People who know me know that I adore comics. I love them so much that I have a full sleeve of characters on one arm and a working sleeve on the other arm. I assembled the sleeve such that it looks like an entire scene. Everything was carefully chosen and many hours were spent deciding where the characters would go on my arm. Why is any of this important? Well, if I spend this much time making sure my sleeve is a functional piece of art, imagine how much time Kevin Feige spent planning an entire couple of phases around Kang the Conqueror only for Jonathan Majors to be convicted of assault against his former girlfriend Grace Jabbari.
Everyone wondered how Marvel would pull off an incredible turnaround with so much of its content slated to be shot around the idea of Kang as the ultimate big bad. Marvel answered those questions on Sunday at San Diego Comic-Con when they trotted out someone in Dr. Doom attire, complete with a mask. The masked individual approached the stage where they took their mask off revealing they were Robert Downey Jr. That’s right, the man formerly known as Iron Man would now be playing one of the greatest villains in comic-book history after jumpstarting the franchise as Iron Man.
Reactions were definitely all over the place and you can read my thoughts about the situation here. That said, Dr. Doom is a much, much, much better villain and choice than Kang. Marvel should have known they were in trouble when the reaction to Kang being announced as the big bad for the foreseeable future was about the same as the reaction to the Inhumans show on ABC in what feels like a lifetime ago. Kang never really moved the needle and it could be seen in the turnout for Marvel films. Yes, many of them were bad on their own and that needs to be acknowledged, but that conversation has been going on for ages and this conversation is one that can be had honestly now that we have a proper cinema villain for the Avengers.
Not all comic villains and heroes will translate to the big screen. Some of them are too absurd or too complex for the common audience. Trying to get normal fans to care about which universes Kang has affected and which he’s trying to affect is a big ask when you’re already asking them to balance over 15 years of storytelling. In many ways, Kang is too complicated for the modern audience and he also doesn’t have that likeability factor Thanos had. Dr. Doom is simple and extremely likable. There’s nobody like Doom and while RDJ is more than accomplished and talented enough to play Victor Von Doom and Dr. Doom, it feels like Marvel is asking him to step on his legacy.
I always thought of Dr. Doom as a Cillian Murphy type of guy. In fact, I think he would’ve been perfect for the role of Doom with all his previous experience, but RDJ is who we’re getting and we best make our peace with it. The only thing fans can ask for is that Dr. Doom is done right and Victor von Doom is done right. You cannot have one without the other and too many attempts at Dr. Doom have foregone one of his personalities to the film’s detriment. Victor von Doom, his mother’s death, and his rivalry with Reed Richards are all instrumental to Dr. Doom’s creation and his motivations.
Doom’s arrogance—let’s be honest: Robert Downey Jr. is going to nail this aspect—is one of his defining traits. Whereas Thanos was into exposition, conquering, and destiny, Doom is into caring for Latverians and being a noble leader for them. He has a relatable origin in some senses. His passion for his country and its denizens will definitely stand out over Thanos’ isolationist policy. Dr. Doom is not above working directly with the Avengers if it means accomplishing something he deems worthy of his time.
Doom is also very much an everyday man. Of all the villains the Avengers have faced so far, Doom might have the most power without the need for space rocks. Dr. Doom is immensely smart. He’s right up there with Reed Richards and Tony Stark when it comes to intellect. His mastery of technology and robotic power easily rivals Stark, if not outright surpassing him. He regularly tricks people into doing all sorts of crazy things only for it to be revealed that they were talking to a Doom Bot, what he affectionately calls his life mode decoys, the entire time.
Then there’s Doom’s ability to wield magic. When people talk about the best magicians in Marvel, Dr. Doom’s name always appears. Dr. Doom almost beat Strange during a competition for the role of Sorcerer Supreme in 1989 in Roger Stern’s and Mike Mignola’s Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment. If you’ve never read that story, I highly suggest you check it out and see just how powerful Dr. Doom really is with magic. He’s nobody to trifle with, that’s for sure.
Then there’s his backstory. As a Romani, he was born into the gypsy culture. His mother was killed by an angry soldier who witnessed Cynthia von Doom murder his entire villain, children, and all after she made a deal with Mephisto in exchange for the power to stop the persecutors of the Romani people. His father found his dying wife in the woods and made Werner von Doom promise her that he would not allow Victor to follow the same path as her. Werner did everything he could for the child, including hiding in the Alps where he eventually froze to death trying to keep Victor shielded from the weather. Every bit of this makes him a sympathetic victim, which is something Thanos had in spades and why he was so popular.
Combine all of these things and you have a compelling villain who could honestly support his own film. With Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, it’s entirely possible that this actually happens. RDJ probably saw Joker and thought “I can do that, but better” and we’re likely going to find out if he’s right or not. I guarantee you RDJ didn’t come back to play an “occasional role.” The man just won an Oscar, I suspect he’s eyeing that “actor in a leading role” category. This is also speculation, but it’s also reading the tea leaves and knowing about RDJ’s personal ambition.
In sum, Doctor Doom is as good as it gets when it comes to a villain. The fact that he’s being played by RDJ suggests to me, at least, that Marvel Studios fully intends to take this role with the seriousness and gravitas that it deserves. It says to me that Marvel may finally launch a villain-led film, as Marvel has plenty of villains who could handle their own solo films. The MCU is probably going to be all the better for having these films, but at what cost did they come? If Marvel can honor Iron Man’s legacy while allowing RDJ’s acting chops to shine through, I’ll probably be okay with the role. I just don’t have faith that Marvel is going to do that.
The good and the bad of RDJ being cast as Dr. Doom will have to be sorted out. How do you manage the legacy of one character without reducing Downey Jr.’s casting to a desperate camoe? How do you present the greatest villain in Avengers history without them noticing that he looks very similar to their former teammate? I’m not sure how they do any of this and I’m really glad I don’t have to make these franchise-altering decisions, but Marvel’s track record lately does not suggest they’re going to do knock it out of the park.
With any luck, I’ll be right back here in 2026 laughing at how I was bothered by the casting of an Academy Award-winning actor who played one of the greatest characters in Marvel Cinema history, returning as a different character. Hopefully, this is the move that sets the MCU back on its path, but it also brings up a question I’ll be exploring next month: “can the MCU succeed without its original stars?”
The answer thus far appears to be no.
