Robert Downey Jr. has been revealed as the new Doctor Doom, with the former Iron Man actor being unveiled as the MCU’s next major villain. The shocking announcement came during San Diego Comic-Con, and fan reaction has been mixed to say the least. But while the Russo brothers explicitly said that RDJ would be portraying Victor Von Doom, many aren’t so quick to believe this and instead think he could be returning as Tony Stark.
Robert Downey Jr. will be portraying Doctor Doom, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll also be portraying the Victor Von Doom version of the character. The Russo brothers stated that Victor Von Doom would be making his MCU debut in Avengers: Doomsday, but Disney and Marvel Studios have a habit of pulling the rug from under fans for some last-minute surprises.
Infamous Iron Man and how Robert Downey Jr. could return as Tony Stark in Avengers: Doomsday
In the comics, Tony and Doom have no small amount of shared history, and the multiverse creates endless possibilities for the merging of the two characters. For instance, Iron Maniac was a character introduced in 2004, an Earth-5012 version of Tony Stark fighting The Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards in a suit of armor resembling Doctor Doom’s. Richards sent the Iron Maniac to the mainline Marvel universe, and there he fought the likes of Spider-Man and Captain America.
Alternatively, there’s the Infamous Iron Man series, which saw Victor Von Doom constructing an Iron Man suit following Tony Stark’s disappearance after Civil War II. While this wouldn’t explain Victor Von Doom and Stark sharing the same face in the MCU, it does show that Stark and Doom’s paths have overlapped.
There’s also the possibility that Disney and Marvel Studios might have been inspired by Superior Iron Man, an antagonistic and evil version of Tony Stark that was previously rumored for the MCU, with Tom Cruise having been speculated for the role. While this villain doesn’t have immediate connections to Doctor Doom, the MCU has been known to lift bits and pieces from various comics for inspiration, rather than directly following their stories.
Or Robert Downey Jr. could simply be portraying Victor Von Doom as Doctor Doom, and there will be no connections to Tony Stark whatsoever. Given that the character largely stays behind a mask, RDJ may have been asked to give a strictly vocal performance, allowing viewers to separate the performance from his past role as Iron Man.
While many fans will likely struggle to separate Downey’s Stark from his Doom, the Oppenheimer actor has certainly exhibited enough range to pull this off, and as we’ve seen with Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of Rocket, sometimes a famous actor’s voice performance is totally unrecognizable. We’ll have to wait and see what Disney and Marvel has up its sleeve.