Either you die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. In Robert Downey Jr.’s case, you can sometimes do both.
Marvel’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con revealed a wave of news and sneak peaks at upcoming Marvel movies, including Captain America 4, The Avengers: Secret Wars, and The Fantastic Four. But no news was as shocking as Downey Jr.’s return to the MCU.
The star laid down his Iron Man helmet back in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, but he’s now coming back as one of the most notorious Marvel supervillains, Doctor Doom.
While many had expected Doom to become the new villain of Marvel Phase 6, it was a surprise to see Tony Stark himself rip off that silver mask and reveal himself as the new big bad. However, it’s becoming clear that not everyone thinks this is a good surprise.
“New mask, same task.” Robert Downey Jr. surprises Hall H to announce his return to the MCU as Doctor Doom. pic.twitter.com/j1SEjzse3p
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) July 28, 2024
Naturally, social media became ablaze with comments after the big reveal, but not all were positive.
As one X user wrote: “Dire state of affairs. Announcement reeks of desperation because the only reason you could attempt to justify doing this is as a twist reveal within the movie.”
“Is it possible for a casting announcement to feel AI-generated?” another added.
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Sentiment among the naysayers seems to be that the choice undermines Downey Jr.’s emotional goodbye to the MCU back in Endgame, where Tony Stark died after defeating Thanos. Plus, given Doom’s status as an all-time great Marvel villain, others were hoping for a fresh face to take on the role.
“This is genuinely the most pathetic gimmicky thing I’ve ever seen,” said one comment.
“My expectations for a Doom casting were low, but Christ they weren’t THIS low,” said another. “The MCU has whitewashed every single Roma character it has.”
One user on Reddit wrote: “This is such an insanely bad casting to the point where I feel like they must have something absolutely insane that they’re cooking up to justify it. Nonetheless, I hope this isn’t a permanent thing and we’ll eventually get an actual Doom at some point.”
Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom will appear in both upcoming Avengers movies – the newly titled Doomsday and Secret Wars, out in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
For more news, check out our guide to all the major SDCC announcements. You can also get all the details on Fantastic Four and Captain America 4, which are coming soon.
