There is no doubt that Avengers: Doomsday is the most anticipated movie of the year and, if we’re being honest, maybe for the past several years. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t stopped releasing films since Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame in 2018 and 2019 respectively, none of the MCU movies that have come after have quite reached the level of those two films. While there are a lot of reasons that contribute to that—there was that little thing called the pandemic in 2020 after all—a lot of it also comes down to the villain. Infinity War and Endgame had Thanos as the anchor for the threat element of the story, a surprisingly complex figure that fans had a deeply emotional response to because of their investment with heroes they had come to know and love for years. It made the twin films satisfying on a deep level—and set the bar very, very high, so much so that nothing else has reached it yet.
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This means that there is a lot riding on Avengers: Doomsday and, perhaps even more on Doctor Doom himself, Robert Downey Jr. After his fan-favorite turn as Iron Man, fans were thrilled that the actor was returning to the MCU, but also full of questions and expectations about his turn as the next Big Bad in the MCU. It makes for an interesting situation for the upcoming film and for the actor, it all comes down to the emotions of things and making sure that fans aren’t let down after the highs of Infinity War and Endgame.
“I think Doomsday, more than any [film] so far… just because I’ve now realized our tendency to be telling the story of the world while hiding behind the fact that, ‘No, we’re just telling superhero movies that you can enjoy!’” Downey told CBR. “But you’re only as good as your bad guy, tying Doomsday to Infinity War specifically. And again, the only thing everybody could rally around [in Infinity War] is, ‘You’re going to have to contend with Brolin.’”
He continued, “I’m quite odd in that I try to stay as removed from a subjective experience of things as I can. So, I try to think like the brothers. I try to feel like I’m in the writing room. I try to feel all that stuff. But eventually, there are so many big shoes to step into that just have to go, ‘What hasn’t been done as well as it can be done yet?’ We’re always looking for that opportunity. And a lot of it has been… there’s some experimentation. We’ve had our moments of, ‘Let’s shift here.’ But we landed in a place that I think will more than suffice. And it’s not even about how I executed it. It’s about the way it’s been structured, and the other characters. There’s something going on in Doomsday and forward that is literally the only antidote to, ‘How do you not have these films be a letdown after an Infinity War and an Endgame?’ And boy, have we labored long and hard to bring that down.”
Can Doomsday Live Up to Its Predecessors?
While Doomsday does have a lot going for it for fans with not just the return of Downey to the MCU but also the sheer scope of characters expected for the film, the return of the Russo Bros behind the camera and the promise that the film will put the MCU story on a scale larger than anything we’ve seen before, Downey is correct in that it has big shoes to fill. Infinity War and Endgame weren’t just good movies; they were pop culture experiences that still trigger rich emotional responses from fans both from watching the movie itself and from the memory of experiencing it in theaters for the first time. The films, particularly Infinity War, were emotional roller coasters, marking the first serious time in the MCU that the heroes didn’t come out on top. There were genuine losses and the emotional impact was significant. It set the films apart from everything else—and set the bar for future films extremely high.
Even with all the excitement and enticing elements of Doomsday, that film is going to have to hit that bar and the key to that will be emotion. Fans are going to have care because if there isn’t an emotional investment in the characters themselves as connected to what they are experiencing, Doomsday will miss its mark. It sounds like it’s something that isn’t lost on Downey which means that if he can sell us on Doom, everything else just might fall into place for the next great MCU epic.
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