Doom is coming for the MCU. Kevin Feige dropped the information that the Russo Bros. are returning to the Marvel fold to direct Avengers 5 and 6 on the finish of a comparatively calm Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comedian-Con Saturday. This announcement wasn’t stunning given the earlier week’s information that the duo was in talks to direct the movies and have a hand in Marvel Studios any more.
What was stunning is that the movie previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, has been reworked and retitled Avengers: Doomsday, leaving no query that Marvel’s biggest villain, the person who impressed Darth Vader himself, Physician Doom, will lastly make his long-anticipated debut within the MCU. Earlier than followers may even course of that information, the Russo Bros. got here again with a fair greater announcement. And the response from followers was…effectively, let’s name it combined. Robert Downey Jr. is making his return to the MCU in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, however not as Tony Stark. This time he’ll be placing on a distinct go well with of armor as Physician Doom.
There’s no query that Downey is a good actor, and his return to the MCU as Doom actually had Corridor H excited. However I can’t assist however really feel this choice is a disappointing and boring one. Downey was the face of the MCU for a decade as Iron Man, and he bought one of many biggest sendoffs a superhero has ever acquired on display in Avengers: Endgame (2019), together with a transferring epilogue in Spider-Man: Far From Residence (2019).
Now he’s again as, no less than a model of, Marvel’s biggest villain. The Russos launched him as Victor von Doom, probably squashing any notion that this Doom is a Tony Stark variant. But when he’s not, then what’s the purpose of casting the identical actor who performed Iron Man? Within the comics, Doom is horrifically scarred beneath his masks (although he’s healed in each comedian iterations of Secret Wars, launched in 1984 and 2015). If the thought right here is to easily permit Downey to play along with his character actor abilities and be fully unrecognizable facially and vocally, then it makes just a little extra sense, though there are many different actors as much as problem. However given the significance of Downey’s face, each as a film star and as Tony Stark, is Marvel going to skip out on that bankability with basic audiences, even when the choice feels extra creatively fulfilling?
So, let’s say we find yourself with a Physician Doom who appears to be like almost similar to Stark so that every one the Avengers can gasp and level and say “Tony Stark?” for some straightforward emotional beats, is that actually the influence the primary iteration of Doom within the MCU ought to have? Or is it an pointless mea culpa for Section 4 and 5 not assembly the expectations of followers and giving them the acquainted presence of Downey again as an olive department?
Whereas the reception to Section 4 and 5 of the MCU has been combined with audiences, it felt important to step away from Stark and to permit not solely different characters however different actors to take the highlight. The argument might be made that none have had fairly the maintain or charisma as Downey as Iron Man or Chris Evans as Captain America. I’d counter-argue that the MCU has spent a lot time introducing new characters, most of whom they haven’t revisited, that the studio hasn’t carried out an important job in establishing new leads for audiences to spend money on.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) proved to be a profitable introduction to a brand new hero of nice significance to the MCU, however Shang-Chi’s (Simu Liu) sequel has proven little public motion, and it’s unclear if it’ll occur earlier than or after Avengers: Secret Wars. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) accepted the function of Captain America in 2021’s Disney+ collection, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, however isn’t making his movie debut till 2025, a yr earlier than Avengers: Doomsday. Physician Unusual (Benedict Cumberbatch), who was set to be the lynchpin of The Multiverse Saga hasn’t been seen since Physician Unusual within the Multiverse the place he went off to the Darkish Dimension with Clea (Charlize Theron) to discover the specter of incursions, which had been the important constructing block of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s Secret Wars (2015).
It will look like a 3rd Physician Unusual sequel, given the incursions and Unusual’s relationship with Doom within the comics, needs to be prioritized over Secret Wars. There are a number of components why these movies have been delayed and plans drastically altered, together with the pandemic, the tragic lack of Chadwick Boseman, the strikes, and the arrest and conviction of Jonathan Majors, who was to topline Kang Dynasty. However regardless of these components, it appears the subsequent two Avengers movies may’ve been pushed again with different movies to fill their spot, and provides audiences extra possibilities to get to know and develop to like these new characters. And the Multiverse Saga’s preliminary large dangerous, Kang, may’ve simply been recast after Majors’ termination, given the ample quantity of Black expertise who may’ve made a meal out of the function. As an alternative, the MCU has chosen to leap to Doom with out even creating an area for a brand new actor to make his mark.
As some followers on-line have theorized, Downey’s Doom has solely been confirmed for 2 films, and if Avengers: Secret Wars leads to a gentle reset of the MCU, because it did for the comics, there’s the potential for an additional Doom later down the road.
Nonetheless, that looks like a giant “what if?” What influence would a brand new Doom have on audiences who already noticed him in what are certain to be two of the largest films of all time? How a lot enthusiasm will there be in seeing the Incredible 4 battle Physician Doom, when they’ll assuredly first face off towards Downey’s variant model in Doomsday and Secret Wars? Then there’s additionally the issue that any actor to tackle a brand new model of Doom within the aftermath of Secret Wars will assuredly be doing so within the shadow of Downey, no matter how comic-accurate that depiction might or might not be. And naturally, Downey will likely be taking up Doom within the shadow of his portrayal of Iron Man, and Doom ought to by no means reside in one other man’s shadow. And no Victor von Doom’s transient 12-issue stint because the Notorious Iron Man, a storyline by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev through which the villain tried to redeem himself as Iron Man following Tony Stark’s dying, doesn’t change that, nor does it make sense within the context of Doom as the brand new large dangerous.
None of that is to say that Doomsday or Secret Wars will likely be dangerous films due to Downey enjoying Doom. Nor am I suggesting he’ll flip in a nasty efficiency, although I do assume his appearing fashion, participating as it’s, runs counter to the mainline comedian e-book method to Victor von Doom. However I can’t assist however really feel like it is a play at getting MCU followers to cease saying the franchise’s finest days are behind them by bringing again an actor they related to the MCU for a decade.
Contemplating all the expertise on the market that has by no means been in an MCU movie, and the truth that Doom is even worthy of main a solo trilogy all of his personal (and will’ve even appeared in Incredible 4 sequels, earlier than attending to Secret Wars) makes the entire choice really feel hasty and low-cost, however in the most costly approach doable. No, I don’t assume any of it is a motive to be doom and gloom about the way forward for the MCU, as there are a number of thrilling tasks within the works, however it’s a motive to pause and contemplate how the seemingly limitless potential of the MCU that started with Downey in Iron Man could be limiting itself along with his casting as Physician Doom.