If you’re confused by Robert Downey Jr.’s surprise return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’re not the only one. During a star-studded San Diego Comic-Con presentation from Hall H on Saturday, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced that the Russo Brothers are back to direct the Downey-fronted Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. In even more unexpected news, Downey isn’t reprising his longtime role as Tony Stark, who heroically died in 2019’s Endgame —instead, the Iron Man actor is playing the villainous Victor von Doom, the MCU’s Doctor Doom.
“I don’t get it, are you a baddie now?” Downey’s former Marvel co-star Gwyneth Paltrow wrote on Instagram after he shared the moment he revealed his Doctor Doom role to the Comic-Con crowd (which you can watch in Phase Zero’s video below).
Downey and Paltrow starred together in seven MCU movies between 2008 and 2019, including the Iron Man trilogy, 2012’s The Avengers, and 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. The actress seemingly ruled out her own return to the franchise during a live Q&A on Instagram in 2023, telling her followers: “We just stopped doing it because Iron Man died and why do you need Pepper Potts without Iron Man? I don’t know.”
Joe Russo prefaced the unmasking by describing Doom as “one of the more complex characters in all of comics, and potentially one of the more entertaining characters in all of fiction.”
“I think we’re going to need the greatest actor in the world to play that character,” Russo teased. “As proof of the unimaginable possibilities in the Marvel multi-universe, we give you the one person who can play Victor von Doom.” Taking the mic, Downey added: “New mask, same task. What did I tell you? I like playing complicated characters.”
“Like Robert said, ‘new mask, same task,'” Anthony Russo said. “And the task for all of us, including everybody in this room together, is for us to help create the greatest possible experience that we can all have together in a movie theater. So let’s get to it. Bring your imagination, your love, and your passion, and we will see you in two years with Doomsday.”
Originally announced as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2022, Marvel pivoted away from multiversal villain Kang the Conqueror after actor Jonathan Majors was found guilty of one count of third-degree assault and one count of second-degree harassment in his 2023 domestic violence trial.
Marvel Studios dropped Majors and reconfigured the fifth Avengers film to introduce the MCU Doctor Doom, the central character in the Jonathan Hickman-penned Secret Wars storyline that has inspired Marvel Studios’ ongoing Multiverse Saga. Stephen McFeely, who co-wrote the Russo-directed Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame with writing partner Christopher Markus, is also on board to script Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday (set for May 2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (set for May 2027).
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com’s Comic-Con hub for the latest news and updates out of SDCC 2024.
