So You Also Want to Know Why Robert Downey Jr. Is Doctor Doom …

You might be wondering why Robert Downey Jr. came back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after five years. You are probably even more confused by the announcement that he would be playing Victor von Doom. To that I say: Join the club.

At San Diego Comic-Con, fans were graced with Robert Downey Jr.’s presence, but it wasn’t because he is coming back as Riri Williams’ AI. No, it would make too much sense to have Downey back as a version of Tony Stark! Instead, he is coming back as Victor Von Doom, also known as Doctor Doom, the infamous Fantastic Four villain. Why? Honestly, feels like money at this point. I say that with the utmost respect, but there is no way people thought this was a good idea outside of the money it’d bring in for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Joe and Anthony Russo are back to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, and while that is exciting, I am still stuck on the Doctor Doom of it all. It feels like a cash grab.

There is nothing wrong with that. But I do think there were smarter ways to go about this. Mainly, as I said not two seconds before, with the character Riri Williams. Ironheart knows Tony! Why not bring Downey back and use him there? I think the Doom thing is to just get people excited, but I do think they underestimated how much people love Doom as a character and how concerned they are that somehow tying him to Iron Man would be a disservice.

There’s also probably a story appeal to them

Imagine your great hero coming back, facing off against people he knows, but he’s a villain? That’s kind of heartbreaking. I don’t like that he is labeled as Victor von Doom and not Tony Stark as Doctor Doom. I think that’d be more interesting of a storyline, but also maybe with the buzz of comic-con over, we’ll have more clarity about how this role is going to play out. But as of right now, they’ve said he is playing Victor, which just serves to confuse us all. We’ve looked to the comics for answers, but even the best fit seems like a weird choice for the MCU.

So the reason behind this situation is a bit confusing. I do trust the Russo brothers and I suppose when we see The Fantastic 4: First Steps, we will see what actually happens (if Doom is even in it), but for now, we don’t know why they picked Downey—aside from the obvious business reasons. It sure is giving us a lot to talk about, though.