Doctor Doom Was Always the MCU’s Best Shot at the Next Thanos—Not Kang

Jonathan Majors’ Kang has been sent out to pasture. Robert Downey Jr. will play Doctor Doom. Jamie Lee Curtis feels bad about dissing the MCU—OK, unrelated. All in all, it’s a weird time to be a Marvel fan, but Downey’s casting in Avengers 5 begs the question: Has Doom been the ultimate villain all along?

Since Avengers: Endgame, fans of the once-mighty MCU have floundered through a number of unremarkable movies and Disney+ TV shows, with phase 4 best being described as “experimental” at best—and not exactly in a good way. Hits and misses, people, hits and misses. Personally, I’ll always be the MCU’s #1 defender, but the whole Multiverse schtick is in need of some serious redirection.

Doom All Along

Enter Victor von Doom, who has the potential to grab the franchise by the scruff of its neck and drag it to greatness. Doctor Doom, the notorious foe of the Fantastic Four, has always been a not-so-secret weapon in Marvel’s arsenal of comic book villains. He’s often thought of as being the crowning achievement of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s work, and still, fans have yet to see an accurate adaptation of the character onscreen—despite 20th Century Fox’s efforts. We’ve known for quite some time that Doom was coming to the MCU, but for what? And when the time came, who would play him?

So with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige looking to introduce Doom to the MCU as the overarching villain of its Multiverse Saga, who better to take on the role than … Robert Downey Jr.? Look, I’ve already chimed in on the casting discourse, but either this is a desperate move to recapture the same magic of the Infinity Saga by reusing the man who “saved” the MCU, or the company just recognizes that Downey is an amazing actor.

Clearly, Doom was always a part of Marvel’s plan for Avengers: Secret Wars, and with Kang out of the way, we’re simply skipping a few chapters. Here’s why that’s probably for the best.

Kang the Conqueror vs. Doctor Doom: who would win in a fight?

Two evil supergeniuses, one Multiverse. Even if Avengers: The Kang Dynasty had come to fruition in light of Jonathan Majors’ legal woes, Kang probably would have been defeated at one point or another by Doom to pave way for Avengers: Secret Wars. Kang could still be recast down the line, but with Avengers: Doomsday set to take its place, I can’t help but feel like the whole Doom switcheroo actually makes total sense. Just …ignore the Council of Kangs subplot.

After all, Kang threatens timelines—Doom is a threat to the entire Multiverse. Plus, Victor von Doom has killed a Kang or two in his day (the Secret Wars #4 comic resolves the question of who would win in a showdown pretty quickly), and not because he’s more powerful, per se. Rather, Doom is a strategic thinker who knows how to wield what strengths he does have, even if Kang’s technology and time-manipulating abilities should make him the more formidable of the two on the surface.

Doom replacing Kang makes for a more faithful comic book adaptation

Besides, in a storytelling sense, casting Kang aside for Doom makes for a more faithful adaptation of the Secret Wars comics. Although Kang almost certainly would’ve factored into the sixth Avengers outing, in the end, Doom is the big bad. It’s only when he’s defeated that the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the rest of our heroes can restore the Multiverse. Plus, it’s hard to view Kang as a serious threat given how easily he was taken down in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania—a film that undoubtedly set him off on the wrong foot. Doom’s god-like abilities make him more akin to Thanos (Josh Brolin) than anything, and I, for one, can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Is Marvel banking on the novelty of RDJ’s casting? Well, I hate to be a fence-sitter, but maybe. However, it’s important to note that Downey isn’t a one-trick pony—he is an Oscar-winning actor, after all. And besides, comics-accurate Doom never takes off his mask, meaning he might not even resemble Tony Stark. With the right physicality, Doom could be truly terrifying in Avengers: Doomsday and beyond. We’re sorely in need of a unifying villain, and if anyone could pull it off, it’s Downey.

So even though I never really had a problem with the MCU’s Kang, what’s a time-traveling conqueror compared to a God?