Written by Luke Barnes
In this cinema issues article we are talking about the reveal of Doctor Doom in the MCU and the casting news.
So as we all know Robert Downey Jr. is back in the MCU playing Doctor Doom. This news has divided a lot of people, for me personally I am mixed to trepidatious on it. However, before we go any further I just want to address the milk toast folks that go ‘oh MCU fans are toxic they are judging something before they have even seen it’, as their brains slowly trickle down their backs. The whole point of casting reveals is to generate buzz and attention be that good or bad, the whole point is to get people talking so by going oh you’re toxic for talking about it negatively, even your big daddies over at Disney would tell you to shut up.
That said let’s get into it.
I think the biggest issue with the casting is that it ruins Tony Stark’s sacrifice in Endgame and yes I know it won’t be the actual Tony Stark but rather a variant Doom/Iron Man Hybrid. However, to a lay audience they will just go ‘oh look it is Iron Man’ I thought he was dead, and so it will mean people will be both confused and then asking why is he a villain and killing his friends, to a basic understander of the franchise it could almost ruin the character entirely. Though I imagine Marvel Studios will go to great lengths to show how he is not Tony Stark, we may never even see Downey Jr’s face.
From that you have the fact that this Doom will not be the Victor Von Doom that people want, it is a Tony Stark variant, meaning that the actual peasant to ruler Doom may never appear in the MCU. This then means that a character a lot of people were looking forward to has been abandoned for the cynical ploy of getting Downey Jr back. Also it means that the Fantastic Four will have a different origin story as if this variant is from their universe it will be that their Tony Stark went bad, rather than Von Doom existing as a contemporary and even friend in the early days to the Baxter clan.
Personally, I think the best thing that could happen would be that the Tony Stark variant either never takes his mask off and is in fact not a variant and it is Downey Jr playing Von Doom, or that the actual real Von Doom usurps power from the Stark variant at the end of Doomsday and then becomes God Emperor Doom going into Secret Wars.
Ultimately, whilst it is nice to have Downey Jr back, the cynical ploy could add to the MCU’s woes in the long term.
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