Marvel hit Hall H with a huge announcements over the weekend at San Diego Comic Con. Robert Downey Jr. IS BACK in the MCU but NOT as Tony Stark?!
Now why Doctor Doom and why now? What happened to Kang the Conqueror? Well that’s a couple of a loaded questions. Following Jonathan Majors arrest, and subsequent firing by Disney, Marvel was left without a Kang. An already rocky phase of the MCU’s life was once again rocked by something it couldn’t control, the outside world. Marvel was forced to pivot and the next available “Big Bad” is none other than Doctor Doom. Well, what appears to be a variant of Doctor Doom. With the returning Russo Brothers at the helm of both Avengers: Doomsday (formerly Avengers: Kang Dynasty) and Avengers: Secret Wars (now 1 film instead of 2) the formula seems to be quite clear. The events of Doomsday will lead directly to Avengers: Secret Wars and will effectively end The Multiverse Saga.
Now this is all speculation but Marvel is setting the stage for a Universal Incursion in Universe-616 which has been on tap since 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We also know from SDCC that the Fantastic 4 will find themselves in the 616 by Doomsday as they will feature in both that film and Secret Wars. This coupled with the setting for Fantastic 4: First Steps being in a 60’s retro futuristic universe leads me to believe they will end up here due to the incursion. Whether our heroes look into the Multiverse for help or Marvel’s First Family finds themselves in the 616 as a result of the incursion, they may not be the only ones. Victor Von Doom from the Fantastic 4’s, or another universe, will make his way to the 616 as well and while many of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will see the return of an old friend they’ll have no idea he’s going to be one of their greatest enemies.
I always felt solving the “Multiverse Problem” had a two part solution. A happy marriage of magic and science could repair a universe going through an incursion. Between Dr. Stephen Strange, The Sorcerer Supreme Wong and the magic users already present in the MCU, the 616 seems to have magic cornered but what they don’t have covered is science. Yes you have Hank Pym, and Bruce Banner but what the 616 doesn’t have is Tony Stark. While Pym is a brilliant scientist and engineer, he hasn’t been shown to necessarily play well with other’s tech. He prefers standalone projects of his own research and design. He was “blipped” during the events of Avengers: Endgame leaving Rocket, Stark and Banner to actually build the machine needed to traverse the Quantum Realm through time and without Stark “cracking the code” for time travel none of it would have been possible. So say as an incursion rips through the 616 and variants and new characters start to enter the MCU from other universes and a familiar face shows up eager to help our heroes build a machine run on magic to “close” the incursion and save the 616, only to harbor more sinister motivations? It’s a fitting introduction to Doctor Doom in the MCU, another snake in the grass who seems willing to help the 616 survive the incursion only to take the absolute power of manipulating a universe for himself creating Battleworld where he holds absolute power!
It’s scenario’s and speculation like this that calms my nerves on Robert Downey Jr. being cast as Doctor Doom. Since his reveal at SDCC the usual cheery RDJ hasn’t smiled, once. The calm and cool Tony Stark is gone and get ready for a cold and callous performance from Robert Downey Jr. as, just as he did for the role of Tony Stark, makes the role of Victor Von Doom his own.
“New mask, same task.”