Robert Downey Jr. to Play Doctor Doom in 'Avengers 5'

Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU in a much less heroic role than usual. 

At San Diego Comic Con's Marvel panel in Hall H on Saturday, the Russo Brothers and Marvel President Kevin Feige revealed Downey Jr. as Victor Von Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, the new name for Avengers 5. The Russos were officially confirmed as the helmers of Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, which are scheduled to hit theaters in 2026 and 2027, respectively.

"Joe and I have come to potentially see a road forward with the biggest story that Marvel comics ever told," Anthony Russo said about Secret Wars. "It's the first comic book run that I read as a kid that made me fall in love with comics."

However, to set up "the magnitude of the filmmaking, the vastness of the storytelling, the world colliding epic-ness of all of this," Anthony Russo revealed the "unimaginable possibilities in the Marvel multi-universe" and introduced Downey Jr. as the man to take up the villain's iconic mask and cloak. 

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Downey's introduction as Tony Stark in 2008's Iron Man kickstarted the MCU and rocketing the actor into the pop culture stratosphere. For over the decade that followed, he played Stark in 10 Marvel titles: Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, Captian America: Civil War, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Downey Jr. has gone on the record recently that he'd be open to returning to Marvel in some capacity, but no one had Victor Von Doom in mind. An epic casting announcement, to be sure, it'll be interesting to see how the Russos set up his introduction and inclusion in Marvel's movie canon moving forward.

"New mask, same task," Downey Jr. said to a cheering crowd, adding: "I like playing complicated characters." And I think it's safe to speak for everyone when I say, we like watching him do it.