Robert Downey Jr. will return to the MCU but not as Iron Man this time. After his reign as Tony Stark for over a decade, he has begun his new venture in a stringkingly different role in the Marvel universe. He is set to star as one of Marvel’s biggest supervillain, Dr Doom, as announced at the San Diego Comic-con 2024.
Marvel offers Avengers: The Kang Dynasty which is newly rebranded as Avengers: Doomsday, starring RDJ, slated for release in May 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars set for May 2027 premiere. In other words, there is no Avengers movie without Robert Downey Jr. as he comes back in a brand new mask to the fifth instalment of the franchise. And fans are pleasantly surprised at this unexpectedly massive new reveal.
Marvel fans react to Robert Downey Jr’s Dr Doom reveal
For every soul that had lost hope after Tony Stark died saving the universe from Thanos and his paperweights, MCU offered the most spectacular surprise at the San Diego Comic-con 2024. Avengers: Doomsday will feature RDJ as the supervillain Dr Doom and these upcoming Avengers films will be directed by Russo brothers as confirmed by Kevin Feige.
As Downey unmasked himself at Hall H, the crowd went into a frenzy, as they should. He announced his new job from the stage saying, “New mask, same task.” Fans lost it.
Some fans are still in disbelief while some are praising the epic screams of the audience on X, “THAT F***ING CROWD REACTION MAN.” One fan on X pointed out, “RDJ is Finally Back” while another said it will be tought to convince them that Downey is not Iron Man, “I’ll never be able to not see him as Ironman.”
On Instagram, users are malfunctioning as MCU just turned everyone’s favorite superhero into a supervillain. However, one fan echoes the sentiment of almost everyone in the multiverse, “Being hero or villain, I love you in all the Universes.”
Robert Downey Jr and the Russo Bros are back together in Avengers 5
In one dramatic ceremony, about two dozen men dressed in olive robes with metal masks like Doctor Doom joined Kevin Feige and the Russo brothers on stage before revealing that Downey would return to MCU in Avengers 5.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Joe Russo said, “If we’re going to bring Doctor Doom to the screen — he is one of the most complex characters, most entertaining characters in all of fiction. If we’re going to do this, then we are going to need the greatest actor in the world.” And with RDJ’s résumé, there’s hardly in doubt in this casting.
Robert Downey Jr. had once tried out for Victor Von Doom back in the early 2000s Fantastic Four films, as confirmed by Feige in a Marvel interview. With this background and his more recent award-winning villain role from Oppenheimer, Downey could easily transform Dr Doom into an MCU powerhouse just like his previous character.
ALSO READ: SDCC 2024: Robert Downey Jr. Confirms MCU Return As Dr Doom In Avengers: Doomsday
