Avengers: Secret Wars Reportedly Once Had Robert Downey Jr. as Superior Iron Man Before Doctor Doom

Avengers: Secret Wars has drastically changed from what it was originally supposed to be, but what if Robert Downey Jr. was always planning to come back to the MCU as a villain? According to reports on the original plans, he was set to return as Superior Iron Man from Earth 818, before Marvel Studios settled on him playing Doctor Doom.

Marvel Studios originally announced Kang Dynasty followed by Avengers: Secret Wars. Then it changed course: Kang Dynasty was no more, Kang would no longer be the villain, and Robert Downey Jr. would return as Doom. It sounds like most of what Secret Wars was originally supposed to be has been changed, but some of it has remained the same. According to some insiders, certain parts are still going to be very important while others are being dropped completely. One of the parts that stayed is Robert Downey Jr. returning.

The Original Kang Dynasty Ending Reportedly Created Battleworld Through a Merged Beyonder and Kang

The first part of the story belongs to Kang Dynasty. In its original ending, the Beyonder and Kang had reportedly created Battleworld by merging multiple timelines and realities. They are essentially the same person in this version of the film. Some older reports stated that the Beyonder and Kang would be one combined character, and that is reportedly what was going to happen. He ruled this new realm, Chronopolis, as its supreme leader.

There were surviving heroes, and the Avengers among them reportedly included Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man, Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider, Deadpool, Wolverine, the Fantastic Four family, Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel. They were imprisoned by the combined Beyonder and Kang, who revealed that each of them has a prime variant: the greatest version of themselves in the entire multiverse. Tom Holland's Spider-Man was the prime Spider-Man, destined to defeat Kang.

Meanwhile, a heroic Kang variant, a different person from the Kang ruling Battleworld, would rally the heroes alongside Doctor Strange to fight the Beyonder and reclaim the Nega-Bands and the Ten Rings.

Marvel Has Reportedly Abandoned Anchor Beings and Prime Variants

Right off the bat, one thing Marvel Studios has abandoned is the idea of prime variants, or anchor beings. Not too long ago, insider Alex Perez of The Cosmic Circus said Marvel has abandoned the whole anchor being concept. I think that's probably for the better.

There might have been a way to use anchor beings to restore their universes, because that's sort of what we saw in Deadpool and Wolverine. That universe lost its anchor being, Logan, and then after some events the timeline suddenly wasn't dying anymore. So they were going to tie anchor beings in somehow, and it could have gotten messy. I think simply using power sets like those of the Scarlet Witch, Franklin Richards and maybe Loki to restore the multiverse is the best way to go.

Regardless, it seems the anchor being concept and prime variants are finished. They're probably just going to focus on the main characters we've known over time, plus older legacy characters like the X-Men.

The Nega-Bands and Ten Rings May No Longer Be Kang Tech

The second part concerns the Nega-Bands, the bangle Kamala Khan had, which Kamala Khan and Captain Marvel now each have one of, and the Ten Rings. I'm sure they're not going to ignore these entirely, but before, Marvel was leaning very heavily into this being Kang tech and teased it heavily. Now they might simply be weapons.

In the post credit scene for the Shang-Chi film, the rings were sending out a beacon. That beacon was originally supposed to be going to Kang. Could it be going to Doom now? Sure. Could it still be Kang tech? It still could be, because Kang did exist in the MCU and they're not erasing what happened before. He's just no longer the main villain, and it sounds like there really aren't any other Kangs out there anymore, whether the Kang variant seen in Loki or Victor Timely. It could be Kang tech or Doom tech. This one I'm unsure about.

Robert Downey Jr. Was Reportedly Set to Return as Superior Iron Man From Earth 818

Here's where it gets really interesting, and I think fans might actually have liked it. I also think the plan took a page from Multiverse of Madness. Reportedly, Robert Downey Jr. would return as Superior Iron Man from Earth 818, who conspires to steal the Beyonder's powers for himself. Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson would also reprise their roles as variants of Captain America and Black Widow in Battleworld.

Some people ask why he would return as Superior Iron Man as the villain. Well, he's returning as Doom as the villain anyway. Robert Downey Jr. has said, from what it sounds like, that he was talking with Marvel about returning for at least a year and a half. I'm sure it wasn't Doom right away when he first met with Marvel, and that they kicked a lot of characters around. Superior Iron Man was probably one of them.

At a time when Kang was still the main villain, this might have made sense, perhaps more sense than Doom. If you're not going to bring Doom in to be the ultimate villain, why bring him in at all? Then the situation with Jonathan Majors happened, and Marvel Studios reportedly said it was planning to move away from Kang anyway, which would explain why Superior Iron Man was going to be a villain in Secret Wars.

Why I Think Robert Downey Jr. Was Coming Back No Matter What

The point is that Robert Downey Jr. had been talking with Marvel for a really long time, over a year, before deciding Doom was the right character to come back as, and that he would be the villain in Secret Wars instead of Kang. He also said he talked to the Russo brothers for over a year trying to convince them to join the movie.

It wasn't until the Russos, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely and their whole team (I know only Stephen McFeely is writing this) had a breakthrough that they settled on the story they would tell with what Marvel had given them: Robert Downey Jr. returning as Doom. Or maybe the Russo brothers were even the ones who suggested Doom, even though it has been reported that Kevin Feige asked him about coming back as Doom. Either way, there were talks.

So originally, I think Robert Downey Jr. was coming back no matter what. The same goes for Chris Evans, because I think these talks happened a long time ago, about the original version of Secret Wars. I think Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr. have been confirmed to come back for a pretty long time now, and Marvel finally has everything together for what Avengers: Secret Wars is now.

The Legacy Cast Reportedly Lined Up for the Original Secret Wars

Several pre MCU actors would reportedly have returned, including Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Patrick Stewart, Nicolas Cage, Ian McKellen and Miles Teller. Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen from the Spider-Verse were also being considered.

We've heard about that last part before. Kevin Feige has said Miles could be brought into the MCU after Sony releases Beyond the Spider-Verse, so perhaps they were waiting to see what happens there. Everything else kind of checks out against where things stood as of April 2026. Patrick Stewart was returning, and we had heard Nicolas Cage would return for a cameo. Miles Teller is interesting, because he might be playing the Maker, who was still part of the new version of Secret Wars. It all lines up a little, except for the Superior Iron Man part.

Superior Iron Man Would Have Betrayed the Heroes and Faced Tom Holland's Spider-Man

Reportedly, Superior Iron Man ends up helping stop and kill the combined Beyonder and Kang, absorbing his powers. Possessing the powers of the Beyonder, Superior Iron Man then betrays the Avengers and the heroes, which is no big surprise. This sets up a climactic battle between the chosen one, the strongest anchor being in the multiverse, Tom Holland's Spider-Man, and Superior Iron Man.

I would have really liked this. I still really like the idea of Tom Holland's Spider-Man seeing that Doctor Doom looks exactly like Tony Stark and saying, "Mr. Stark." We could have had that here too, especially with him in an Iron Man suit. It might have been even more emotional, because he's still Iron Man in this scenario, not a completely different character. He's still Tony Stark, just an evil version of him.

I think the manipulation could have been there as well. He presents himself as a Tony Stark variant, the heroes assume he's just like the Tony they knew and must be a good guy at heart, and then he turns on them and Spider-Man is the one who has to fight him. I would have liked to see that, though I still like it as Doom.

The Original Ending Reportedly Saw a Heroic Kang Variant Policing a Rebooted Universe

In the end, Spider-Man and the heroes win, but the multiverse is still collapsing. So the heroic Kang variant and the TVA merge all the dying universes into one, including the MCU, the X-Men universe and the Fantastic Four universe. The result is a soft reboot establishing a new continuity in which mutants have always existed, the Fantastic Four are the first family of heroes, and some MCU heroes are rebooted or recast. The story culminates with that Kang variant, who is good in this scenario, policing the new universe.

This is very interesting because a report from Alex Perez a long time ago said that in the original plans for Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, the characters were going to realise they were in a big multiversal time loop. One universe branches out, a multiversal war happens, someone wins it, everything breaks down to one universe again, and it repeats. It seems that is how this would end: the TVA still there, a benevolent Kang variant overseeing everything until it happens again, or until somebody realises what is happening and views him as bad.

It depends on how you look at Loki. Some people think the Kang variant at the end of Loki was lying, but if he was telling the truth, he really was stopping the Multiversal War and protecting the sacred timeline. So for him to be a better, more benevolent version of himself, this ending would make sense, and eventually Marvel would dive into the multiverse again.

Why Kang Was Dropped and What Stayed the Same

As of April 2026, the new version was going to end in a somewhat similar way. In Avengers: Doomsday, Doom was set to take several timelines and put them together to make Battleworld, and the universe at the end would be the new universe moving forward, a combination of all the universes. That part stayed the same. The difference is that Marvel decided to go with Doctor Doom instead of Superior Iron Man and to get rid of Kang altogether because of what happened with Jonathan Majors.

It was also reported that Marvel was thinking about moving away from Kang even before Quantumania, which I just can't really believe, because Kang was amazing before that film. Kang had moments of greatness in Quantumania, like when he was shown obliterating universes, but then he was defeated by Hank Pym and ants. He should have obliterated them. Granted, he didn't have all his tech, but I think most people agree that movie wasn't handled very well.

Regardless, Marvel moved away from Kang and from Superior Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. is back as Doom, and we're getting some of this original script, but this is what it was going to be before.

Would you have preferred Superior Iron Man and a combined Beyonder and Kang, or do you like the Doom led direction Secret Wars has taken?