The impossible happened at San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) last weekend when casting for Marvel villain Doctor Doom was revealed to be none other than Robert Downey Jr. (Endgame, Oppenheimer). Set to menace Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in 2026’s Avengers Doomsday, cheers quickly gave way to fandom-wide speculation on just what RDJ’s return means for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Aside from possibly explaining why the upcoming Fantastic Four movie was (previously) announced as being on an alternate Earth, here are eight reasons that bringing RDJ back is a BRILLIANT idea:

RDJ is a much-needed shot in the arm

Since Avengers Endgame’s 2019 bow, fans have had precious little to look forward to on par with Thanos assembling his Infinity Stones. Disjointed, haphazard attempts at a franchise-wide Multiversal crisis failed to generate legitimate interest, and actor Jonathan Majors’ (Creed III) legal troubles added fuel to the fire.

Despite this, the newly released Deadpool & Wolverine (which deliberately does nothing to push the MCU forward) is currently shattering box office records, showing that audiences haven’t necessarily tired of superhero movies – they just needed a reason to care. Moving forward, it’s clear that RDJ is being positioned to be that reason.

It’s the ultimate expression of the multiverse

Despite the (literally) infinite number of stories that could be told, the Multiverse has been largely relegated to showcasing self-referential variants of known characters in movies like No Way Home, Multiverse of Madness, and, yes, Deadpool & Wolverine. This treatment even extended to animated fare, like the What If? tv series, and Sony’s excellent Spider-Verse movies. Introducing RDJ as an Avengers-level threat would finally be doing something other than fanservice with the concept, and a chance to actually show audiences something we’ve never seen before.

It has terrifying implications

The implications of RDJ’s Doom being a physical duplicate of Tony Stark could have horrifying ramifications, not just for Iron Man’s loved ones, but for the world at large, which knows him as a fallen hero. Just imagine how Pepper would react the first time she sees Doom’s Stark-inspired visage taking on the Avengers? What would she say? What would she do? Heck, what would their kid do? And what about Peter Parker, who idolizes Stark?  There’s a whole rabbit hole of possibilities here, we’ll just have to trust Anthony and Joe Russo (The Gray Man) to pull it off.

RDJ brings mainstream appeal

Having RDJ on board has the potential to attract not just lapsed fans, but even casual ones, as well as the merely curious. Indeed, the general conversation seems centered around how the actor behind the MCU’s single most iconic hero -the literal face of the franchise- is now returning to be its most (potentially) iconic villain.

We already know from Downey, Jr’s Academy Award-winning turn in Oppenheimer that he can play the bad guy, and it would make for one hell of a third act in a career that’s already seen him go from heartthrob to leading man. As the saying goes, you either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain. Following Avengers Doomsday, RDJ can honestly say he’s done both. 

It’s not Infamous Iron Man (really)

Despite what many were quick to claim (assume), casting RDJ isn’t an indication that the MCU will adapt the Infamous Iron Man comics, in which Victor Von Doom (looking nothing like Tony Stark) assumed the armored Avenger’s alter ego after the latter fell in battle. Whatever plot twist RDJ’s doom will be involved in looks to be something else entirely, but we’ll have to wait until 2026 to learn what it is. 

It implies a master plan

Remember Eros (Harry Styles, Dunkirk)? That’s ok, neither does Kevin Feige. Granted, The Eternals was a garbage fire, but it’s mind-meltingly insane that Tim Blake Nelson’s side character from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk is coming back in next year’s Captain America: Brave New World, but Marvel still hasn’t figured out what to do with Styles, who is literally one of the world’s biggest pop stars.

On the other hand, RDJ’s character was literally dead, so that’s neither here nor there. What is certain, however, is that Doom is the traditional nemesis of Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal, The Mandalorian, The Last of Us), so it’s entirely possible that RDJ could make an appearance in 2025’s Fantastic Four: First Steps (where Galactus has been confirmed as the main antagonist).

In any case, the announcement of RDJ for Avengers Doomsday in 2026 implies that Marvel Studios at least has the next two years mapped out, so who knows – this has the potential to go somewhere good (and not just because nothing could ever be worse than Quantumania).

It means bye-bye, Kang

With Disney directing attention to RDJ, the audience is granted de facto permission to (hopefully) forget about Jonathan Majors’ lame-duck villain, and that’s definitely a good thing. Assault conviction notwithstanding, Majors’ MCU performances were so boring as to be inert.

At worst, we’ll probably get a shot of Kang from behind, or from far away, being killed in some offhanded, perfunctory fashion, so the movie can get on with its real plot. At best, who knows? Maybe they’ll recast the guy (the MCU is a Multiverse, after all)

It gives us more RDJ (without invalidating Stark’s death)

With Disney clearly leveraging RDJ to re-ignite interest in the MCU, one is excited to see how Marvel Studios will approach the assignment. This will be somewhat trickier than reversing Jackman’s own franchise exit (addressed spectacularly in DP&W), as Wolverine’s return was in a form we immediately recognized. However fun seeing RDJ return to this universe will be, Doom is about as far from Tony Stark as one can get. And let’s face it, it cannot be overstated just how beloved genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist was, is, and probably always will be.

The Iron Man is dead. All Hail Doom.

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