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By now it's no secret that at SDCC 24 during Marvels Hall H Panel it was announced that former Iron Man star, Robert Downy Jr., would be taking over the iconic character Victor Von Doom. Though many MCU fans were excited, a lot were wondering how RDJ was going to lose the Tony Stark facade and become Dr. Doom. Some feel this is a cash grab by Marvel brass and the Russo Brothers, but other think this could be an interesting turn for a floundering MCU. Can Robert Downy Jr. pull off one of the most iconic villains in Marvel Comics history?
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Doom! You can't win this! I'm going to give you one chance here. Surrender
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Doom does not surrender. This is Dr. Doom, and this is Marvel's Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con
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where they debuted the surprise reveal that the MCU's Dr. Doom is going to be played by the man
0:18
who embodied one of the most successful superheroes to ever grace the big screen, Robert Downey Jr
0:24
Is this a good thing? Is this a bad thing? let's take a deep dive into the Marvel Cinematic Universe to get to the bottom of things
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New mask. Same task. Victor Von Doom was the first major villain of the Marvel Universe. First appearing in
0:42
Fantastic Four No. 5, Doom has had various origins over the course of his 60-year history
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The most common version of Victor Von Doom, an ego-fueled genius from Latveria
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is paired with Reed Richards on a scientific project, usually around when they go to college
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Things don't go well between the two of them, and Von Doom suffers an accident
1:01
In order to cover what he perceives as a hideous disfigurement, Doom flees to Tibet
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where he builds himself a powerful suit of armor and also learns the mystic arts from a secretive cult of monks
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Doom, as a character, has it all. He's a scientist, a warlock, a dictator
1:15
and a fearsome physical threat. The character's multi-level and nuanced motivations have produced some of the best comics Marvel has ever published
1:22
You are trespassing on Liberian soil. Leave now. So it's understandable why Marvel Studios would turn to him to attempt to save an ailing MCU
1:34
The Marvels, The Eternals, Thor, Love and Thunder, Ant-Man, Quantumania, and on the Disney Plus side of things, Echo and Secret Invasion
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have been met with indifference and consternation from the viewing public. And Marvel knows this
1:46
Yeah, well, this is different. They are attempting to pivot back to what worked in the past Marvel Studios held a jam panel at San Diego Comic After the recent firing of Jonathan Majors from the role of Kang the MCU has been in free fall Marvel was going to have to pivot to the only other character big enough
2:03
to handle the universe-level threat they needed, Doctor Doom. Victor, don't do this
2:08
There is no Victor. There is only Doom. Up to this point, everything that's been happening in the multiverse saga
2:14
has been influenced by Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four run, Avengers run, and his now classic take on Secret Wars
2:21
Their original plan was going to be to adapt these comics fairly faithfully
2:25
It seemed pretty apparent that they were leading toward the MCU adapting the idea of the Illuminati
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attempting to save the multiverse, pruning universes, and also the eventual creation of Doctor Doom as God Emperor Doom
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which results in him willing a pocket reality into being that houses multiple variants of everyone's favorite characters
2:43
But here's the thing. A lot of that stuff is not going to be rethought
2:47
The large strokes of it? Yes, they're going to happen. but Marvel's Hall H panel this year was a doozy
2:53
They know that if they don't make the right bets and big swings, the whole house of cards is going to fall apart
2:58
Yeah, sure, Deadpool and Wolverine was a massive financial success, but there have been so many mismanaged and overly complicated maneuvers
3:05
that the MCU has made since Endgame. People are obviously tired. Despite saying the opposite publicly
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Kevin Feige and the other Marvel brass know that superhero fatigue is real
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And thus, Robert Downey Jr. as Doom and the Rousseaus returning to direct Avengers 5 Doomsday and Avengers 6 Secret Wars
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Rumor has it that the Rousseaus have been paid $80 million for the two films
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and that Downey is being paid significantly more than that to return to the MCU
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But here's the thing. There's a lot of confused people about what is actually happening with the MCU version of Doom
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We don't actually know exactly what it's going to be. As announced in the panel, Joe Rousseau said
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As proof of the unimaginable possibilities in the Marvel multi we give you the one person who could play Victor Von Doom
4:00
Notice that he specifically said Victor Von Doom. Rumors have been swirling that Downey Jr. is going to be playing a variant of Tony Stark
4:07
that becomes Dr. Doom. But the way Joe Russo phrased the introduction, it doesn't really seem completely accurate
4:14
Tony Stark has appeared as Doom five times in the comics, In Exiles number 23, there's an alternate universe where Tony Stark kills Doom and becomes a global dictator
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In Marvel Team-Up number 2, Doom is revealed to be Tony Stark all along, donning the name the Iron Maniac
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And then Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four number 25 has a character named Doc Iron, which you can probably deduce what's going on there
4:37
These last two are probably the two stories that most people are going to be referencing during online conversations about this narrative choice
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a what-if comic called Demon in an Armor that sees Doom and Tony as college roommates
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eventually swapping bodies and becoming mortal enemies. And then finally, we have infamous Iron Man
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This book follows Victor Von Doom taking over as Iron Man after Tony has died
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This book was produced in the immediate wake of Secret Wars, so it's understandable why there's so much confusion about this
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In fact, it even features an AI Tony that helps Victor through these trials
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So there's multiple versions of this idea that have existed before and could play out over these next two movies
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There's only one problem. Joe Brousseau said, One man who can bring Victor Von Doom to life
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And Robert Downey Jr. just isn't the type of actor to embody a traditional Victor Von Doom
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So Marvel has to be doing something unusual. Look, the MCU just would not exist without Downey
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His brand of quippy humor and effortless charisma is what created and established the template for the entire universe
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That how Dad did it That how America does it And it worked out pretty well so far However Victor Von Doom is an imperious egomaniac We been waiting for Doom to get a good adaptation to the screen for decades
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From the early 2000s version, where he can control electricity for some reason
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to the body horror one, there's never been the definitive adaptation of Marvel's biggest and baddest villain
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Painful. You don't know the meaning of the word. And now, there won't be
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Or at least not for Secret Wars and Doomsday, which is such a shame
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Can you even really do Secret Wars without a real Doom? Downey's acting talent is great, obviously, but is it Dr. Doom
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Not really. He's a different thing. More than likely, they'll be adapting some version of the demon in an armor storyline
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where Tony takes the place of Doom in the Fantastic Four story. But his character will just be named Victor Von Doom
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saving the real Doom for the post-Secret Wars clean slate. This is all potentially very confusing for audiences
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The fact that Robert Downey Jr. is coming back to the MCU just inherently undercuts the ending of
6:46
Endgame. Yes, he's playing a different character, but the fact they stuck the landing on 23 movies
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with the perfect ending to the character is nothing short of a miracle. Why mess with that
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in any form? You've done the impossible. What more do you need to prove? Significantly more
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than $80 million makes all that accomplishment less important, apparently. While this new take
7:07
on Doom seems fundamentally unsound, if anyone is going to be able to pull it off, it's the
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Rousseaus and Robert Downey Jr. They've been the spine of the MCU for longer than anyone would have
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guessed, and the fact that Downey is coming off an Oscar win, maybe that means they're really
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swinging for the fences. What can I tell you? I like playing complicated characters. Maybe this
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announcement will be like the people who didn't understand Heath Ledger as the Joker, or who
7:32
maligned Ben Affleck as Batman initially, maybe this will be the best thing the MCU's done yet
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In the multiverse, anything is possible. What am I even tripping for? Everything's gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to