San Diego Comic-Con was an absolute blast, and while this year’s Marvel Studios panel wasn’t exactly overflowing with new reveals and announcements, it did resolve some issues surrounding Avengers 5. Previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, the movie was supposed to center on Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror, who was previously set up as the big bad by releases such as 2021’s Loki and 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, Majors was dropped from the MCU after being found guilty of harassment and assault, and the role of Kang was scrapped.
This meant that both Disney and Marvel had to salvage the situation. Fortunately, Marvel’s Comic Universe isn’t short on fantastic supervillains, granting Marvel Studio the opportunity to simply pick up a new villain and adjust the developing stories to suit the narrative further. And the one they picked is Doctor Doom — a really reasonable choice — renaming Avengers 5 to Avengers: Doomsday. While that’s pretty great, the next news was a shocker: the actor cast to play Doctor Doom is none other than Robert Downey Jr.
Marvel fans were predictably stunned when Robert Downey Jr. was officially unmasked as Doctor Victor von Doom at the SDCC 2024, with many expressing shock, posting mind-blown emojis on X (former Twitter), and debating the significance of this reveal. But the reveal wasn’t without some pushback from fans, with many asking whether this Victor von Doom was a variant of Tony Stark or if Robert Downey Jr. was cast as the actual Victor von Doom. Others questioned Marvel’s decision to have one actor portraying two roles in the MCU — something that hasn’t happened before.
Let’s first address the elephant in the room: Is RDJ portraying Victor Doom, or is this version of Doom a variant of Tony Stark? The answer is, most likely, both. While the film’s name might be referring to the name of RDJ’s upcoming villainous role, it also refers to Ultimate Comics: Doomsday, in which Reed Richards becomes a villain and threatens various universes. However, it’s unlikely that we’ll see Reed in the upcoming movie; instead, RDJ’s casting as Doctor Doom could see Reed swapped with Tony Stark, as seen in the What If? Iron Man: Demon in an Armor story.
It’s entirely possible for Avengers: Doomsday to combine What If? Iron Man: Demon in an Armor with other stories to form a single narrative. Of course, this is all speculative, but it does make up for a good story. Namely, fans of Marvel Comics know that Victor von Doom and Reed Richards were college roommates, and their relationship is central to the dynamic between Doctor Doom and the Fantastic Four. Now, the What If? Iron Man: Demon in an Armor storyline switches Reed Richards with Tony Stark and places the narrative during Tony Stark and Victor von Doom’s college years on Earth-11029.
In What If? Iron Man: Demon in an Armor, Victor von Doom tricks Tony Stark into an experiment that transfers Doom’s mind into Tony’s body, while Tony’s mind is transferred to Doom’s body, with his memories erased. When Doom, now posing as Tony, emerges from the lab carrying Doom’s body with Tony’s mind, the latter was kicked out of college and forced to live a life of hardship as a Latverian commoner. Doom, now posing as Tony Stark, gains quick access to Tony’s fortune, resources, and influence while reveling in his new body and freedom.
So, assuming that the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday combines What If? Iron Man: Demon in an Armor with elements of Infamous Iron Man (the one in which Victor von Doom actually becomes Iron Man) and Ultimate Comics: Doomsday, it’s more than likely that RDJ’s portrayal of Victor von Doom is actually a variant of Tony Stark. The question now is: Why would Marvel adapt this particular story?
Well, there are two reasons why Marvel would consider this. One, they’re out of their Kang; and two, it actually lays solid foundations for Avengers: Secret Wars, which has God Emperor Doom reigning over the Battleworld — the amalgamation of many a universes’ remnants, which would cause the Avengers to assemble once again. Marvel found itself in a rather tough spot following a series of poorly performing releases that came after Endgame concluded the Infinity Saga, so bringing back a popular actor performing as one of the biggest in-universe supervillains is likely to generate hype.
That’s probably why they brought back the Russo brothers to the director’s chair; the filmmaking duo made some of the most commercially and financially successful movies in the entire MCU, so combining their directing talent with Robert Downey Jr.’s star power and a promise of a fantastic story has the potential to make Avengers: Doomsday and its subsequent releases into another cinematic event of the decade.