The news of actor Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU doesn’t really come as an absolute shock to the fans. Especially because earlier this year the recent Academy Award-winning actor shared his wish to return to the franchise, which gave his acting career a second wind, and due to the fact that another MCU veteran, Chris Evans, made a surprise cameo in the latest Marvel venture, Deadpool and Wolverine. But the way he has made his return, being cast as Victor von Doom, one of the most iconic comic-book villains of all time and the prime villain of the ongoing Multiverse Saga, took Hall H of the San Diego Comic Con by storm. This decision is going to change the upcoming MCU world-building big time and shift the franchise’s narrative focus as a whole. So, without further ado, let us take a look at the possible roadmap to Dr. Doom’s introduction, how this fits with the existing MCU lore, and what is to be expected the upcoming phase six.
What Was The Reason Behind RDJ’s Casting As Doctor Doom?
The first signs of a major shakeup in MCU’s existing plan for upcoming phases were hinted earlier this year—consecutive box office disasters, and controversy regarding prominent actors resulted in the fourth and fifth phases nearly crashing and burning, and this brought the MCU think tank back to the drawing board for disaster management. The massive success of Infinity War and Endgame had prompted the creative minds behind MCU to open up new avenues of creative storytelling, but as the resultant projects were largely rejected by the audience (lazy writing is partly to blame as well), a do-over seemed necessary. Since earlier this year, when upcoming original projects were delayed indefinitely, the target shifted from creative to aggressively profit-oriented, as seen through the cameo-fest in the recently released Deadpool and Wolverine movie, and if the box office numbers are any proof, it’s clear that the good old fan service shtick works just fine no matter how gimmicky or silly the end product turns out to be.
Almost a week ago, Anthony and Joe Russo, the masterminds behind the four major, most acclaimed, and critically successful MCU flicks, were in the early stages of conversation about re-joining the MCU as directors, and yesterday the news finally became official with an announcement in SDCC, where it was announced that the director duo will helm the fifth Avengers movie, Avengers: Doomsday (changed from Avengers: Kang Dynasty) and the sixth one, Avengers: Secret Wars. Replacing Kang the conqueror, the originally slated antagonist the Multiverse Saga, Dr. Doom became the big bad, and quite unexpectedly, Robert Downey Jr. of all people was selected to play the character. From influencing the MCU version of Spider-Man’s arc to acting as a key player in major crossover events, Robert Downey Jr.’s presence as Iron Man had proven to be a sure-shot recipe for success in the past. Therefore, it is fairly understandable that a decision this monumental was mostly economically motivated at the end of the day.
How the Doctor Doom Casting Fit In The MCU’s Overarching Narrative?
In comics, Dr. Doom, the monarch of the nation of Latveria, is a brilliant scientist and expert sorcerer who amalgamated the principles of both science and wizardry to forge himself an enchanted suit of armor to hide his facial deformities—for which members of the Fantastic Four were responsible. Throughout the years since his first appearance, Dr. Doom has become a menacing, dominating presence in the Marvel Universe, and in his unquenchable thirst to gain power and knowledge, he has presented himself as a formidable adversary to every do-gooder. The aura exuded by Dr. Doom is truly unmatched, as even without his vast intellect and skillset, his sheer willingness and determination to become an absolute Übermensch-like figure is more than enough to make him a troublesome foe. While there were multiple actors who were shortlisted to play MCU’s version of Dr. Doom, the role went to Robert Downey Jr., and there might be a charted out reason for that.
With all this being said, the way MCU can integrate a character of such magnitude into its lore within a mere couple of years is quite simple, really. Doom’s famous egotistical temperament, his arrogance, which often leads to his own downfall, and his perfectionist attitude—all seem exaggerated versions of Iron Man’s character traits. His reputation as an inventor matches that of Tony Stark’s, and the suit of armor he dons under his emerald-hooded cloak can also be restructured as a prototype Iron Man suit. What we are trying to speculate is that in the MCU, Doctor Doom might be a corrupted version of the Iron Man variant who got his armor fused to his body and learned sorcery to relieve himself from his afflictions. Given the fact that Dr. Doom has become the Sorcerer Supreme in the comics as well, there is no reason as to why this corrupted variant of Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., cannot approach his best buddy Stephen Strange for a lesson in magic and eventually take over. Keep in mind that these are mere speculations; Doctor Doom can be a totally different entity altogether who is in no way related to MCU’s Iron Man, although that doesn’t explain the casting choice even with the multiverse excuse in the backdrop. Some fans are rightly questioning whether such a decision was necessary, given how within a couple of days two iconic character sacrifices (Logan and Iron Man) of Marvel cinematic ventures were maligned, undoing the proper send-off they had received in the first place. But the sail had already set in its course ever since multiverse became a lazy shortcut instead of an innovative narrative tool, and comic-book movies are setting the worst examples of it.
