Right in the middle of Deadpool & Wolverine’s killer opening weekend, Marvel dropped a bombshell on fans at San Diego Comic-Con: Robert Downey Jr. is coming back to the MCU to play Doctor Doom. The idea that this universe’s greatest hero was about to play its greatest villain seemed downright shocking to many fans. It shouldn’t have, though: that’s because this beloved actor came frighteningly close to playing Doom in the 2005 Fantastic Four film.

Robert Downey Jr Was Almost Cast In Fantastic Four

The idea that Robert Downey Jr. nearly played Doctor Doom almost two decades ago was once one of Marvel’s best-kept secrets. However, it’s just one of the secrets spilled in the excellent new book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe. The text is filled with assorted facts and tidbits from Marvel bigwigs, including Iron Man director (and Happy Hogan actor) Jon Favreau.

With all the casual ease of Tony Stark showing off a new arc reactor, Favreau says in the book “Marvel had already met with [Robert Downey Jr.] before, I think, to play Doctor Doom.” This came up in the context of the director having to fight to bring the once-scandalous actor into the MCU (more on this later). This ambitious movie came out three years before Iron Man gave birth to the MCU, and back then, 20th Century Fox was the biggest name in town for superhero cinema thanks to the success of movies like X2: X-Men United.

Marvel Before The MCU

That first Fantastic Four film was Fox’s attempt to recreate the X-Men movie magic by putting another superhero ensemble on the big screen. The movie was flawed but had some inspired casting, including future Captain America star Chris Evans as the Human Torch. Fortunately, for both the fans and his later career, Robert Downey Jr. didn’t get the role of Doctor Doom, and that part ultimately went to Nip/Tuck star Julian McMahon.

From Less Than Zero To Marvel Hero

As for Favreau, he had a harder task ahead of him than convincing Marvel that Robert Downey Jr. could play a compelling supervillain like Doctor Doom. Instead, he had to convince them that this troubled actor could instead headline Iron Man as its title hero. While it’s hard to think about such a successful actor struggling to land a major role, this was a time when Downey Jr. was digging his career out of a fairly big hole.

Troubled Past May Have Helped Craft Perfect Persona

If you didn’t already know, the future Iron Man star struggled with drug addiction since he was a young child, and he was frequently arrested in the mid-to-late ‘90s. All this time in jail hurt his career and his reputation, and it made him that much more difficult to insure for major Hollywood movies. Favreau had to move heaven and earth to convince Marvel’s higher-ups that Downey Jr.’s bad boy past actually made him the perfect Tony Stark, and it’s fair to say that this casting completely changed the face of Hollywood.

We’ll Just Have To Wait And See What He Can Do As The Villain

After winning us over with so many Iron Man performances, Robert Downey Jr. is hoping to woo fans again with his performance as Doctor Doom. Some in the fandom are hyped to just see him return in any capacity while others are worried that Marvel is, in the parlance of Moneyball, just trying to rebuild Avengers: Endgame in the aggregate. Only time will tell whether we end up with a Deadpool 3-sized hit or a Marvels-sized bomb now when all is said and done.