Marvel Looked at Casting Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom Over 20 Years Ago Before Playing Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr. playing Doctor Doom might be one of the craziest casting moves Marvel Studios has made, but it turns out the idea is a lot older than the MCU itself.
Long before Robert Downey Jr. suited up as Tony Stark and helped launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man, Marvel had already talked with the actor about playing Victor von Doom. In fact, those conversations date back roughly 20 years to 2005's Fantastic Four.
So when Marvel brought Downey onstage at San Diego Comic-Con in 2024 and revealed him as the new Doctor Doom, the studio wasn't necessarily cooking up something completely new. It was returning to a casting possibility that had been sitting around for two decades.
The story resurfaced thanks to a Marvel Studios retrospective conversation between Iron Man director Jon Favreau and Kevin Feige.
While discussing how Downey became Tony Stark, Favreau remembered that Marvel executives were already familiar with the actor because he'd previously met with them about another character. That character was Doctor Doom.
As Favreau recalled: “Robert had come in for a general [meeting] on [Iron Man], and I remember, you had all met with him already for like Doctor Doom or something on another project.
“I think he had come through on maybe Fantastic Four. So everybody kind of knew who he was. So I remember sitting down with the guy. I was like, 'Geez, he's got it in him. He's got that spark in him, in his eye, and he's ready.'“
The project Favreau was referring to was Fantastic Four, which arrived in theaters in 2005. Downey didn't end up playing Doom, of course. Julian McMahon got the role and starred as the villain opposite Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards. McMahon returned as Doom for the 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Then Marvel history took a completely different route. Three years after Fantastic Four hit theaters, Downey made his debut as Tony Stark in Iron Man. Favreau saw something in the actor that made him believe he was the right guy to carry the movie, and the gamble paid off in a massive way.
Downey ended up becoming the face of the MCU for more than a decade, with Tony Stark serving as one of the central characters holding Marvel's growing cinematic universe together. Feige has repeatedly pointed to Downey's casting as one of the crucial decisions that helped make the MCU possible.
It's pretty wild to think about the alternate timeline where Marvel went the other direction and Downey played Doctor Doom in 2005. Instead, he became arguably the studio's most important superhero, spent 11 years as Tony Stark and eventually received an emotional farewell in Avengers: Endgame.
After killing off Tony Stark, Marvel has brought Downey back to play one of the biggest villains in Marvel. Only this time, he's finally getting the role Marvel discussed with him all those years ago.
Downey was officially introduced as Victor von Doom at San Diego Comic-Con in 2024, where Marvel also confirmed Joe Russo and Anthony Russo would return to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Naturally, casting the guy who played Tony Stark as Doom created a mountain of questions. Is this Doom somehow connected to Stark? Is Marvel playing some kind of multiverse trick? Will the Avengers see Tony's face when they look at Victor von Doom?
Marvel hasn't given away those answers, but the studio has presented Downey's character as Victor von Doom rather than simply an evil Tony Stark variant. Whatever Marvel and the Russos have planned, there's clearly more going on here than putting Downey back in the MCU and giving him a villain costume.
The funniest part is that Marvel has essentially traveled in a giant circle to get here. Downey could have played Doctor Doom before the MCU existed.
Instead, he became Iron Man, helped launch one of the biggest movie franchises ever made, died saving the universe, and more than 20 years after those original Doom discussions, he's finally stepping into Victor von Doom's boots.
We'll finally get to see what Downey brings to Doom when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026.