Does Robert Downey Jr.’s Return Spell Doomsday for Marvel Studios?

During the July 27th Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Robert Downey Jr. turned the Marvel Cinematic Universe on its head. On the stage in Hall H, the legendary actor behind Tony Stark/Iron Man took the stage behind the mask of Doctor Victor von Doom, revealing in dramatic fashion that he will be playing the big bad in the next two Avengers films – Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for 2026 release, and Avengers: Secret Wars, scheduled for 2027 release.

RDJ’s unmasking became an iconic moment in the history of the MCU. The news was captured on video by many inside the room, shared within minutes on social media, and sent shockwaves through the world of entertainment, comics, and fandom.

While this epic reveal made a giant splash in the entertainment world, it hasn’t been met with universal applause. RDJ provided the heart and soul of the MCU for eleven years through his charming portrayal of Tony Stark, and has been sorely missed since Stark gave his life for humanity in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

Stark’s ultimate sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame was cinematic perfection – the kind of moment that deserves space to breathe. To never see Tony Stark again in the MCU would be the perfect way to honor Iron Man’s sacrifice.

But we aren’t seeing Tony Stark (at least, so far as we know). So what’s the problem? It’s quite simple – for many (maybe most) fans of the MCU, RDJ as an actor is virtually inseparable from Tony Stark. The two personalities are inextricably linked to one another.  To see RDJ return in any capacity in the MCU will inevitably draw comparisons and skepticism. When we see RDJ, we see Tony Stark, especially if it’s anywhere near the MCU. That will never change, nor should it.

So how can Marvel use RDJ to jumpstart the sputtering MCU without undoing the ultimate sacrifice of its best character? That’s the million-dollar question (or should I say, the many-million-dollar question).

Since the release of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel has been struggling to bring new and creative ideas, stories, and characters. Sure there have been some hits, like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, WandaVision, and Loki. But those have been more than offset by misses such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Secret Invasion. 

It’s no surprise that Marvel has been accused in recent years of lacking in creativity, imagination, and vision.  The once-unstoppable juggernaut has struggled to offer content approaching the emotional impact of the Infinity Saga.

Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s X-Men franchise and the immense success of the recently-released Deadpool & Wolverine have given the MCU a much needed shot in the arm. But many critics and fans alike have doubts as to whether Marvel Studios can still create something new and fresh, instead of simply adopting properties from elsewhere and fit them to Disney’s playbook. And when viewed within this context, the RDJ play smells of desperation, with Disney likely throwing a ton of cash in RDJ’s direction to get him back. 

Let’s be fair – we do not know Marvel’s plans for the next few films. They could have a fantastic idea that will wow us all, and we just haven’t been let in on the secret. But what if they don’t? What if this is simply Marvel Studios paying RDJ to pop in, be himself, catalyze the struggling MCU, and then ride off into the sunset? Time will tell.

So how could Marvel actually pull off using RDJ as Doctor Doom, without the whole thing looking entirely like a stunt? The most obvious scenario would have RDJ playing Doom primarily in a voice role. Other than his voice, RDJ would remain behind the mask, and Doom’s face would either be heavily made up or partially/completely computer-generated in the moments when the mask comes off. This would allow Marvel to limit RDJ’s physical appearance as the character, alleviating the visual connection to Stark. Of course, RDJ just oozes with charm, and his performance could very well drift towards a Stark-like charisma, in which case we are again left to compare and contrast the two characters.

Alternatively, Marvel could pull a page out of its recent playbook and reinvent the character of Doctor Doom as a multiversal version of Tony Stark. But this scenario is rife with downside. The multiverse is a wild place, chock full of confusion, fuzzy lines, and indefinite, neverending destinies. Unfortunately, the multiverse is also a place that has the potential to harbor lazy storytelling, being increasingly leaned on as a “cheat code” to alter or reinterpret previous storylines.

In recent years, the multiverse has served as a way to resurrect fallen favorites. This strategy was heavily used in the 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home. Fans not only got to revisit previous iterations of the famous webslinger, but also saw rematches with several previously-defeated villains, including Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and others. While the film was hugely successful, it was also viewed by many as a cash grab, paying fan service to loyalists pining for another glimpse of their favorite characters.

Marvel has also used the multiverse as a way to workshop ideas for future plotlines, as in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Marvel teased audiences with a taste of the X-Men, Fantastic Four and others. This may have been Disney’s way of taking a few of their recently acquired 21st Century Studios properties out for a test drive. But Marvel was also likely workshopping a few characters in a sort of multi-hundred-million-dollar focus group to test audiences worldwide. Either way, the film gave audiences a taste of several returning or reimagined characters, with relatively low stakes, courtesy of the multiversal safety net.

Going forward, the multiverse continues to present two major problems for the MCU.

First: Confusion is inherently present in the concept of a multiverse, where places and timelines intersect in neverending ways. Confusion leads to frustration and eventually turns some viewers away. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantimania are two of the most frustrating films I’ve ever watched. I was so discouraged by both films that I never watched either one a second time.

Second: When any event can be erased or rewritten to reverse course in a future story, it completely cheapens the significance of that event in the first place. Does it even matter that the Green Goblin met his demise in 2002’s Spider-Man, since an alternate version of him returned to terrorize Peter Parker in 2024’s Spider-Man: No Way Home? How about Loki?  The emotional moment of his murder at the hands of Thanos was completely undone by his resurrection (thanks to an alternate timeline) in the Loki series.

This brings us back to Tony Stark. As Iron Man, Stark made the ultimate sacrifice to save the world, capping RDJ’s spectacular ten-film, eleven-year run in the MCU. The moment was heartbreaking, because of the perceived permanence of Stark’s death. If the presentation of Doctor Doom relies on reimagining an alternate version of Tony Stark, then the impact of Stark’s sacrifice is watered down to become almost meaningless.

Is there a way for Marvel to creatively bring Robert Downey Jr. back into the MCU without slapping a multiverse label all over his role in the upcoming films? Only a few select people at Marvel know the answer to that question. Heck, Marvel may be workshopping this as we speak, testing the waters on social media following their splashy presentation of RDJ on that stage in Hall H.

Time will tell…but hopefully not multiversal time.