Kevin Feige Is Who Wanted Iron Man aka Robert Downey Jr. To Play Doctor Doom
Written by djfrosty on March 25, 2025
We’re still a long ways away from learning how Marvel Studios plans on introducing Robert Downey Jr.’s villainous Doctor Doom to an MCU that saw the same man heroically save the day multiple times as Iron Man and while there are many theories and rumors about how exactly this will pan out, we’re now getting information on how Marvel landed back on the man who helped jumpstart the MCU in the first place.
According to Deadline, the idea to bring back RDJ as arguably the most popular villain in Marvel Comics came from none other than Marvel Studios head honcho, Kevin Feige. While it had been rumored for a while that Marvel would be going the Doctor Doom direction following the fallout of Jonathan Majors domestic abuse allegations, no one knew who was going to be taking on the role and absolutely did not expect that it would be Tony Stark (RDJ) returning to play Victor Von Doom.
But according to one half of the Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars directors, Joe Russo, Kevin Feige wanted Robert to return to the MCU and apparently they felt it was a good idea given the storyline that had in mind.
Per Deadline:
“That was Kevin,” the younger Russo recently told the online outlet Omelete. “Interestingly enough about that, that conversation was had a while ago.”
Though Robert Downey Jr. is said to have agreed to return as Doctor Doom for quite some time, the Russo Brothers (Joe and Anthony) were hesitant to return to direct the next two Avengers films given the massive success they achieved with their two previous installments, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. It wasn’t until they felt they had the perfect idea in mind for the story and plot for Doomsday and Secret Wars that they decided to come back and give the MCU a new beginning after giving it a proper finish in Endgame.
“Robert tried to talk us into doing it and we said ‘no.’ We just didn’t have a story. We didn’t have a way in. We were resistant for a while.”
The brothers did eventually spark to a concept.
“One day Steve McFeely, one of our chief collaborators, said, ‘I have an idea.’ We went, ‘That’s the story!’ That story has to be told. It’s a really powerful story.”
What is that concept? Neither of the directors would divulge much until Joe offered, “The only thing I will say about the movie is this: We love villains who think they’re the hero of their own stories. That’s when they become three dimensional and they become more interesting. And when you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a well shaped, three-dimensional character for the audience.”
We. Can’t. Wait.
While many fans are letdown that Jonathan Majors Kang The Conqueror’s storyline didn’t get any finality, it is rumored that he will return in Avengers: Doomsday to get killed off by Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, thus solidifying Doom as the ultimate badass in the MCU. Whether or not that’s true remains to be seen but we wouldn’t mind seeing that play out on the big screen as the Russo brothers are looking to tie up all the loose ends they can in the next two Avengers films.
What do y’all expect from the next two Avengers films? Should Marvel have casted another actor other than Robert Downey Jr. to take on the role of Doctor Doom? Let us know in the comments section below.