Avengers: Doomsday: will Doom's Tony Stark face be explained?

An insider who claims to know the full plot of Avengers: Doomsday says the film does not address why Doctor Doom looks like Tony Stark. I think I know exactly why. My theory is that Doom stays behind his mask for almost the entire movie, with Robert Downey Jr.'s face held back for one big reveal in the final scene.

That insider's comments, which came up in a fan question I received, line up with a theory I laid out earlier about how Avengers: Doomsday ends. At the time of writing, the film had not yet been released, so everything here is my reading of what was being said before anyone had seen it.

My theory: Avengers: Doomsday ends with Doom removing his mask

Some time ago I reported that I'd figured out the final scene of Avengers: Doomsday. I said the movie would end with Doom removing his mask for the first time in the entire film. I also said it would likely look a lot like what Robert Downey Jr. did when he was revealed as Doom at Comic-Con.

I based that on two nuggets from the insider's own show. The first was that he was still 50/50 on whether Doom is a variant of Tony Stark. He was unsure before he learned the whole plot, and he stayed unsure after. My thinking was simple: if the movie shows Doom's face around characters who knew Tony Stark, the resemblance has to come up. So that was clue number one that maybe we wouldn't see his face much.

Clue number two was the insider saying that while Doom will certainly appear in the marketing, such as the trailers, you should not expect to see Robert Downey Jr.'s face in it. Why would a studio hide that face? The only reason I can think of is that his face isn't in the movie much, and the one time it is, it's a big reveal you don't put in a trailer.

Why a masked Doctor Doom fits the comics and Secret Wars

I've said before that I'd be surprised if the trailers didn't show off Robert Downey Jr.'s face. Still, it would make sense for Doom to keep his mask on. In the comics, he hardly ever removes it. That is, until Secret Wars, when he fixes his face. And what does Doomsday lead right into? Secret Wars.

The insider later said two more things that added credence to my theory and have me thinking Doom might not be in the movie all that much. One was that when we see the film, we'll understand why we shouldn't expect any Oscar consideration or buzz for Robert Downey Jr.'s performance.

He's not the type to judge a performance he hasn't seen. But I do think he's basing that claim on what he knows from the script. And I think what he knows is that Doom isn't in the movie much, and that he's behind the mask for nearly all of it until the very end.

The insider's "nor should they" comment about Doom and Tony Stark

The other comment came in a clip that started circulating online. Asked whether the film addresses Doom and Tony looking alike, the insider said: "They do not. Nor should they. And that answer will come in secret wars." He added that "they will in secret wars. And I think it's the right decision."

What stands out to me is "nor should they." He's saying that based on knowing the plot. If his view is that the film shouldn't address the likeness, that tells me there must be a story reason it isn't touched on, and shouldn't be.

How Thor and Steve might never see Doom's face

What could that reason be? I think it's probably a big part of the film that we, the audience, know who's under the mask while the other characters don't. They'll be in situations with this Doom guy and talking about him, and we'll know he's connected to Tony while they won't. That would feed the eerie nature of the whole thing, because characters like Thor and Steve and other MCU alumni wouldn't recognize what we know.

Maybe Reed and Sue know all about Victor Von Doom. Maybe he's from their universe and they'd know what he looks like under the mask. What they wouldn't know is that everyone else recognizes that face as Tony Stark, a man from their universe.

Doombots instead of repeated battles with Doom

I think Doom is going to be running around causing trouble while the heroes never catch up to him, always gone just before they arrive. Unlike with Ultron and Thanos, we wouldn't see repeated battles between villain and heroes throughout the film. Instead, we'd get one big battle with Doom at the end.

The enemies the heroes fight along the way could be proxies, like Doombots controlled by Doom from some undisclosed location. He could be hiding anywhere in the multiverse. Maybe he's dethroned Loki and is sitting on Loki's throne, and the heroes need to reach him using the Ten Rings beacon that I think leads to Loki. Anything's possible.

The Doombots could serve as vessels, so the heroes are dealing with Doom, but through Doombots or other variants of himself he's dreamwalking into, or controlling with his mind from across universes. They could be moving universe to universe causing trouble.

How Kang Dynasty became Avengers: Doomsday

That brings me to Kang. Avengers 5 was once Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Marvel's unhappiness with how Kang was being received, plus other drama, put the final nail in that coffin, and the project was reworked into Avengers: Doomsday.

Many think, incorrectly I'd add, that casting Robert Downey Jr. as Doom was a last minute Hail Mary. If you know anything about Hollywood, it wasn't. My opinion, based on evidence, is that his return for Secret Wars specifically, as Doom specifically, is something Kevin Feige, Downey and even the Russo brothers had been kicking around since before they finished Endgame.

Secret Wars never had an attached director. So while Kang Dynasty was heavily reworked, I don't know that Secret Wars needed much. Maybe Feige always planned for the Russos and Downey to come back for it, perhaps as his last Marvel movie before moving on.

Why I think Doom was always the plan for Secret Wars

I do think Doom might always have had a small role in the fifth Avengers film, perhaps revealing that he's Doom but also Tony Stark, maybe a variant, which would play into Secret Wars. I don't see them doing Secret Wars without Doom, because he's a crucial piece of both comic versions of the story. How quickly they pivoted to Downey and Doom tells me he was always the plan.

It also suggests he probably doesn't have a huge role in Doomsday if they're retrofitting the Kang Dynasty plot. Maybe the villains were once Kang variants serving a prime Kang, and now they're Doombots working for Doom. That connects to the Comic-Con show where Downey walked on stage surrounded by Dooms.

So I think it all points toward Doom having a smaller role than we once thought. The real threat is doomsday itself, the end of the multiverse. Doom is a huge part of it, but it's his presence that lingers, not a ton of screen time. Secret Wars, perhaps even two Secret Wars films, could be what they planned for Downey in a big way, with Doomsday serving as the prelude to the biggest Marvel story ever told.