Disney Hits The Panic Button With The MCU: Robert Downey Jr. Is Back As Dr. Doom

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. Or, that's what Disney and Marvel are hoping for with the release of Deadpool & Wolverine and their recent panel at the 2024 San Diego Comic Con. The biggest news from Marvel's MCU panel was the big reveal that in a couple of Avengers films, with the Russo brothers back at the helm, Dr. Doom will be the primary antagonist and will be played by none other than Robert Downey Jr. That obviously got people talking despite the fact that details about the film are light. The was a trailer at SDCC for the upcoming Fantastic Four film, which is going to have a 1960s throwback style and will star Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby. However, the villain in that film, at least based on the trailer and Marvel's promotional activities at SDCC, seems to be Galactus who does not appear to be a giant cloud anus like in the Chris Evans Fantastic Four movies.

To Marvel and Disney's defense, there is a Stark-Doom storyline in the comics and recent works in the MCU have shown that they are willing to bring back characters and actors in the MCU that are "dead" by playing around with the concept of the multiverse. And looking at the box office numbers for Deadpool & Wolverine, people seem to like this.

On the other hand, this is a clear sign of desperation with Disney obviously recognizing that the teens that watched the previous Avengers films of yesteryear and now adults that can pay for their movie tickets. Like... yeah the thing that will make people care about the MCU is bringing RDJ and the Russos back. Now, they kind of do need to cut bait given with their hopes of having Kang be the next monolithic villain of the MCU given everything that has come out about Jonathan Majors, who played Kang in the MCU before his firing.

Also, while I agree with the general sentiment that the new Fantastic Four film looks cool and that Doom is an interesting character, I do have to point out that no one has been able to make a good Fantastic Four movie. The Fantastic Four movie IP is absolutely cursed.

Doom rules

The single funniest scene in any Disney/Fox/Sony Marvel movie is in Fantastic Four 2, an otherwise terrible movie. Stan Lee tries to get into the wedding of Sue Storm and Reed Richards. He says he should be on the guest list but he isn't. Other than that every F4 movie is absolute shit.

Disney has been bleeding money and audience good will in both Star Wars and Marvel for years now. Going back to RDJ won't save them. A multiverse can be fun or ridiculous or interesting. But the MCU multiverse is none of those things. It's just a way to keep the same actors and the same characters on screen because Disney/Marvel is afraid of doing anything truly new and exciting.

Marvel has literally ran out of actors in Hollywood and are starting over from the top of the lineup like in a baseball game.

I respect RDJ as an actor, but I think this was a big mistake by Marvel. There are so many good actors who could've pulled off Dr. Doom. Marvel picking RDJ makes me think they regret killing off his Iron Man character in the last Avengers movie. I don't want to see Dr. Doom acting like Iron Man if he was a villain, which is pretty much what we are going to see. It also doesn't help that I was never a fan of The Fantastic Four series to begin with. I always thought that X-Men was the better version of the whole mutant powers series.

It's real strange to me that RDJ would go back, I was under the impression that he went out on his own terms to do different things. If he is back he either got real bored real quick or they are giving him a huge sac of money.

As someone who dropped off almost all Marvel movies since End Game, I will only go back if the Japanese voice over plays Dr. Doom like the 1960's VO.

That Hellboy: Crooked Man trailer is some hot business though. Damn, I hope that's good.

The new Hellboy looks...thin? Not thick enough? Dunno how to articulate it

I just dont get it.... with that much money and power... how can you not find the ability to tell good stories? You could greenlight hundreds of smaller indie projects for the price of these movies and be nearly guaranteed to find some new visionary who strikes a chord with audiences AND makes them their money.

There is so much pathos in story telling to be explored, there was nothing else that could be tried without Robert Downey? Whose he going to interact with when the old cast he acted with, the characters that knew Tony Stark are also all gone? Its purely a clinical, board room move to attract notoriety and attention and this is just not how you tell a story from the heart, one that demands telling.

@showingoff said:

Yes, you are both correct, but also, game respects game. Not gonna fault RDJ for coming back if the reports of how much he was paid and promised are true.

you're basically asking for Logan. and i wholeheartedly agree (that movie is basically the best Hollywood interpretation of The Last of Us, inclusive of the HBO series). and they'll never do it because the pitch of "an old man and his trauma" feels like it has no purchase in a post-Endgame world.

i'm all about the character-study, yet Hollywood seems most-assuredly not.

I think the Multiverse crop of Marvel films/shows revealed Disney/Marvel's storytelling weakness. It's easy to glance back through the first few phases of the MCU and presume Thanos was slated to be the main villain for years. But in reality, Marvel was throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick. When Thanos gained in momentum among fans as the popular theory for the eventual end game, Marvel took the logical next step.

With Multiverse, no one villain or storyline paved the way. Covid and Disney+ certainly changed the storytelling structure Marvel originally had planned. But over time everything became a jumbled mess of continuity. Now they need to save it.

Maybe RDJ will help them pull it all back together. I'm not too sure everyone wants more of the same as before.

I have seen one marvel movie (capt America, the one in the past), but I like Robert Downey Jr plenty.

I am just not really a film person. Movies are awesome, but I find myself gravitating towards games, reading & podcasts/gb when I have electronics free time.

With that money comes the risk you'll not get that money back. Hollywood no longer gambles.

Going to watch it tonight