The Russo brothers just made an interesting comment on Doctor Doom’s impending MCU debut, and his connection to Iron Man. The duo are on a press tour right now promoting their new movie The Electric State as well as the start of production on Avengers: Doomsday, where Robert Downey Jr. will return to the franchise to play Victor von Doom. In an interview with The Times published this weekend, they declined to answer a question about Doom’s story, but in the process, they may have revealed how much is really going on here. They seemed to imply that there is a strong connection between the Iron Man we lost in Endgame and the Doctor Doom we’re meeting in Avengers: Doomsday.
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Asked how Downey Jr. could return as Doom after dying as Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame, Anthony Russo reportedly grinned. “We can’t explain that as it’s part of the story,” he said. “But there’s nobody else in the world who could play this character the way he’s about to.”
This definitely makes it sound like the MCU won’t ignore the resemblance between Tony Stark and Victor von Doom, which makes sense. A casting choice this huge — and this expensive — couldn’t simply be an Easter egg, especially in an arc called the Multiverse Saga. However, the mechanics connecting the Tony of Earth-616 to this version of Victor from an alternate reality are a mystery, and there are a lot of options.
[RELATED: Robert Downey Jr. Is Developing His Own Doom Backstory for the MCU (But What About the Comics?)]
The obvious risk of connecting these two characters is that it might tarnish or cheapen the story of Iron Man laid out in the Infinity Saga. He was a pillar of that arc, and his sacrifice in the end really signified that the story was over, and the MCU was moving on to something new. By adding on some kind of multiverse parallel, rebirth, or whatever else they’re going for could detract from the finality of sacrifice, depending on how it’s done.
On the other hand, if anyone can handle the challenge, it’s the Russo brothers. The directors saw the MCU through its grand climax last time, and fans certainly seem excited to have them back. As tantalizing as this hint is, there’s still not enough information about the MCU’s Doom to make any confident guesses about what’s coming. That may change this summer with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but even then, we don’t know whether we’ll meet Doom in that movie or not.
The Electric State is streaming now on Netflix. The next MCU release is Thunderbolts, hitting theaters on May 6th. Avengers: Doomsday goes into production next month and is scheduled to debut on May 1, 2026.
