Robert Downey Jr’s Return

Back in July of this year, Marvel announced that the legendary actor behind Iron Man would be returning to the MCU. But this time, he wouldn’t be returning as Iron Man. Instead, Robert Downey Jr. would be portraying the classic Marvel villain: Dr. Doom. Many fans were upset with this move and believed that it was cheap of Marvel to so quickly pivot back to Downey. To be honest, that’s a fair analysis. The last few years of the Marvel Universe have been some of the weakest overall. However, when you consider the storytelling possibilities that Robert Downey Jr.’s return opens up, it is evident that it might not have been such a bad move after all. For one, the upcoming Avengers movie originally titled Avengers: Kang Dynasty wasn’t going to happen because of the actor’s legal troubles. And with Kang’s performance in Ant-Man and the Wasp 3, he wasn’t really established as too much of a threat because he lost to Ant-Man in the movie. By bringing in Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Doom, Marvel has a chance to establish him as a more threatening villain, who has the potential to wreak greater havoc than Kang. Bringing back Downey also unlocks all of the storytelling possibilities of an evil Tony Stark. How will this affect Spider-Man, one of Marvel’s most beloved characters? How will Doom interact with Pepper Potts and Tony Stark’s Daughter? How will the Avengers as a whole be able to combat the fact that their former leader and friend is now a man trying to conquer their world? I think that all of these storytelling possibilities paired together will make Downey’s portrayal of Doom more compelling than just having a regular actor play the role. Furthermore, Downey has established himself as one of the best actors in the industry. More recently, he won an Oscar for best supporting actor in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. This has established that he is truly a great actor who can handle all types of roles. I think that yes, this was a quick and easy solution for Marvel going into the next Avengers movie. But bringing back Downey makes it so much more interesting than before and creates a whole new path of possibilities for Marvel to explore.