“New mask, same task!” with those cringe-inducing words, Robert Downey Jr. announced his casting as Doctor Doom and sealed the MCU’s fate in the process. Yup. Disney brought back RDJ only to give him the most important villain in Marvel history. In the parlance of our times, “Thanks. I hate it.”
Whitewashing Persists
I wrote a few months ago about how Robert Downey Jr.’s return as Iron Man would be the last thing the MCU needs right now. Well, apparently, Kevin Feige read my article and said, “Hold my beer…”
I don’t want to mince words so I won’t. Robert Downey Jr. playing the MCU’s Doctor Doom is the worst casting decision since Shaq played Steel.
Oh, you think I’m exaggerating? If anything, I’m underselling it.
First things first, Robert Downey Jr. isn’t Romani, and Doctor Doom is. That should be the end of things right there.
Unfortunately, in an age when shows like The Boys are whitewashing characters like The Deep—a black man in the comics—Disney probably doesn’t care.
Somehow, RDJ Returned
So, let’s try another approach. Do you guys remember the last time Disney listened to fan feedback about one of their franchises? If not, let me refresh your memory.
In 2017, the fan backlash against The Last Jedi was savage. As a result, J.J. Abrams tried to course-correct this by throwing as much fan service as he could into Rise of Skywalker.
We all know how well that turned out. Marvel post-Endgame is a lot like Star Wars after The Last Jedi. Get ready for Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom to be the MCU’s “Somehow Palpatine returned.”
Shockingly, some people are actually excited about this development. They try to counter naysayers with, “It’s two years away, we don’t even know what they’re doing yet.” Well, slugger, the possibilities aren’t endless, and every scenario I can think of is a Titanic-level disaster.
Variant Time!
Scenario number one would see Robert Downey Jr. playing a variant of Tony Stark that becomes Doctor Doom. This is just plain dumb. “It happened in the comics!” I hear you retort. Yeah, Marvel did that, but it was decades after Doom was introduced.
Starting Doctor Doom’s MCU tenure with a variant would be like introducing Reed Richards for the first time as a var—oh, that’s right. Marvel did that. Regardless, two wrongs don’t make a right.
Let me try another analogy. Introducing Doctor Doom into the MCU as Robert Downey Jr. playing a Tony Stark variant would be like Disney releasing Solo as their first Star Wars movie.
You have to establish a baseline like The Force Awakens that firmly establishes the status quo before messing around with the formula. Could you imagine if Pepsi released Crystal Pepsi before classic Pepsi?
Masks And RDJ Don’t Mix
Please don’t mention Chris Evans’s role as the Human Torch at Fox before becoming Captain America. For one thing, Evans’ Human Torch wasn’t the foundation of an entire cinematic universe in the way RDJ was.
Second, Chris Evans has played at least five different comic book characters on screen. Why do people only remember the Human Torch and Cap?
But seriously, Robert Downey Jr. as non-variant Doctor Doom plays out, one of two ways. First, he shows his face a bunch because, why hire RDJ if you’re not going to flash his mug all over the screen?
Go back and watch just how often he wears his Iron Man helmet in the MCU. You’ll be surprised at how often you can see his face.
He’s Iron Man
Why is this bad? One of the only things that has remained consistent about Doctor Doom over the years is he never exposes his real face.
Like ever. The minute RDJ removes his doom helmet to grin at the camera, we’ve got another Stallone in Judge Dredd.
The second way this plays out is Robert Downey Jr. keeps the Doctor Doom mask on the whole time. He starts speaking in a Shakespearean manner—maybe even through a voice modulator—and the Russos do right by the character. Okay, great, I like it, but there’s one problem…
Why cast Robert Downey Jr., then? Seriously, RDJ and Iron Man are so inseparable at this point that Marvel didn’t even bother to recast the role after he left.
The fans won’t accept anyone else as Iron Man, and they also won’t accept Robert Downey Jr. as anyone who’s not Iron Man.
Doom Deserves Better
The whole thing smacks of cheap pandering and desperation. Doctor Doom is a wonderful character with a rich history…in the comics. On-screen, he’s been portrayed by two different actors, and neither portrayal did the character justice. Now you’re telling me Marvel is going to screw up the character a third time just for some cheap nostalgia?
No thanks. I think I’ll go see what James Gunn is doing over in the DCU
