Robert Downey Jr. Discusses His Return to the Marvel Universe as Doctor Doom
Robert Downey Jr. is giving details about how his agreement to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe again came to be.
At San Diego Comic-Con in July, the former Iron Man actor stunned everyone by revealing his MCU comeback as the Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom. In the comic book villainous roles of 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars, Downey will appear.
The Oppenheimer star discussed his conversations to return to the franchise with Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast on Tuesday, August 20. He also revealed what ultimately made the deal happen.
As the MCU swan song for Tony Stark/Iron Man in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Downey said that he and Feige are “pals” and have remained in contact ever since.
Downey said, “I had an instinct that I wanted to go to Bob Iger and I had an idea for how I could be of service to what’s going on in the [theme] parks, outside of the cinematic universe.”
Feige said to Susan and me as we were seated, “It just keeps occurring to me that if you were to come back. Susan said, “Wait.” Hold on. return as what? ”
Downey,59, described Feige as a “very sophisticated, creative thinker,” revealing how the Marvel Studios head brought up the possibility of him portraying Doctor Doom.
“How can we not go backwards?” Kevin said. How are we going to live up to expectations? How can we keep exceeding expectations? And he mentioned Victor Von Doom,” the Oscar winner remarked. And after researching this persona, I was astounded. “Let’s get Victor Von Doom right,” he says later.
After Downey’s meeting with Feige, Iger expressed his approval of the actor’s choice to play Doom. The visit by Downey and Feige to Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s research and development center located in Glendale, California, was then arranged by Iger.
According to Downey, the state-of-the-art inventions that Disney was developing astounded him.
You want to talk about two males that are difficult to blow out of the water, let alone simultaneously… What is happening there right now is beyond what I thought was imaginable, but I can’t speak too much about it,” he remarked.
After the visit, Downey consented to reprise his role as Doctor Doom at Marvel. “It’s also the only way that I felt like I could give a certain audience that is looking for entertainment something they might be itching to experience, in a way that allows me to keep developing my interest in the entertainment industry,” he clarified. Other than that, where in the world would you go?
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