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Credit: Inside the MagicMarvel fans think that the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday will retcon Robert Downey Jr. in the first Iron Man (2008) to turn him into the villainous Doctor Doom, arguing that this would destroy the origin story of the franchise’s greatest hero.
“I Am Iron Man”
San Diego Comic-Con Hall H recently received some of the biggest pop culture news of the year when Marvel Studios announced not only that Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. would return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe but that he would now portray Victor Von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom, rather than Tony Stark.
The announcement (and RDJ’s quip of “different mask, same task”) was met with huge applause in the room, which had already been whipped into a frenzy by teasers for the upcoming Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps movies, as well as Harrison Ford pulling off some Hulk moves. The backlash against Downey Jr. being cast as Doctor Doom has been swift, however, and the fandom is getting restless.
Related: First Look at Robert Downey Jr. As MCU Doctor Doom Hits Internet
Among other things, the reports that Downey Jr. will be paid close to $100 million to portray Doctor Doom (along with the $80 being paid to the returning Russo Brothers to direct) have raised hackles as to how much Marvel Studios can justify its bloated budgets for increasingly subpar movies.
Along with that, fans are angry that RDJ was cast as the canonically Romani Victor Von Doom, calling it clear whitewashing. Then there is the significant group of fans who think that bringing the actor back, even in a different role, devalues the sacrifice of Iron Man at the climax of Avengers: Endgame (2019).
However, it’s this that is really riling up some Tony Stark fans:
just saw someone say what if this becomes the MCU’s Doctor Doom mask 💀💀 pic.twitter.com/XYTvImnuZw
— ᴹʸᵀᴴᴵᶜ buggy (@bugtrio) July 30, 2024
The Multiverse of Robert Downey Jr. Madness
Twitter user @bugtrio posted the above image, which neatly represents the fan theory that the Doctor Doom presented in the MCU will be a version of Tony Stark that becomes a villain rather than the hero we loved. Audiences have noted the similarity between the original Iron Man mask (which, as we all know, he built in a cave with a box of scraps) and the classic Doctor Doom mask, as seen below:
The prevailing theory is that, in some other timeline of the Marvel Multiverse, Tony Stark and his armor took a different direction after the early events of Iron Man. In effect, this would mean that the studio could be reintroducing Robert Downey Jr. by retconning his very first appearance in an attempt to fix what has gone wrong with the future of the MCU.
Related: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Has Been Rebooted After All
Naturally, many fans are not enthused about this possibility. @basturder opined that this would diminish both Iron Man and Doctor Doom, saying, “There’s no way of separating iron man and doom with this casting. It’s detracting from Doom as a character and reducing him to a knock-off Ironman. This is an expensive mistake by marvel.”
There’s no way of separating iron man and doom with this casting.
It’s detracting from Doom as a character and reducing him to a knock-off Ironman. This is an expensive mistake by marvel.— norris basturder (@basturder) July 30, 2024
Naturally, there are multiple theories of how Kevin Feige and the assembled writers of Marvel Studios will figure out how RDJ can also be Doctor Doom. Some go the Infamous Iron Man route, which frequently boils down to “Doctor Doom takes over Tony Stark’s life.”
Some say that the Avengers will pluck a Stark out of another timeline to serve as their new Sacred Timeline Anchor Being, only to find that they got a Von Doom instead.
We’ll have to wait for Avengers: Doomsday and the subsequent Secret Wars to know for sure. But it certainly wouldn’t be beneath Marvel to go changing things in the past, even if no one wants them to.
What’s your MCU Doctor Doom theory?