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Over the weekend at San Diego Comic-Con during the Marvel Studios’ panel, it was announced that “Avengers 5”, once formerly known as “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty”, has now been retitled officially as “Avengers Doomsday”. This caused speculation about who would portray the new villain, Doctor Doom. That speculation lasted about five minutes when it was then revealed that Robert Downey Jr., who previously played Tony Stark and spearheaded the Infinity saga, would be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to play the most notorious villain on the pages of Marvel comics.
We here have thoughts on this, and that main thought is to hear Marvel out. Currently, the MCU is at a low point with the most recent film, “Deadpool and Wolverine” being a great return to form and a massive hit, but one that still can’t wipe the stains from films such as “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “Thor: Love and Thunder” from the record, which disappointed critics and audiences alike. Some films as well had lots of preconceived notions with many films such as “Eternals”, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “The Marvels”, being hit with waves of homophobia, racism, and sexist vitriol. Especially “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” due to it being the first film to feature Kang the Conqueror, the original villain of the Multiverse saga, played by Jonathan Majors. This whole plan was thrown into a tailspin once Majors was arrested and charged with domestic abuse, causing him to be fired from Marvel Studios.
With this casting of RDJ as Doom, it appears that Disney has hit the panic button by completely pivoting away from Kang while also returning a familiar face to the MCU to gain more people in the cinemas. This has caused many people online to have polarized opinions with some being excited, and others being nervous or otherwise pessimistic. Some also believe that this could have been based on a comic saga known as “The Infamous Iron Man”, but others are confused due to Kevin Feige on the panel saying that he will be playing Victor Von Doom.
At this point, not much is known except that RDJ will return as a new character, and that the Russo Brothers and Stephen McFeely will return to direct and write respectively. While this is a massive change from what many were expecting, we hope to see a great story come out of this as the clock ticks down to doomsday.
Guillermo Guzman (he/him/they) is a Texas-based nerd who loves talking about video games, autism, and entertainment. Follow him on Instagram: @boofy_booferson and X: @Dimpy_Tenders.
Zipporah Pruitt, (she/her) is an L.A. homegrown journalist, who covers entertainment and culture. Follow her on X and Instagram: @zippzine.
Edited by Nykeya Woods