Credit: Inside the MagicIf Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel Studios think that the fandom is not prepared to instantly spoil the plot of the newly announced Avengers: Doomsday, they really, really don’t know their audience as they should.
Kang the Conqueror Is Out, Doctor Doom Is In
Marvel Studios has been struggling in the years since Avengers: Endgame (2019) killed off Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thanos (Josh Brolin), and gave Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America (Chris Evans), his long-awaited dance.
After more than a decade of build-up to the most epic superhero battle ever seen on the big screen, it seems that the Marvel Cinematic Universe was at something of a loss.
Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) was heavily promoted as the next cosmic-level adversary of the MCU, with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) trembling in fear of his Variants and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) seeing him boast about having killed so many Avengers he can’t even keep track of them.
That didn’t work out. In 2023, Jonathan Majors was arrested and convinced of the assault and harassment of a former domestic partner, resulting in him being fired by Marvel and dropped by his representation. For months, the previously announced Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was in limbo, with its director leaving and the film reportedly being referred to as Avengers 5 behind the scenes.
Then, when San Diego Comic-Con 2024 rolled around, Kevin Feige dramatically announced that the movie was now Avengers: Doomsday and Robert Downey Jr. was back, not as Iron Man but as Victor Von Doom, the Fantastic Four villain better known as Doctor Doom.
Related: Marvel Studios Abandons Two Movies After Comic-Con Reveal
It seems that Kang is going to be completely scrubbed from the future of the MCU, and the Downey Jr. Doctor Doom will take his place as the post-Thanos Big Bad. But while the reaction in Hall H was initially ecstatic, Marvel fans are turning on RDJ quickly.
Social media is full of accusations that Marvel has “completely reduced itself to cashgrabs and nostalgia with no sense of creativity” and whitewashed Victor Von Doom as “a Romani man with a background CENTERING his family’s racial persecution.” Reports that Downey Jr. will be paid north of $100 million for Doomsday and Secret Wars are compounding the backlash and generating a cultural conversation about just how much movie stars need to be paid.
Amidst all these, the Marvel fandom has buckled down and already hashed out what Marvel is planning for the upcoming Doomsday, likely spoiling any chance of future surprises.
“He’s Not the Stark They Hoped For”
If there’s one thing that the Marvel fandom is known for, it is coming up with complex theories about upcoming MCU Phases that turn out to be true a surprising amount of the time. The announcement that Downey Jr. was no longer Iron Man but Doom unsurprisingly kicked this hornet’s nest into a flurry of theories.
A popular one so far hinges on the “anchor being” Multiverse concept introduced in Deadpool & Wolverine, asserting that the death of Iron Man in Endgame will have more serious ramifications than previously thought. @AaronBaileyArt explains, “Theory: It’s revealed that Tony was the “anchor being” of the Sacred Timeline.
The 616 universe is now dying and to solve this problem the Avengers pull a Stark variant into their universe. They slowly realize he’s not the Stark they hoped for and he’s actually Doctor Doom.”
Theory:
It's revealed that Tony was the "anchor being" of the Sacred Timeline. The 616 universe is now dying and to solve this problem the Avengers pull a Stark variant into their universe. They slowly realize he's not the Stark they hoped for and he's actually Doctor Doom. pic.twitter.com/OkgeNqCSn1— Aaron S Bailey 🍿 (@AaronBaileyArt) July 29, 2024
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Another popular idea is that Downey Jr. will play a Tony Stark variant who has either had his body swapped with Doom or become him in an alternate timeline. @DaricCott says, “Looks like they’re doing the Anthony Stark (Earth-11029) Doctor Doom variant adaptation. That’ll be interesting. The thing about comic books is there’s so much lore to pull from. https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Anthony_Stark_(Earth-11029)”
Looks like they’re doing the Anthony Stark (Earth-11029) Doctor Doom variant adaptation. That’ll be interesting. The thing about comic books is there’s so much lore to pull from. https://t.co/iYboib1a99 https://t.co/G38ayFY8Qk pic.twitter.com/5NUR3zHojk
— Daric L. Cottingham, M.A. (@DaricCott) July 28, 2024
Others hypothesize that Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom is actually an elaborate charade by Marvel Studios and that he will show up just to be killed off by the “real” villain, played by a fan-cast actor like Cillian Murphy.
@cosmepolitics sums it up, “Gonna put on my tin foil hat real quick. What if RDJ is playing a variant of Doctor Doom as a cameo like the Infamous Iron Man one. He gets killed off by the REAL man timeline Doctor Doom and that actor is finally revealed in the movie after RDJ gets all this press done and it’s”
Gonna put on my tin foil hat real quick. What if RDJ is playing a variant of Doctor Doom as a cameo like the Infamous Iron Man one. He gets killed off by the REAL man timeline Doctor Doom and that actor is finally revealed in the movie after RDJ gets all this press done and it's: pic.twitter.com/I64wIZ5Rma
— kristina. (@cosmepolitics) July 28, 2024
That last theory would be a big twist for Avengers: Doomsday and lead to some wild action in Secret Wars. Maybe Marvel fans are just fed up and want to see Downey Jr. die a second time.
Do you think any of these Avengers: Doomsday spoiler theories make sense?