Why Robert Downey Jr.’s Surprise Return to Marvel Could Work—and Why It Might Not

A floundering Marvel Studios made a major bid to earn back its fans' affections at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. The panel started by celebrating the box office success of Deadpool & Wolverine, which is already well on its way to becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige then announced that Anthony and Joe Russo, who helmed the smash hits Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: EndGame, would return to direct the next two Avengers movies. But Feige wasn’t done yet.

Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but not as Iron Man. He'll play the supervillain Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

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The announcement played like gangbusters inside Hall H, the storied space where the most influential studios make major announcements about their blockbuster properties at Comic-Con every year. The stage was filled with masked, cloaked bodies so it was anyone's guess who was playing Doom, the historic enemy of the Fantastic Four. Then one of the masked men stepped forward and theatrically pulled off his mask—it was Downey Jr. He held his arms aloft, consciously imitating a famous shot from the original Iron Man film when Tony Stark shows off his company's bombs, a bridge to Marvel’s hugely successful cinematic launch (and Tony's darker side).

The audience lost their minds. There has been a lot of chatter lately about Downey Jr. returning to the MCU but as a resurrected Iron Man, not another character. This was a major twist.

And yet, in some ways, Downey Jr.'s return feels inevitable. Marvel is sure to be compensating him handsomely, but the actor has earned so much money from the Marvel movies now that I suspect he's coming back to the property either because he misses it—or he believes that they're ruining the thing he helped built and, like Iron Man, he must return to save it.

Here's why Marvel's biggest twist may work—and why it may not.

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Marvel desperately needed a new big bad

It's no secret that Marvel Studios has been struggling. Both Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels underperformed at the box office last year. Jonathan Majors, who was supposed to play the Thanos-level big bad Kang the Conqueror in the next two Avengers movies was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment and dropped by Marvel and Disney. Kang was originally supposed to star in an Avengers movie called Kang Dynasty, which would have served as the linchpin for the crucial next phase.

Shang-Chi filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, who was set to film that Avengers movie, stepped away. Meanwhile major next generation stars like Beef's Steven Yeun and The Bear's Ayo Edibiri dropped out of the Marvel roles they'd been cast in, a sign that donning a superhero's cape was no longer the coveted indicator of Hollywood success that it once was.

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Meanwhile, Marvel churned out endless mediocre TV content on Disney+. Fans complained that they could not keep up with the onslaught. The shows weren't compelling enough to watch, and the sheer volume rendered the story too complicated to follow. The character of Deadpool himself alludes to this fact in his new movie, telling Wolverine, "Welcome to the MCU. You're joining at kind of a low point."

Marvel had to scramble, and has completely retooled the direction of its storytelling.

The Doom-Iron Man connection makes sense

Marvel was searching for a new villain, and Doom is about the best choice they could have made. He is a major antagonist of the Fantastic Four, having been their friend before he became their enemy. But he has also battled the Avengers and the X-Men.

Doom is a compelling bad guy for the same reasons Iron Man is a compelling character: Victor Von Doom is a brilliant but arrogant man—just like Tony Stark. Doom could have been one of Marvel's greatest heroes if he had not succumbed to his crippling sense of inferiority. Who could play that better than RDJ?

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The question of how Downey Jr. will play a different character is one of semantics: The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multiverse full of parallel timelines. Perhaps the Victor Von Doom of another universe happens to look like our universe's Iron Man. Or perhaps the Tony Stark of another universe turns evil because he has no Pepper Potts to ground him and becomes Doom.

Hilariously, Pepper Potts actor Gwyneth Paltrow posted in response to Downey Jr.'s Instagram post about playing Doom, "I don't get it, are you a baddie now?" We can only hope Paltrow will return to the MCU just to throw shade at Downey Jr.'s new character.

Focusing on the Fantastic Four could be a brilliant move or a major misstep

Centering Doom means that the Fantastic Four are going to play a major role in the upcoming movies. That could be great news considering the upcoming Fantastic Four film has one of the most compelling casts Marvel has announced in awhile.

The Fantastic Four follows a group of friends who receive powers from a zap of cosmic radiation during a trip to space. The Bear's Emmy-winning Ebon Moss-Bachrach is playing The Thing. Stranger Things breakout Joseph Quinn will play Johnny Storm after he wraps up shooting his role as the villain of the new Gladiator film. The Crown's Vanessa Kirby, who has proved her action chops in the Mission: Impossible movies, will play Sue Storm. And Pedro Pascal, who is having a historic Hollywood run with his roles on Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian, and The Last of Us, is Mr. Fantastic.

Pascal battling Downey Jr.? Talk about a charismatic pairing. We can't even begin to imagine the quips!

Still, historically speaking, filMMAkers have struggled with the Fantastic Four films. Past attempts to bring Marvel's First Family to the big screen have resulted in either forgettable movies or outright disasters. And though Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: EndGame are two of the best superhero movies ever made, the Russo brothers' recent track record—including critical bombs The Gray Man and Cherry—does not exactly inspire confidence.

Big names don't always mean big bucks

A-list casting announcements are no guarantee of success. Attaching Oscar winner Mahershala Ali to the Blade movie hasn't saved the once-promising reboot being stuck in production hell for five years with two different directors signing up for and then departing the project. The Eternals was chock-full of A-list names like Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek, buzzy Game of Thrones stars Richard Madden and Kit Harington, and cinematic darlings like Barry Keoghan, Brian Tyree Henry, and Kumail Nanjiani—and it still faltered at the box office.

True, Downey Jr. is a proven star specifically in the context of Marvel films. But the morning after the announcement, some fans online were already complaining that Marvel has been reduced to nostalgic cash grabs rather than exercising its creativity and finding ways to make new actors and characters compelling.

Everything old is new again—for better or worse

In all likelihood, it will work. RDJ is one of the most charming actors alive. He somehow made an arms dealer lovable in those original Iron Man movies. And who doesn't love a comeback story? The Russo brothers know how to juggle the dozens of superheroes that make up an Avengers movie better than anyone else alive—Endgame is not only the highest-grossing but arguably the best superhero movie of all time.

But in the fresh light of morning, Marvel's decision to return to the now 59-year-old actor who not only kicked off the MCU but appeared in a staggering 10 Marvel movies does pose serious questions about the direction of Marvel and Hollywood in general. The original Marvel movies worked because they featured (even then) veteran Downey Jr. but also relative newcomers Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth and respected actors like Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson. Marvel is now leaning hard on not only Downey Jr. but 82-year-old Harrison Ford, who is set to appear in two upcoming Marvel movies.

Marvel returning to Downey Jr. is just the latest example of studios capitalizing on nostalgia, and audiences' total inability to move on from what they loved in their youths—with mixed results. True, sequels have always been major money makers at the box office, but some of this year's biggest and most-anticipated movies have been based on concepts dredged up from the distant past: Twisters, Gladiator II, heck even Inside Out 2 is a followup to a movie that came out a whole decade ago. The children who watched the original are teens now. But Hollywood is rushing to resurrect every old property they can think of: The Crow, Wolf Man, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Chronicles of Narnia, even Harry Potter—are all getting reboots.

When what's old is new again, innovation can die. The old formula can be reliable but also tired. Let's hope that that the Russo brothers and Downey Jr. are at least willing to engage in some experimentation with Doctor Doom.