Original Avengers: Secret Wars Plan Reportedly Brought Robert Downey Jr. Back as Superior Iron Man

Avengers: Secret Wars was once going to be something very different when it still had Kang, and both the old and new versions were supposed to bring back Robert Downey Jr. The new version has him returning as Doctor Doom, but the original plan reportedly had him return as Superior Iron Man from Earth-818, a variant who conspires to steal the Beyonder's powers for himself.

Multiple reports have come out about this so far, and now there are new details about what could have happened in Avengers: Secret Wars as it was originally being written by Michael Waldron. The Russo brothers and Stephen McFeely are writing the current version, but Waldron is still contributing and giving input on Doomsday and Secret Wars, since he was originally supposed to write the original Secret Wars. A lot of what has surfaced makes sense to me based on what we knew before.

It is also worth keeping in mind what Kevin Feige recently said: "We will bring together the characters we know and love in pinch me moments that we as fans have always dreamed of but have never seen realized." Marvel is going to take some big swings with Doomsday and Secret Wars.

The Kang Dynasty was set to end with a Beyonder type variant of Kang ruling Battleworld

The first announced Avengers: Secret Wars, based on a script penned by Michael Waldron, was cancelled after the Kang the Conqueror storyline was completely scrapped. In the original ending of The Kang Dynasty, the Beyonder type variant of Kang had reportedly created Battleworld by merging multiple timelines and realities, and he ruled this new realm, Chronopolis, as its supreme leader.

I have previously gone through an entire leak of what The Kang Dynasty was supposed to be, in a breakdown that ran almost an hour, and at the end there was basically a version of Kang who had become a Beyonder. You might recall leaks from a while ago. We had been hearing a lot of reports that there would be no Beyonder in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but that there would be a Beyonder type variant of Kang. That is what this refers to. He wins at the end and becomes the supreme leader of essentially Battleworld. It is their take on Kang taking over as ruler of Battleworld after the multiverse has collapsed, making it his own. Obviously, they have pivoted since then.

Tom Holland's Spider-Man was reportedly the prime variant destined to defeat Kang

In this version, the surviving heroes, including 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, are imprisoned by the Beyonder type variant of Kang. He reveals that each of them has a prime variant, the greatest version of themselves in the entire multiverse, with Tom Holland's Spider-Man being the prime Spider-Man destined to defeat Kang.

This is interesting because it lines up with what we had heard before, and also with what the MCU teased in Deadpool and Wolverine with anchor beings and prime variants. That was once going to be a thing. Not anymore. We have really moved away from that, though at one point it was an intriguing idea. Clearly it did not work out for them to keep some of this for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.

That said, we are not in Secret Wars yet, and we do not know everything about Doomsday, so maybe they do bring it back. But from what some insiders have said, like Alex Perez from The Cosmic Circus, they have kind of abandoned the prime variant and anchor being ideas going into Doomsday and Secret Wars. Maybe we will see them again, but it does not seem like it. It does make sense that there would be prime variants, though, considering what we learned from Deadpool and Wolverine.

Two Kang variants and Doctor Strange were to rally heroes for the bangles and the Ten Rings

Meanwhile, two Kang variants, one of them heroic, and Doctor Strange rally the heroes in Battleworld to fight the Beyonder and reclaim the Nega Bands and the Ten Rings. It is worth remembering these are different variants: the two Kang variants are two separate people. The bands are the bangles Kamala Khan has, and the Ten Rings are, of course, from Shang-Chi.

The plan was always to link those to Kang. Look at Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. His city, his ship, everything was designed with the same look as the rings and the bangles. Are they going to link that to Doom tech now? We do not know. Will they still say it was Kang tech, but maybe Doom gets hold of it in Doomsday or Secret Wars? That is unclear at this point.

It was a really cool concept to tie everything together, and that was Marvel's way of building up Kang originally. A lot of people complain that Doom did not have much buildup. Well, originally they were trying to build up Kang, and I think they were doing an okay job. Loki was amazing, season 2 was great as well, and the bangles and the Ten Rings were really cool. But then of course we went to Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Superior Iron Man was reportedly plotting to steal the Beyonder's powers

In this original Secret Wars, Robert Downey Jr. reportedly returns as Superior Iron Man from Earth-818, who conspires to steal the Beyonder's powers for himself. Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson also reprise their roles as variants of Captain America and Black Widow in Battleworld. Obviously, that has changed as well, since Captain America is coming back literally as himself.

I do think Scarlett Johansson returns, because why not? Everybody else is returning, unless there is still some bad blood between her and Marvel and Disney. She did not really get to take part in the end of Endgame, so I think it would make sense for her to want to take part in this new beginning of the MCU, but we will wait and see.

Superior Iron Man is not the first time we have heard that in connection with the old Secret Wars. We heard it a lot. And this is not the 838 Iron Man, not a Superior Iron Man from the Illuminati universe. This seems to be a completely different Iron Man. Keep in mind that Superior Iron Man in the comics is not exactly a good guy, which becomes clear as the story goes on.

Stars from before the MCU, plus Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen, were in the mix

Several actors from before the MCU would have returned, and they are returning now: Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Patrick Stewart, Nicolas Cage, Ian McKellen and Miles Teller. Additionally, Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen from the Spider-Verse were also being considered. I hope that is still the case for the current version of Secret Wars they are about to start filming, because that would be so cool.

Kevin Feige has said many times that Miles will come to the MCU, but Beyond the Spider-Verse has to happen first. If everything goes according to plan, Miles will have been in Beyond the Spider-Verse before we get our Secret Wars, which means that, based on what Feige has said, he can technically be in the new version. I really hope Spider-Gwen appears too. In the new universe, that could be how we get Miles and Gwen, though we will have to wait and see.

Most of these actors are already confirmed. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds and Tobey Maguire are either confirmed or all but basically confirmed, with some not officially announced but supposed to be in the opening scene. As for Miles Teller, we heard a lot. I still think it would be pretty cool if we got a variant of him in our Secret Wars playing the Maker.

Superior Iron Man was set to betray the heroes before a soft reboot of the multiverse

From there, Superior Iron Man reportedly helps stop and kill the Beyonder type variant of Kang, absorbing his powers. Now possessing the powers of the Beyonder, Superior Iron Man betrays the Avengers and the heroes. 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.

Spider-Man and the heroes win, but the multiverse is still collapsing. So the other 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 that establishes a new continuity where 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 policing the new multiverse.

That is really interesting, though I think some timelines got a bit messed up there, because by the time we got to Secret Wars we should probably already have had the multiversal collapse. Maybe they just brought it down to a few universes at the end, much like the end of Avengers: Doomsday is going to show us, with things coming down to just three universes before the whole thing collapses.

Why I think dropping this version for Doctor Doom is better, even though I miss Kang

For multiple years, Kevin Feige and Robert Downey Jr. have talked about how to get Downey back into the MCU, and both have confirmed that. The original plan might have been Superior Iron Man until they finally decided they were not going the Kang route and scrapped the whole thing. But Superior Iron Man was kind of going to be Doom anyway, at least from the comics. In the comics, Doom takes the power of the Beyonder or the Beyonders in both versions of Secret Wars, and that is essentially what Superior Iron Man was going to be doing here.

I think them moving away from this is much better. Still, "I was really looking forward to Kang. I really really was." I think Jonathan Majors did a great job acting because he really portrayed a powerful villain. Marvel kind of fumbled with Quantumania and a few other things, but overall I was looking forward to seeing all of this play out really big, and then getting Doctor Doom appropriately in the new universe.

I still think it could totally work, and I think it is going to work for Doomsday and Secret Wars, but "I think it would have probably been a little bit easier to do it after Kang instead of replacing Kang." We will have to wait and see. I do believe our version is going to be much better than this version was going to be.

Do you prefer this original Kang era plan, or do you think Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom in Doomsday and Secret Wars will be the better story?