By: Emily Wang

Iconic actor Robert Downey Jr, who played Iron Man from 2008 to the character’s death in Avengers: Endgame (2019) is returning as the supervillain Doctor Doom. He is expected to make his debut in the movie Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).

On July 28, 2024, during Comic-Con at Hall H, San Diego, as the announcer revealed who would be playing Doctor Doom in the upcoming movie, the crowd was very ecstatic! “New mask. Same task. What’d I tell you? I like playing complicated characters,” Downey said. Fans were shocked when they saw him returning, not as a hero but as a supervillain.

Doctor Doom, the new character that Downey will be playing is the main villain in the Fantastic Four Series, always fighting against the main heroes. Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors of the past few Marvel movies said that this is “Proof of the unimaginable possibilities in the Marvel multiverse.” Marvel does shave a point in choosing Doom as Iron Man’s replacement, as he is a major antagonist of the Fantastic Four, having been friends with the heroes before he became their enemy. He also has battled the Avengers and the X-Men. Doom is bad and Iron Man is good as both were arrogant geniuses. The only reason why Doom wasn’t a good guy like Iron Man, is that he lost to his sense of inferiority. So who better to play Doom than Downey himself?

However, when plot twists become over-the-top, backlash can arise. Let’s hope that the Russo brothers and Downey Jr. are at least willing to engage in some experimentation with Doctor Doom. Furthermore, the Marvel universe will be excited to learn that the movie Thunderbolts is also scheduled to come out on May 2, 2025.