How can Robert Downey Jr play Doctor Doom and Iron Man?
OK Marvel, you got us all with that one. Absolutely nobody expected to see Robert Downey Jr stride out on stage at the end of the studio's Comic-Con panel to reveal himself as the actor playing Doctor Doom in — at the very least — the upcoming Avengers movies.
Downey Jr, of course, was one of the lynchpins of the MCU's first decade as the fast-talking genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark. Iron Man was one of the key members of the original Avengers line-up, right up until his heroic sacrifice play to defeat Thanos in the closing moments of Avengers: Endgame.
It's fair to say that Marvel's cinematic offering hasn't been the same since Iron Man met his end, so it's fascinating to see Kevin Feige and his team attempt a sort of factory reset with the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Endgame was the last unqualified success in the MCU, so they've opted to bring back Downey Jr and that film's directorial duo: the Russo brothers.
Of course, all of this raises a question. If Robert Downey Jr was Iron Man, how can he be Doctor Doom as well? There are a handful of ways the MCU could make this work...
Stark Variant
As part of the Multiverse Saga, we've all been introduced to the idea of "variants" — different versions of characters from alternate universes. Sometimes, those variants all look the same — the Council of Kangs, for example — while others run the gamut of weird and wonderful alternatives like the dozens of Loki variants we've come across in that character's TV show.
It's entirely possible that the MCU's spin on Doctor Doom could be a twisted variant of Tony Stark. We've definitely seen evil variants of heroic characters before — think Sinister Strange from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — and so there's a definite pathway for a darker take on Tony to simply assume the moniker of Doctor Doom.
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This has some comic book precedent as well. In the 2010 What If...? storyline Iron Man: Demon in an Armor, Victor Von Doom managed to transfer his consciousness into Tony Stark's body. At the same time, Stark struggled to live his own life in Doctor Doom's body. But the long and short of it is that we've seen a version of Doom who looks exactly like Tony Stark before.
Infamous Iron Man
In 2016 and 2017, Marvel enlisted Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev for the comics series Infamous Iron Man. That series follows Victor Von Doom as he assumes the mantle of Iron Man in the wake of Tony Stark's apparent death at the conclusion of the Civil War II storyline. This is clear connective tissue between the two characters as part of a significant story from the comics.
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A direct adaptation of this story wouldn't explain why Doom looks exactly like Tony Stark, but it's possible that some sort of twist on the format — perhaps combined with the Stark variant option discussed above — could justify Downey Jr's return.
Elephant in the Room
This is perhaps the bravest and least likely option. Marvel could simply say nothing, leaving no narrative reason for the fact Doctor Doom looks exactly like Tony Stark. There are numerous actors who have played multiple roles in the MCU without mention, including Gemma Chan. She played Kree military operative Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel, then took on the lead role of the matter-manipulating hero Sersi in Eternals.
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Straightforward recasting like this is very difficult for Marvel in the multiverse era, though. The MCU has trained audiences to think carefully and in extraordinary detail about who plays who and what that means for variants and alternate worlds. To have a villainous character who looks so much like one of the original Avengers is something that couldn't go without comment — especially as so many of the Avengers knew Stark very well. The suspension of disbelief would be too great for many fans.
All we have for now is speculation. We know that Downey Jr will appear as Doom in the team-up movie Avengers: Doomsday, which is currently dated for May 2026. But there's every chance that Doom will appear before that alongside his arch-nemeses the Fantastic Four when Marvel's first family makes its MCU debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which will be released in July 2025.
Until then, it's time to delve through those Marvel Comics and hunt for clues in movie preview material to see how the MCU could pull this off. It's certainly shaken the multiverse to its core.
