- A new Marvel fan theory about Avengers: Doomsday is circulating online
- Fans think Robert Downey Jr is hinting that he’ll play two characters in the MCU film
- A recent Instagram post from Downey Jr is to blame
Marvel fans have developed a new, potentially very significant notion regarding Avengers: Doomsday as a result of Robert Downey Jr.
The star, who will play Doctor Victor von Doom in the upcoming film, shared a seemingly harmless video on Instagram last Saturday, July 26.
The majority of the video shows Downey Jr. pressing play on a song that his son, Indio Downey, has on Spotify. The A-lister then turns his phone on himself and mouths the previously mentioned song while briefly hovering the camera over a few Marvel comics.
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Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are going crazy about those comics.
At any rate, one of them. A copy of “Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars,” also known as the 12-issue series produced by Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck, and Bob Layton and published between May 1984 and April 1985, is the first comic we see. There are two ‘Secret Wars’ comic series that Joe and Anthony Russo told me they are drawing inspiration from for Doomsday and its follow-up movie Avengers: Secret Wars. The second one was written by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Rebic and ran from May 2015 to January 2016. Therefore, it should come as no huge surprise that Downey Jr. is reading said comic series for research.
However, it is the other book, “Iron Man: Legacy of Doom,” that has caused MCU fans to go crazy.
Given that Downey Jr. portrayed Iron Man and Tony Stark in the MCU from 2008 to 2019, some fans may assume this is only a reference to the two legendary Marvel characters he will have portrayed by the time Avengers: Secret Wars premieres in December 2027.
Longtime Marvel fans, however, are taking it far more seriously and have even developed a new fan theory regarding Downey Jr.’s casting in the Marvel Phase 6 movie, which I sincerely hope is untrue. The next two Avengers films include potentially major spoilers right after. If you truly want to know what fans are speculating about, go back now.
Is Robert Downey Jr playing two characters in Avengers: Doomsday?
The four-issue comic series ‘Iron Man: Legacy of Doom’, for those who are unaware, involves another confrontation between Doom and the armored superhero of the same name. Alright, the latter is more widely known for being The Fantastic Four’s archenemy, but he has also fought Stark a few times in Marvel Comics.
In fact, ‘Legacy of Doom’ marks their third confrontation on the page. Both took place in ‘Doomquest’, a two-part Iron Man story that was published in 1981, and ‘The Doctor’s Passion,’ another two-part story that was published in 1989.
All right, but what does this have to do with the possibility that Downey Jr. will play two parts in Avengers 5 and its follow-up, which is already one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2027? Some fans think Downey Jr. is confirming that his Doom is a Stark version or that he’s playing Doom and an Iron Man variant.
Since Downey Jr. was announced to be playing Doom in the MCU at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, the latter notion has been making the rounds on the internet. In fact, if Downey Jr. wasn’t an alternate reality Stark who hadn’t realized his mistakes like the MCU’s Stark did and who might have figured out how to master black magic and mix it with his own technology, some fans have questioned why Marvel would cast him as Doom. It’s not as though someone like an evil Stark couldn’t figure out how to combine magic and technology, as Ironheart has previously demonstrated.
What worries me, though, is the alternate possibility that Downey Jr. would portray Doom and a different Stark/Iron Man.
The aforementioned scenario might come to pass if—and this is a big if—Doomsday adopts some elements of “Iron Man: Legacy of Doom.” If it occurs, we might witness a battle between Downey Jr.’s Doom and a Stark variation, who would also be played by the A-lister, to demonstrate Doom’s strength and/or whether Doom needs to gain some technology that Stark has mastered.
The alternative is that Downey Jr. will return to the role of Iron Man/Stark in Secret Wars. The sixth Avengers film, which is supposedly being marketed as a celebration of every Marvel comic book world ever before the MCU undergoes its soft reset following Secret Wars, has rumors that Chris Evans may reprise his role as Steve Rogers/Captain America. This includes the MCU, Sony’s three Spider-Man universes, and 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchises.
If that turns out to be the case, Marvel believes that a celebration wouldn’t be complete without Downey Jr.’s Stark. He did, after all, launch the comic giant’s film universe.
However, bringing Downey Jr. back in any capacity as Stark would reverse the heroic yet tragic sacrifice he made in Avengers: Endgame in 2019. I would hate to see him return as Iron Man in Doomsday and/or Secret Wars because, in my opinion, it was the appropriate, if bittersweet, departure he deserved. Therefore, I don’t want to see this fan theory come to pass.
On December 18, 2026, Avengers: Doomsday will be released in theaters.
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