Fans confused about Marvel’s Doctor Doom casting

Photo Courtesy: @robertdowneyjr | Instagram

“NEW MASK, same task.”

MARVEL has finally announced who will be playing Doctor Doom, and surprise, surprise! They’re going to be bringing back Robert Downey Jr., who played Tony Stark-slash-Iron Man up until 2019.

While it was expected that fans would be excited about coming back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), others have shown confusion as well as outright disappointment because of this casting choice. Many are even saying that this is proof of the downfall of the MCU.

Why exactly are fans reacting this way?

Reactions online

One reason why fans have shown disappointment toward this casting choice is because Johnathan Majors, who played Kang in the MCU, was originally supposed to be Doctor Doom later on in the franchise. However, Majors was removed due to being convicted of sexual assault.

Many have questioned why Marvel didn’t just recast someone for the role instead of bringing Downey back into the MCU.

One user on X wrote: “Please say sike. PLEASE say sike. They will literally never get Doctor Doom right. Who on [God’s] green earth asked for RDJ to come back as DOCTOR DOOM?”

Others have also questioned why the actor playing Doctor Doom isn’t Romani. One post on Tumblr explains that the character’s mother comes from a clan of Romani people, which is why some fans believe that Doctor Doom should be portrayed as such.

”For comic book fans, Victor Von Doom’s Romani heritage is a pivotal part of his story in becoming one of Marvel’s greatest villains, as protecting the Roma people remains one of his main motivations,” writes Lia Kim of Junkee Media.

“You can see why casting RDJ in lieu of someone more representative of the character feels a little lazy.”

It didn’t help that it was revealed that Downey would, according to Variety, be getting paid over USD 80 million to star in the next two Avengers films.

“They could’ve gotten a new and better director and a different actor to play Doctor Doom for significantly less and put the rest of that money on the film’s budget,” said one user, referring to the Russo Brothers.

Meanwhile, others continue to stay enthusiastic. One fan online points out that no one had a problem when Josh Brolin played both roles of Thanos and Cable, who are characters within the MCU, so people should keep the same energy for Downey.

Fan theories

Others within the Marvel fanbase have taken to creating theories online, trying to see if there will be a connection between Doctor Doom and Iron Man, Downey’s previous role, who died during the second part of “Avengers: Endgame.”

Paul Tassi, a writer for Forbes Magazine, theorizes that Downey will be playing an evil variant of his former character, which can be found in a number of storylines within the Marvel comics.

On X (formerly Twitter,) user Aaron S. Bailey states that since Tony Stark was the “anchor being” of the Sacred Timeline, in the new film, the 616 universe would be dying and a Stark variant would be pulled by The Avengers into their universe to solve the problem.

They would then later on realize that he isn’t actually the Stark that they hoped for – he’s actually Doctor Doom.

These are, however, just fan theories. No such information has been revealed with regard to the plot of the two Avengers films coming up.

“Avengers: Doomsday” is set to release in May of 2026, while “Avengers: Secret Wars” will release in the same month of the following year.

Gaby Agbulos

Gaby Agbulos wants nothing more than to become a writer -- to be able to tell stories unheard of by the masses. She is currently majoring in Communication at the University of Santo Tomas, and after college, hopes to make an impact with the stories she writes, be it big or small.