Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom: can Marvel pull it off?

Marvel's Comic-Con panel didn't produce much news until its last announcement: Robert Downey Jr. back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not as Tony Stark, but as Victor Von Doom. I liked the way Marvel ran that panel. I'm on the fence about the casting itself. Winston and Coy had their own takes, and Coy in particular was worried about what this could mean for Doom.

I happen to think the announcement played better in the room than it did on the internet. Either way, it got people talking. Is Downey a variant of Tony? People say no. The thinking is that he's Victor Von Doom rather than Tony Stark, and even saying that out loud sounds confusing.

Marvel's Comic-Con panel kept the focus on three movies and Doom

I thought Marvel presented its panel the way it should have. It promoted the three movies it had shot. Coy says this all the time: Marvel shouldn't be announcing 7,000 different things at once. I don't think Blade was even mentioned.

What Marvel should announce is Avengers, because that is, pun intended, the endgame for this whole thing. So the message was simple. The Russos had been rumored to return, and the Russos are back. Kang wasn't mentioned. Instead, Marvel said there was a new villain, it's Doom, and then showed who was playing him.

Winston argues Doom doesn't have to be a Tony Stark variant

Winston said this isn't necessarily a Tony variant. It's Victor Von Doom, and he may simply look similar. People had already pointed to Gemma Chan, who played Minn-Erva and then Sersi. It's the same actress under some blue makeup, and Winston thinks the same logic could apply to Downey, especially since Doom will be covered by a mask most of the time.

He also thinks Marvel could get away with a reveal where someone notices Doom looks like Tony Stark. Even the variant route could work, with characters assuming he's a helpful tech guy before learning he's evil. In Winston's view, there are ways to do this without besmirching the character. If people find using the same actor confusing, he noted that the MCU has been telling a multiversal story the whole time. Without spoiling it, he pointed to anyone who had just seen Deadpool and Wolverine as proof it can be done.

My theory: a post-credits scene and a 1960s Earth that never knew Tony Stark

I think Marvel is going to introduce Downey's Doom in a post-credits scene. From what I understood, filming had just started when Marvel made the announcement, so they could shoot a scene with him and use it to introduce him. That's my thought.

I also think there's a way to handle the face problem. Put Victor Von Doom on that other Earth, the one set in the 1960s. He's that world's Victor Von Doom, and he happens to look like the Tony Stark we know. To Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby and the rest of them, that's meaningless, because they don't know who Tony Stark is or what he looks like. When they see that face, they see Victor Von Doom. Then, when he crosses over into the universe we know, people could react with shock that it's Tony Stark, and the answer would be no, that's Victor Von Doom.

Coy worries Downey's Doom is lead versus lead

Coy thinks that's probably what Marvel is going to try, but he called it tricky. He loves the Russo Brothers, he loves Downey Jr., and he called writers Markus and McFeely geniuses. But he argued that comic books and movies are different. Plausible deniability works differently with a drawing than with an actor you have so many associations with. "So they can tell me that's Doom all they want," he said, but he does worry.

Coy mentioned the show Downey was on at the time, where he wore prosthetics and looked like different people, as part of that worry. He granted there's precedent. There's the Gemma Chan example, and there's WandaVision, where Quicksilver from the Fox universe turned out to be Ralph Bohner. But Coy noted that those were two different characters from two different universes. This is MCU versus MCU and lead versus lead. Arguably, the lead of the MCU was either Downey or Chris Evans, and the leading villain of the next phase is clearly going to be Doom.

That led Coy to his questions. Do you pay 90 million plus dollars to put prosthetics on Downey? Do you keep unmasking Doom, a character known for always wearing a mask? Do you waste Doom's integrity to put people in seats? As someone who loves Doom, he worries that the business side will win out over storytelling. He loves that Downey gets to play a villain and that he loves complicated characters. He just doesn't want it to come at the cost of Doom, and he said he looks forward to being proven wrong.

The sunglasses at the Doom reveal were not a good first step

I think the issue Marvel will face is making sure audiences don't associate him with Tony Stark at all. When Downey took off the mask and put his sunglasses on, that was not a good first step.

Coy said he hadn't put that together until I said it. He loved the moment when the mask came off. There was a coldness to Downey's face. He's older, and post Oppenheimer, Coy said, Downey is a different man. Coy said he spent the ten seconds before that looking forward to Downey's take. Then the glasses went on, and that was the cue that threw him.

Coy also noted that he understood Downey was one of the people in the running to play Doom in a Fantastic Four film around 20 years ago. Even then, Coy would have been curious, but Downey wouldn't have been on his short list. He likes Downey, he said, but he would never say Downey is Doom. "Doom would never wear sunglasses," he said.

Other Avengers as villains, a costly movie and the "only one guy" line

Another idea raised in the discussion was that Marvel could ask other departed Avengers, such as Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans, to play iconic villains, drawing a line that in this other universe they weren't Avengers. Red Skull is already taken, but Scarlett could perhaps play Lady Death. The risk is that it becomes a universe where everyone is their evil side, all with a mustache.

There's also cost. The movie would probably cost around $400 million while paying everyone else. The Russos and Downey were expected to make huge amounts, and with all the rumored names, it could be the most expensive movie ever. It does have buzz. The feeling was being on the fence: Downey is good enough that he might make audiences say he's nothing like Tony Stark, but the question is whether Marvel can pull it off.

One point raised in the discussion was that the announcement's claim that only one man could play this role was hyperbole, since plenty of people had been suggested as Doom. But that wording also suggested Marvel has a specific story and plan, which was reassuring compared with simply grabbing Robert because it wasn't sure. Marvel also stressed that anything is possible in the multiverse and seemed to want Doom played by someone audiences had seen before, which could explain the "only one" claim.

Downey's Doom may be the right business choice before it proves itself creatively

This is the point I was trying to make earlier. Downey will get people talking, and he already has. Whether you love or hate the choice, I don't think many people will refuse to see the movie because he's cast as Doom. If anything, I think the opposite: even people who hate the choice want to see what he'll do. As Coy said, that could be the decision that gets people to spend money, and if that happens, it's the right business choice.

We don't know yet, because nobody has seen the movie. If it turns out audiences can't separate the two and it just looks like Doctor Doom with sunglasses on, then it was creatively the wrong choice. The reveal was among the top 15 Instagram videos of all time within 24 hours and was described as clearly the biggest thing since Phase Three ended, so in that sense it's working.

The concern comes from a place of love, from the sanctity of the character and the integrity of the universe. The discussion ended with the view that if anyone can pull this off, it's this team, the one behind Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War and Endgame. It wouldn't be fair to a love of comics to say there's no worry, but that doesn't mean there's no excitement.