The reaction to Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom was understandably mixed. Iron Man's death in Avengers: Endgame was among the most impactful moments of the Infinity Saga. Bringing the actor back into the fold threatens to cheapen his previous character's sacrifice. I understand these concerns, but after reading the Secret Wars comics, I'm convinced that Marvel needed the casting of Doctor Doom in the MCU to be a no-doubter home run. Plus, they need to convince us to care about the villain in record time.
At the time of writing, we still have no idea what Marvel has planned for its former big bad, Kang. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige was asked if Kang would appear in either upcoming Avengers movie, and he refrained from answering the question:
Assuming Kang does not play a major role in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, Marvel needs a new existential threat, and fast. Doomsday is scheduled to hit theaters on May 1, 2026, and we haven't seen hide nor hair of Doctor Doom. Remember, Thanos made his first appearance in 2012's Avengers -- six years before Infinity War.
With all of that in mind, you can see how difficult of a problem Marvel has to solve. It has to not only introduce a brand new villain at least as threatening as Thanos, but it has to give the villain enough runway to connect to the rest of the MCU. Otherwise, the grand finale of the Multiverse Saga is going to be an underwhelming disaster.
When Robert Downey Jr. took the stage at Comic-Con 2024, every MCU fan had an immediate, visceral reaction. That's exactly what Marvel was hoping for.
They're not going to have time to slowly set up all the dominoes for Doctor Doom to knock down over the next half-decade. There are just five more Marvel movies coming out between now and Doomsday. Other than The Fantastic Four: First Steps, we have no idea if Victor von Doom will have anything to do with any of them.
So Marvel threw a hail mary. The studio put a familiar face in the role and is now hoping that we all latch on immediately. Personally, I think it was the right move. The Multiverse Saga has been messier than its predecessor (see: Multiverse of Madness, Love and Thunder, Secret Invasion), and there's not enough time to repair all the damage those critical bombs have done.
Nevertheless, Marvel has to push forward, and what better way to tie a bow on this era than by bringing back an Oscar winner to play a variant of Marvel's most iconic villain?
I'm not entirely confident Marvel Studios can pull this off, but I also can't think of a better way to supercharge MCU Phase 6. At the very least, based on the online chatter following Comic-Con, Marvel fans who were previously checked out are suddenly engaged again.
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