With Jonathan Majors facing charges for assault, Marvel Studios has decided to make another major comic book character its central villain rather than Kang. The character is none other than Doctor Doom a variant of Kang. At San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige made a big announcement. Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU. But this time, he won’t be Iron Man. He will play Doctor Doom, the iconic villain.
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The major reason why Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom makes sense
Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man was the central hero of the Infinity Saga when he made the ultimate sacrifice against Thanos. Making him come back to be the major villain of the Multiversal Saga makes sense mainly because of the emotional connection RDJ’s Tony Stark has with other characters.
Think of the moment when Pepper Potts, Peter Parker, Colonel James Rhodes come face to face with Doom and they see that Doom’s face resembles with Tony Stark. Will they hold back their tears? Will they be horrified to see what he’s become? Only time will tell.
3 Ways Robert Downey Jr. can return as Doctor Doom
1 – Fantastic Four’s Alternate Universe
It has already been announced that MCU’s Fantastic Four will be set in a retro-futuristic timeline. Doctor Doom is the arch-enemy of Reed Richards. It’s possible that in this timeline, Tony Stark goes out of his mind and gets dark and becomes Doctor Doom.
2 – The ultimate variant to kill Kang
It’s possible that from the movie Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom will keep appearing as the main villain. In Avengers: Doomsday, he’ll tell that the reason why Kang isn’t around anymore is that he killed him and all his variants.
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3 – Doctor Doom is an Iron Man variant
Another way MCU could justify Tony Stark coming back as Doctor Doom would be following the comics. Victor von Doom briefly took on the Iron Man mantle while Stark was in a coma following Secret Wars and Civil War II. Doom was also called the “Infamous Iron Man”.
Doom always wears a metal mask to cover his scarred face. Hence, it’s possible that Marvel for the majority of time asks RDJ to portray Doctor Doom with the mask on.