Doctor Doom leak: is he a Tony Stark variant in Doomsday?

A leak from MyTimeToShineHello claimed that several different origin stories were considered for Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, and some of them connected Doom directly to Tony Stark. If it's true, I think it makes clear that there's a story reason RDJ was cast, and it adds weight to my view that Doom and Tony are multiversal variants of one another.

The leak could also help explain why Doom and Tony look alike and what Doom's mission is across Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. That's the debate I want to settle, because for some reason, the idea that the two characters are variants still gets a lot of pushback.

The leak: Doctor Doom's Doomsday origin reportedly went through several versions

According to MyTimeToShineHello, "Doom's origin story in Doomsday didn't always involve him having a family." For context, the current reporting at the time stated that Doom in Doomsday has lost his family to some kind of accident.

The leak goes on to list the other versions that were reportedly considered. One had his parents dying. Another had him believing he was a reincarnation of Tony Stark who belonged in the MCU. A third had him working for Mephisto, described in the leak as the devil of the Marvel universe. A final version had Doom obsessed with either Pepper Potts or Sue Storm, the wives of Tony Stark and Reed Richards.

The Tony Stark reincarnation and Mephisto versions of Doom

Out of all these origins, the one where Doom thinks he may be a reincarnation of Tony who belonged in the MCU sounds cool to me. I picture him aspiring to be this Tony Stark figure, yet for some reason his path through the multiverse ended with him scarred, both physically and in a metaphorical sense, after a life that has been so difficult. That's an interesting option.

At the same time, I'm not crazy about the idea of Doctor Doom wanting to be Tony Stark. I don't like that idea. I like the idea of Doctor Doom being Doctor Doom and being proud to be Doctor Doom.

I'm also not crazy about, or even buying, the version where he works for Mephisto. Yes, that's something we see in the comics, because Doom's mother is in hell and we see him trying to get her out. I just don't know that we're going to see a Doom who is about to become God Emperor working for anyone. Plus, it looks like Mephisto is a character they're going to explore more on the small screen.

Why the leak points to a story reason behind RDJ's Doctor Doom casting

The main reason this leak matters to me is that, if true, it makes crystal clear there's more to RDJ's casting than him being a great actor, and more than his return to the MCU being a good PR move. There is a story reason as well. Their likeness and their connection will be addressed. Not necessarily in Doomsday, or not until the very end of it, but mainly in Avengers: Secret Wars.

I've been clear on this since RDJ was first announced as Doctor Doom. I thought it was obvious that these two characters were going to be multiversal variants of one another. I'm not talking about pushback from people who simply don't like the idea of Tony and Doom being connected and would have preferred a different actor. I'm talking about people who think it's a coincidence that the MCU's biggest hero is returning to play its biggest villain, and that the resemblance will be ignored.

Their argument is that this is just an actor getting cast in another Marvel role. Michael B. Jordan played the Human Torch and then Killmonger. Chris Evans played the Human Torch and then Captain America. So RDJ played Iron Man, now he's playing Doctor Doom, and it won't be addressed in universe. Some say his face will be so deformed you can't tell it's RDJ, or that he'll never take the mask off, or that the only reference will be someone remarking that they look alike, or Deadpool being the only one who notices. I don't agree.

The Victor Von Doom name doesn't rule out a Tony Stark variant

A key piece of evidence people cite is that the Russos said RDJ is playing Victor Von Doom, which they take as confirmation that he isn't a variant of Tony Stark. Someone's name does not determine whether they're a variant. Kang had multiple variants with starkly different lives, different names and different accents, and they were all very different from one another.

So the claim that RDJ's Doom can't be a fully comic accurate, true to form Victor Von Doom if Tony and Doom are variants is asinine. He can be just as much Victor Von Doom as he would have been if there were no connection and they had cast a brand new actor. If in one timeline this baby is adopted by the Starks, raised completely differently, and perhaps even experimented on by Howard Stark to make him more like his adoptive father, that could totally work.

Why the Deadpool and Wolverine Human Torch gag isn't the same thing

The second argument people bring up often is the scene in Deadpool and Wolverine where Deadpool thinks the Human Torch is Captain America. That was a gag for a Deadpool movie: fourth wall breaking, goofy, not to be taken too seriously, and very likely never addressed again except maybe by Deadpool.

RDJ returning as Victor Von Doom in the Multiverse Saga, in a movie that is a direct sequel to Avengers: Endgame, is a different situation. Doomsday isn't just the next Avengers movie; it's entangled with the story of Endgame. I know an actor can play another character without that meaning Killmonger is a Human Torch variant. But the films where the Human Torch was played by actors who later moved to the MCU weren't made by Marvel Studios. They were made by a different studio.

Marvel Studios made Endgame and the rest of the MCU, and it's the studio making Doomsday. I don't believe it would cast RDJ, the lead of the previous film, as the lead of its sequel in a role with no connection to his old one, and then never address that they look alike. He was cast for a reason. Joe Russo said that in the infinite possibilities of the Marvel multiverse this is what's possible, and that only one actor could play Victor Von Doom. The Russos also said Tony's snap is tied to Doom and the story of Doomsday. There's a reason they said that, and it's because there is going to be a connection.

My He Who Remains theory for Doctor Doom and Tony Stark

What is that connection? This is a saga called the Multiverse Saga, one that introduced variants and showed how the slightest change can completely alter the flow of time. Personally, I like the idea of Tony being a product of the manipulations of He Who Remains and his sacred timeline.

In my theory, He Who Remains rewrote Universe 616 so that Victor Von Doom's parents were killed and he was adopted as a baby by the Starks. Now that the multiverse is wide open, the sacred timeline is no more and He Who Remains is gone, Victor Von Doom can come into existence and become aware of how his existence was tampered with. He is then seeking the throne of the man who did that tampering, only that throne is now occupied by Loki. I think that sets up a cool story, and I don't see any way that's not at least close to what they're planning, though those are just my thoughts.

Why I think Doomsday could end with Doom unmasking as Tony

I don't think there's any real chance their likeness goes unaddressed, at least by the time Secret Wars arrives. In fact, my prediction at the time of this leak was that Doomsday will end with Doom unmasking and our heroes seeing that under the mask is the face of their old friend Tony, and that this will be the cliffhanger that takes us into Secret Wars.