One of the most memorable moments from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con was the Hall H reveal that Robert Downey Jr. is coming back to the MCU as Doctor Doom alongside the Russo brothers in the next two Avengers movies. And at D23, it was also announced that Downey will be playing Tony Stark/Iron Man in an upcoming attraction at Disney California Adventure’s Avengers Campus. Now, Downey has revealed that it was his idea to play Stark again for the Disney parks, but it was Kevin Feige who approached him about playing Doom.
Downey was a guest on the current episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, and he mentioned that he has maintained contact with Feige, Jon Favreau, and the Russo brothers since his departure from Marvel after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. During one of his meetings with Feige, Downey and his wife, Susan Downey, were expecting to talk about the actor’s idea for playing Iron Man outside of the MCU in Disney theme park attractions. However, Feige wanted to talk about bringing him back into the MCU as Doom.
“[Feige] said, ‘It just keeps occurring to me, if you were to come back…,’ and Susan was like, ‘Wait, wait. Come back as what?,'” recalled Downey. “We both realized over time that it was another thing that just disproves any doubt anyone could ever have about that guy,” before adding his assessment that Feige is “a very sophisticated creative thinker.”
It was Feige who pointed out the inherent problems surrounding Downey’s return, before he presented the role of Doom as a potential solution.
“‘How can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to beat expectations?'” recounted Downey about Feige’s pitch. “And he brought up Victor Von Doom. I looked into this character. Later on, he goes, ‘Let’s get Victor Von Doom right.”
During a subsequent visit with Bob Iger, Downey learned that the Disney CEO was fully on board with the idea of him playing Doctor Doom. Iger also arranged for Downey and Feige to visit the Disney Imagineering Campus to see what the Imagineers are working on for Avengers Campus.
“You want to talk about two guys that are not easy to have their minds blown, let alone at the same time,” noted Downey. “What is going on there, right now, is so beyond my expectations of what was possible.”
Downey is presumably referring to the Iron Man-themed ride, Stark Flight Lab, and the Avengers: Infinity Defense attraction. Neither of those DCA rides have opening dates yet, but Downey will be playing Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday on May 1, 2026, before presumably finishing that story in Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027.
Content Disclaimer and Copyright Notice
Content Disclaimer
The content provided on this website is sourced from various RSS feeds and other publicly available sources. We strive to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information, and we always provide source links to the original content. However, we are not responsible for the content’s accuracy or any changes made to the original sources after the information is aggregated on our site.
Fair Use and Copyright Notice
This website may contain copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
