass but still actual genius (plus billionaire, playboy. and philanthropist) Tony Stark and his armoured alter ego, Iron Man.
And there is a precedent in the source material as well: Tony Stark has been Doctor Doom and Victor von Doom has been Iron Man. Also, Deadpool & Wolverine introduced the concept of 'anchor beings,' character so fundamentally important that their removal leads to the extinction of their entire universe (a dangerous notion that I hope never leaves the boundaries of the fourth-wall breaking Deadpoolverse). Such a notion could be the angle that Marvel Studios needs in order to justify bringing Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, a real crowd pleaser and proven box-office draw, back to the MCU.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I will hate it if they go that route, but I will still likely see the films. I will never stop lamenting the missed opportunity there though. A Tony Stark/ Doctor Doom connection would be a real admission of failure to me and a lot of other fans beside. It would be a concession to unoriginality and dramatically unsatisfying in the extreme. This casting already smacks a little bit of desperation but it doesn't yet feel cheap and exploitative and I really, fervently hope that is not the direction they intend to go.
And I think there is actually good reason to believe they won't.
I have been thinking about this casting for days now, too much, really (ask anyone), and I knew I was going to write about it so I was kind of disappointed when Susana Polo from Polygon beat me to the punch and expertly expressed almost precisely how I felt about the whole situation in an article entitled "When Robert Downey Jr. plays Doctor Doom he better keep the mask on."
And I mean, that's it - that's the magic bullet right there.
In the comics, Victor von Doom does not show his face. Not never (after 80 years? come on!) but exceedingly rarely, as near as dammit to never. Even in his origin story, where a dangerous experiment at university leaves him horribly disfigured, you never see the face of the man he once was, nor the ravaged thing he has become.
This mystery, this allure, is foundational to the character - this is not a tragic figure who is trapped behind a mask of iron like the Dumas character. This is someone whose arrogance and pride is such that they choose to isolate themselves, rather than reveal imperfection or vulnerability.
So no matter who Marvel ended up choosing to play Doctor Doom, my hope would be that his is a mask that can come off, but never, ever does. In fact, I would suggest doing the origin story above strictly from von Doom's POV, which also gives you a chance to have Pedro Pascal's face peering in sympathy at Victor's ravaged features after trying to warn him of the risk, only to have an angry von Doom croak, "Begone, Richards!"
And if the mask never comes off, the comparison to Tony Stark is never an issue. No shocked recognition, no gasp of realization - there ends up being absolutely no connection between Stark and von Doom except for the talented actor who played both.
And who also played Charlie Chaplin as a young, middle-aged, and elderly man.
And who played a white Australian actor portraying a black American soldier in Tropic Thunder. (Thanks for the reminder, Zach!)
If the mask stays on, I don't think there is any danger in audiences or characters mistaking Doctor Doom for Tony Stark if the mask stays on. But is that realistic? Will studio executives let Feige spend a boatload of money drawing Robert Downey Jr. back to the MCU and not want to put his face on the posters and merchandising? Won't RDJ want to get his (admittedly handsome) face on screen at some point, as all masked actors are wont to do?
Well, maybe. But there are a few factors that suggest maybe the mask can, indeed, stay in place. (Or if it comes off, they either map on another face, distinct from RDJ's, or have it so scarred and twisted it makes Wade Wilson look like George Clooney.)
First, RDJ is the 800-lb gorilla in this scenario, not the studio execs. In addition to the aforementioned princely sum, he only agreed to return if the next two Avengers movies were directed by prior collaborators and known quantities the Russo Bros, and he got them.
RDJ is also know for getting what he wants, such as increased pay for his fellow Avengers actors. So much so, in fact, that the rallying cry for their agents was rumored to be "f**k you, call Robert."
Downey is not just a good actor, he is a great actor, and now has an Oscar to prove it (for his supporting role in Oppenheimer). But he is not ashamed of his acting in the unapologetically commercial yet astonishingly high quality and emotionally satisfying Avengers movies. He calls it some of his best work that went unnoticed because of the genre it happened to be in.
The Russos are comics fans, and even before Endgame came out, they said the only story that might draw them back would be Secret Wars, the series that got Joe Russo really into the medium. Even if no one else does, I am wholly confident they understand the importance of a masked Doom.
Kevin Feige is one of history's most successful film producers recently honoured with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. He is also a huge nerd, but more critically, he understands better than anyone ever has the intersectionality between successful movies and the source material they are adapted from. Most importantly he know where to stand his ground, and I am confident he will do so on a masked Doom.
If Feige, the Russos and Downey present a unified front on this, I am confident of a positive outcome; but like I said before, RDJ is the 800-lb gorilla here, so let's consider a few other final facts. For instance, I only discovered today that he had actually auditioned to play Doctor before, for Fox's Fantastic Four movie in 2005, so portraying the character has occupied some portion of his mind for nearly two decades.
After the reveal at ComicCon, Downey said "New mask...same task. What'd I tell you, I like playing complicated characters." Now, I suppose that could mean, 'what is the connection between multiversal Tony Stark and Doctor Doom?!', but I really hope it isn't. I hope he finds Victor von Doom a complicated, intriguing and ultimately satisfying character to play: an arrogant, aristocratic and ruthless villain who is also fully human, haunted by failure, bound up in a complex code of honour perhaps even he himself doesn't fully understand.
I hope he sees Doctor Doom as a chance to bring one more brilliant performance to an epic film that will also feature prominently on lunchboxes and children's Hallowe'en costumes. and I hope he does so completely bereft of irony. Hell, I hope RDJ ends up getting nominated for and then winning the first acting Oscar for a Marvel movie - man, I would probably get that acceptance speech tattooed.
But the main reason I believe Downey might play the role as distinct from Stark comes from the reveal itself. He comes onto that stage in a crowd, anonymously, and I fully believe he is in character even after he removes the mask so dramatically, right up until he puts his sunglasses on.
Look at his face after he unmasks:
There is no smirk, no smarm, not even a smile on that face; no trace of Tony Stark smugness. That face is serious, imperious, dispassionate, superior - maybe even regal.
If this is indeed the face of Doom, I hope and pray it stays behind the mask.
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