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The role of Iron Man/Tony Stark not only saved Robert Downey Jr’s career but it turned him into perhaps the biggest movie star in the world.
Downey Jr’s seminal portrayal of Iron Man was heroically and now iconically killed off in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, however, and was largely believed to mark his retirement from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As it turns out, however, Robert Downey Jr. moreso retired from playing Iron Man (for now) than he did from the Marvel mothership, as it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend that he’s been cast as Victor Von Doom a.k.a. Doctor Doom.
The announcement, while obviously splashy and headline-grabbing, has been a divisive one, with much of the online reaction seemingly divided into two camps: one being “This is cool and fun and what comic books do,” and the other being “Marvel Studios has officially jumped the shark, it’s so Joever.”
I find myself in the latter two frames of mind for various reasons, but first, the devil’s advocate argument to my own point of view.
Robert Downey Jr. is not only one of the best actors alive, but more importantly, he’s one of cinema’s most captivating screen presences. He truly is one of those performers that you just cannot take your eyes off of due to his sheer monsoon of magnetism. His portrayal of Doctor Doom *will* be cool and Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars — which will likely see something as insane as RDJ’s Iron Man fighting RDJ’s Doom — will smash all sorts of box office records.
But from a creative standpoint, it’s the nadir of the corporate soullessness that Deadpool & Wolverine has been widely accused of possessing, a decision so creatively inert and bottom-line oriented that they’ve — unable to bring him back as he was before (at least right now) — cast their most famous and consequential star to be the franchise’s next centerpiece villain.
It would be like if Christian Bale not only played the Joker in a Batman movie but played *Heath Ledger’s* specific version — that would be DC saying, “Forget recasting or inventing a new story, we’re just gonna cast the actor we trust in the role that makes us money.” That is, no matter how much everyone loves Downey Jr., what Marvel has ultimately done.
There are arguments that “the man who saved the universe now threatening to destroy it” is a compelling narrative, and that there are canonical comic book events in which Tony Stark does become Doctor Doom. And both those things are true.
But just because something is factual doesn’t mean it’s correct. Factually, you could drink (racistly or otherwise) five Diet Mountain Dews with your lunch this afternoon and be just fine — it doesn’t mean you should! Why? Because it’s gluttons, disgusting, and lazy — all of which are adjectives that can be levied against Marvel’s decision to exhume the corpse of Downey Jr’s charisma instead of simply finding a capable actor to portray one of the most legendary comic book villains ever created in Doctor Doom.
Think of Ledgers’ Joker or Ian McKellen’s Magneto or Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin — these are now widely beloved and revered as being some of the best combinations of character and casting choice in the history of the genre. Marvel had the opportunity to do that with Doom but instead chose an actor that, no matter how transcendent his portrayal may be, will always be remembered as someone else: Iron Man.
There’s a recurring joke in Deadpool & Wolverine that, despite “retiring” after Logan in 2017, Hugh Jackman will be playing the character until he’s 90. And it’s funny. Because it isn’t true. For now.
What if Hugh Jackman was playing the character into his 70s — would that be cool? What if he agreed to license his rights to Disney so they could create an A.I. version of Jackman’s Wolverine to feature in films because they know that’s what sells?
What if the person next to you at the theater you saw Endgame in turned to you after the credits rolled and said, “You’ll see him again in 7 years and he’ll be playing Doctor Doom?” Would that excite you? Or make you wonder what the hell’s happened to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Perhaps a bit of both.
There’s no need to imagine, though, because that’s exactly what happened and how almost everyone seems to feel. Cool… but why? Exciting… but stupid? Comic book-y… but also jumping the shark-y? Whatever the MCU made fans feel in its heyday, it certainly wasn’t that.