Why We're Worried About Robert Downey Jr. Playing Victor Von Doom

Marvel Studios always saves some big surprises for their annual Comic-Con panel, but this year was especially colossal. After showing the audience at Hall H previews of upcoming films like "Captain America: Brave New World," "Thunderbolts*," and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," Kevin Feige shocked fans with the biggest announcement the super world saw at Comic-Con, pertaining to the upcoming "Avengers" movies that will wrap up the Multiverse Saga. 

Not only will Joe and Anthony Russo return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to direct both "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars," but they're also bringing back one of the franchise's biggest stars: Robert Downey Jr. However, Downey likely won't be appearing as his iconic character of Tony Stark, as they've instead confirmed that he's been chosen to play the significant role of Victor von Doom, the purported villain of the Multiverse Saga.

The announcement has been received with a lot of emotions, from fans' overjoyed excitement, to the baffling confusion of MCU skeptics. Considering how big of a character Doctor Doom is in Marvel Comics, it's certainly a gamble from Marvel Studios to put all their chips into the nostalgia basket. Here's why we're concerned that this direction for the MCU may not work as well as Marvel will hope it does...

"Avengers: Endgame" was an unprecedented success for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, drawing over $2.7 billion at the box office and tying up three phases (over 20 films) in the movie franchise. However, it didn't take long for Phases 4-6 to get off to a rocky start, thanks in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WGA and SAG strikes in 2023, and a misjudgment on how much Marvel audiences were willing to take. On top of that, they faced a major crisis in 2023 with Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror, the supposed next Thanos for The MCU's Multiverse Saga.

The years since "Endgame" weren't without their W's, with Disney+ shows like "WandaVision" and "Loki" uncovering new depths to beloved Marvel characters, while films like "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" tugged at the heartstrings of longtime superhero movie lovers. Still, the consistent theme across these projects is inconsistency. "Eternals" scared off fans and critics, while "Secret Invasion" felt more like a waste of time than a stepping stone in Marvel's next storyline. 

To make matters worse, Jonathan Majors was subsequently fired by Marvel after being found guilty of misdemeanor assault, but the company might've actually been relieved to get rid of Kang, as one source told Variety last year: "It gave people pause given that '[Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania]' didn't exactly land." As it stands, the studio's track record is not what it once was. 

As far as replacements for Kang go, there's no better choice to pivot to than Victor von Doom. The character is regarded as one of the best villains in Marvel Comics, and even Stan Lee agreed, telling VOA News in 2007, "The main reason I like Dr. Doom is because inasmuch as he is a king, he could come to the United States and he could do almost anything and we could not arrest him because he has diplomatic immunity." In other words, as the leader of the fictional Latveria, Doom poses such a unique threat to Marvel heroes.

The character is also an integral part of the story of "Secret Wars," using the instability of the multiverse to take godlike control of a new world created by him. Doom is especially adored by fans as an antagonist to the Fantastic Four, being the complicated, egotistic loner to the dysfunctional yet loving First Family. 

As much as people may be excited to see Doom make it to the big screen, the character holds a lot of weight in the Marvel fandom. The Russos were accurate in calling him the most important villain the MCU has needed to introduce, but expectations are high for everyone involved to get it right. 

Another big reason why fans are justifiably nervous about Marvel Studios taking a swing at Doctor Doom is that the character has already been done twice on the big screen (three times if you count Joseph Culp's portrayal in the unreleased 1994 "Fantastic Four" film). Both times were, to put it gently, underwhelming compared to what fans wanted to see from the character in live-action. 

The first released attempt was in 2005's "Fantastic Four," with Julian McMahon playing Doom, the billionaire rival of Reed Richards whose company goes under due to their failed space mission, while finding his skin slowly mutating into pure metal, and eventually donning the moniker "Doctor Doom." While McMahon's portrayal has garnered praise, the interpretation of the character is too focused on his petty grudges against the Fantastic Four, and not enough of his tragic, layered backstory. 

The 2015 "Fantastic Four" film bombed at the box office, but for more reasons than its inadequate portrayal of Doom as an anti-social amateur scientist. As the YouTube channel Nerdstalgic outlined in their video essay, "Why Is It Impossible To Get Doctor Doom Right?," "Doom and the Fantastic Four are a part of a single organism; they need to be connected thematically and literally." In order to avoid the pitfalls of previous on-screen Dooms, Marvel will have to pull out something different with Downey's portrayal. 

What's most surprising about Robert Downey Jr.'s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the timing. Earlier this year, Downey walked away with an Oscar (as well as a Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG Award, and Critic's Choice Award) for best supporting actor thanks to Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer." The moment seemed redemptive for Downey, whose tragic true-life story was full of ups and downs prior to starring in "Iron Man." 

Throughout the press tour and awards circuit for "Oppenheimer," it seemed like Downey was ready to put his Marvel past behind him. On-stage at the BAFTAs, he thanked the film's director for convincing him to pursue a more serious route as an actor, saying he "played a guy named Tony in the MCU for about 12 years ... And then recently, that dude Chris Nolan suggested I attempt an understated approach as a last-ditch effort to perhaps resurrect my dwindling credibility" (via Variety). 

It then feels like quite a 180 for Downey to agree to return in possibly the biggest role of the franchise since his last one. He has, on many occasions, expressed pride and gratitude towards his time with Marvel, though perhaps the actor simply feels there's little else to accomplish after his awards season sweep. 

One of the best moments in the MCU is Tony Stark's sacrifice at the end of "Avengers: Endgame." After retaking the Infinity Stones, Tony uses their overwhelming power to erase Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his army from existence, killing himself in the process. The film ends with a touching funeral where many Marvel icons gather to say goodbye to the man Captain America (Chris Evans) once accused of being incapable of putting the greater good above himself.

Rumors have circulated for years regarding Downey returning to the MCU, with the actor as recently as this year saying he's open to reprising the role. However, fans have been rightfully concerned that doing so would undercut the emotional resonance of the character's farewell. Kevin Feige even confirmed to Vanity Fair that they'd do no such thing, saying of Stark's death, "We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again ... We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way."

And yet, we've found ourselves in the timeline where Downey is officially coming back, though whether this Doom is a variant of Tony Stark or not is to be determined. At the very least, this makes the MCU a little more like the comics, where characters are killed and revived willy-nilly. 

Although there's a lot of excitement behind the introduction of Doctor Doom into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it comes at the detriment of fans of Kang the Conqueror, the villain who had previously been set to take the Thanos role in the Multiverse Saga. Jonathan Majors debuted as the character (or rather, his "He Who Remains" variant) in "Loki," and made his big screen debut in "Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania." However, the replacement of Majors with Downey indicates that Marvel is pivoting from their original plans due to the mess they've created.

At first glance, Marvel seemed to have everything right about how Kang the Conqueror should really look in live-action, but they fumbled it by letting the character's most intimidating variant seen thus far be defeated by Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) of all characters. As IGN wrote of the reaction to the film, "['Quantumania'] certainly seemed to get people excited to see more Kang, but it likely would've had more impact if we knew which Kang we were supposed to be getting excited for."

Lots of ideas have been thrown out about what Marvel should do about Kang, whether it's recast Majors or have Doom dispense with the Council of Kangs seem in the "Quantumania" mid-credits scene. However, some felt the character's ending in "Loki" season 2 already prove the many Kangs to just be nuisances the TVA will quickly be dealing with off-screen. 

Another angle to the whole Robert Downey Jr. as Victor von Doom controversy speaks to wider issues in the entertainment industry: white-washing. Marvel has their own history of casting white actors to play non-white roles from the comics, most notably Tilda Swinton's portrayal of the Ancient One in "Doctor Strange," which Kevin Feige has expressed regret over in recent years. To the company's credit, they've made great strides in undoing this reputation with the past few projects.

Some examples of Marvel's progress include Namor in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," who is re-written to have Mayan roots and is played by Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta. Another example is "Eternals," in which the white male characters Makkari and Ajak are played by female POC, Lauren Ridloff and Salma Hayek, respectively. And yet, Marvel has decided to re-ignite white-washing accusations by casting Downey as Doom, a character whose parents are Romani in the comics.

It's a fair argument that Marvel would want an A-list actor to play this huge role, and Romani actors are sadly underrepresented in Hollywood. However, given that Doom has already had two white male portrayals in the MCU, it wouldn't have hurt to at least pay a little tribute to the character's origins. Hopefully, the film will at least still acknowledge Doom's Romani heritage. 

Assuming Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor von Doom is not a variant of Tony Stark, many have pointed out how weird it will be for the character to bear somewhat of a resemblance to the most famous hero in the MCU. "Deadpool & Wolverine" even acknowledges this by including Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/Human Torch from the Tim Story "Fantastic Four" films, with Deadpool initially confusing him for Captain America. 

But as The Hollywood Reporter pointed out following the news of Doom's casting, Downey might not even need to show his face as the character at all, either concealing it behind a mask or through prosthetics depicting the character's scars. For the publication, Richard Newby wrote that the familiarity of Downey's face "runs counter to Doom being a frightening, imposing figure, and I've yet to see Downey in anything where he's brought that kind of gravitas to the table." (It's worth noting that Downey did just win an Oscar for playing a villain in "Oppenheimer")

However, it's also been pointed out that there are comic book iterations of Doctor Doom that crosses identities with Iron Man, in several "What If...?" alternate storylines that see Stark as Doom and Doom as Iron Man. Downey keeping his face hidden might be enough to hide the character's facial similarity to Stark, but at that point, it's just a waste of one charismatic-as-hell movie star. 

As previously mentioned, there are some fans who doubt Robert Downey Jr.'s ability to capture the complexities of Doctor Doom on-camera. It's a fair argument, albeit one that might be informed by the legacy of his Tony Stark portrayal. Downey himself as rebuffed claims that he's anything like the character, despite his off-screen persona, telling Vanity Fair, "There's always a bit of a burn-off period when they run out of call sheets for me in any of these movies, and I go back to being a little bit more of just...I'm just a f–king actor."

However, it was exactly those Stark-esque qualities in Downey that made Christopher Nolan interested in him for the future Oscar-winning role as Lewis Strauss in "Oppenheimer," as the atomic bomb creator's political rival is everything that Downey isn't. It's not a stretch to say that Downey has the acting chops to be the perfect on-screen Doctor Doom, but it might require surprising an audience expecting to see a familiar performance. 

Still, skeptics remain unconvinced that Downey will be able to pull off the complicated role, at least until they see it in action. It will take Downey doing a complete 180 on the actor people expect him to be, which will either be Marvel's biggest accomplishment, or their greatest misfire. 

Whether it's Doctor Doom, or Kang the Conqueror, or even Galactus, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is heading to a pretty complicated place given that they're committed to doing "Avengers: Secret Wars." For those who are sick of the multiverse storylines, unfortunately it's only going to get more insane from this point on. "Secret Wars" was originally a comic series in the mid-80s, and revived in 2015, where an incursion forces two Marvel universes to collide, nearly destroying each other, until they're saved and patched together as one controlled by God Emperor Doom.

This new world, called "Battleworld," might be the setting of "Avengers: Secret Wars" following Doom's actions in "Avengers: Doomsday," seeing unconventional team-ups of Marvel characters from numerous multiverses. While this will be exciting for longtime Marvel Comics fans to see how the MCU brings "Secret Wars" to the big screen, more casual fans of the superhero franchise might find it tough to follow. 

With Downey's Doctor Doom at the center of it all, there will definitely be an audience packed into theaters to watch whatever happens in these "Avengers" movies, but there's always the possibility that Robert Downey Jr. will go from the face of the MCU's glory days to the face of the moment they jumped the shark. 

There are a lot of complex arguments for and against Robert Downey Jr.'s triumphant return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the simplest one may be that it just seems like a desperate play from Marvel. Fan reactions already seem to be calling out the lack of creativity involved in re-hiring Downey to play one of the most highly-anticipated characters in the Marvel universe. And yet, the attention, whether good or bad, has resulted in more eyeballs on the MCU than there have been in years. 

All the ingredients introduced at this year's Comic-Con panel seem to indicate that Marvel is more concerned with playing it safe than forging new paths ahead. From Downey's recasting, to Joe and Anthony Russo being back in the directors' chairs, and even "Infinity War" and "Endgame" co-writer Stephen McFeely back penning the script for both new "Avengers" movies. And yet, after original ideas like "Eternals" were received with disdain by audiences compared to nostalgia-bait like "Deadpool & Wolverine," who could blame Marvel for cashing in on the glory days?

There are still plenty of upcoming Marvel projects worth getting pumped about, including Downey's debut as Doom, but many are sniffing out what could just be a cheap, albeit risky, move from the company to win back their wide appeal. 

There will be lots of opinions regarding Robert Downey Jr.'s casting as Doctor Doom from now until he makes his screen debut, but one aspect that will likely go unnoticed is how this situation looks after the past year's Writer's Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes against studios for unfair pay. At the time, Disney CEO Bob Iger put the latter on blast, saying, "There's a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive" (via Variety).

Apparently, that disruption wasn't too hurtful, as Disney has agreed to shell out some pretty big bucks for their newly-hired "Avengers" creative team. While the Russos are reportedly taking home $80 million for directorial duties, Downey is said to be paid even more, and that's not even including potential box-office bonuses. 

This is simply business as usual for Hollywood, but it's disappointing that Marvel's VFX crews are unionizing for better pay and working conditions while the mega-talent is walking away with such cosmic pay. While fans may be worried about Downey's portrayal of Doom, they'll never be as disrespected by Marvel Studios as that.