- Robert Downey Jnr has been revealed as the MCU’s Doctor Doom
- Fans are wondering how this will play out, given his iconic role as Iron Man
- Iron Man and Doctor Doom have long links in the comic books
When Marvel revealed that Robert Downey Jnr will be playing the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) take on Doctor Doom at Comic-Con, it caused excitement and confusion in fans as he is iconic as Iron Man. But there are long links between Doctor Doom and Iron Man in the comics.
It was revealed that the new Avengers film is titled Avengers: Doomsday with Doctor Doom being the main villain.
Speculation is now rife about how the MCU will bring Doctor Doom/Victor Von Doom into the MCU and what – if any – link there will be to Iron Man.
Of course, Doctor Doom generally has a mask on, so we won’t necessarily see his real face, so that could be a reason to cast Downey in the role and it could have nothing to do with Iron Man.
But looking back to the comics, there is a long history between Doctor Doom and Iron Man. While Doctor Doom is more famous for locking horns with characters such as Mister Fantastic from the Fantastic Four, he has come up against Iron Man/Tony Stark too, such as in 2007’s Mighty Avengers series, when S.H.I.E.L.D – with Tony Stark as director – invades Doom’s home country of Latveria.
But, more significantly, there are multiverse versions of Doctor Doom that are actually Tony Stark. For instance, there was the Iron Maniac, which was seen in 2004’s Marvel Team Up. In 2010, in one of Marvel’s What if? Series, there was a world where Tony Stark and Victor Von Doom swapped bodies in college, and Stark swore revenge on Doom.
Given we are still in the multiverse sage era of the MCU, then it isn’t impossible that Stark and Doom could be one and the same.
But this is speculation and the chances are we won’t find out for sure until Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters in May 2026.
