Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom Father’s Day "Doom Dad" Post Has Marvel Fans Spiraling With Theories
Father’s Day brought an unexpected Marvel treat from Robert Downey Jr., and fans immediately went into detective mode.
The actor, who is currently preparing for his highly anticipated return to the MCU as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, shared a playful piece of artwork that has sparked a wave of speculation across social media.
What looked at first glance like a simple child’s drawing quickly became something much more intriguing once Marvel fans started examining the details.
The illustration featured Doctor Doom holding hands with a child while colorful kites floated overhead. Scrawled across the drawing in a childlike style were the words: “I heart doom Dad.”
That was all it took for the internet to explode with reactions. Fans flooded the comments with jokes, theories, and plenty of Marvel references. One fan simply wrote “papai doom,” while another reached back to Avengers: Endgame and commented, “I love you 3000.”
Others immediately began looking for deeper meaning. “DOOM HAS A CHILD CONFIRMED! Or… he had one,” one fan theorized, while another asked, “Wait a minute is this a clue.”
Fans also noticed that the kites soaring above Doom and his child show the Avengers logo and the Fantastic Four emblem, and both had been crossed out with a red prohibition symbol.
Suddenly, the cheerful Father’s Day artwork felt a little darker. The post arrives as discussion continues to build around rumored plot details for Avengers: Doomsday.
Various reports and fan theories have suggested that Marvel will be taking Doom in a very different direction from the comics. According to those rumors, Doom’s wife and child are killed while he investigates the Incursions tearing apart the Multiverse.
Rather than simply mourning the loss, the tragedy reportedly pushes him down a destructive path. Theories claim that Doom eventually discovers Steve Rogers played a role in triggering the catastrophe when he traveled back in time to live out his life with Peggy Carter following the events of Endgame. Seeking revenge, Doom’s anger allegedly becomes focused on Captain America’s son.
Whether any of that proves true remains to be seen, but it certainly gives Downey’s Father’s Day drawing a much more sinister context.
Downey previously teased the scale of what Marvel is attempting with the next Avengers film, explaining: “There’s something going on in Doomsday, and forward that is literally the only antidote to, ‘How do you not have these films be let down after an Infinity War and an Endgame?’ And boy, have we laboured long and hard to bring that down.”
Marvel has a massive challenge ahead as it follows up the game-changing events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and it sounds like the filmmakers are aiming high.
Avengers: Doomsday is being directed by Joe Russo and Anthony Russo from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely.
As for that Father’s Day drawing, it could be nothing more than a fun holiday post. Then again, Marvel fans know better than most that every detail is worth examining.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on December 18.