A few weeks ago, Marvel Studios confirmed the return of Robert Downey Jr. to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The iconic actor will not, however, reprise the role of Iron Man, but will instead appear in the upcoming Avengers as Fatalis. Is this really a good idea? We explain to you A + B, that this idea is extremely bad…
Robert Downey Jr. as Fatalis
It was the big news at the last Comic-Con. Disney revealed to its fans that Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the MCU. Not in his iconic role as Tony Stark, but as new face of Dr. Doom, the iconic villain of the Fantastic Four. A mind-blowing news that made the Marvel Earth tremble. Robert Downey Jr. will therefore be the face of the terrible Doctor Doom in the next two Avengers.
While this information has had the merit of creating additional excitement around the next Marvel diptych, is it really a good idea to bring back Robert Downey Jr.? For the moment, we do not yet know if Robert Downey Jr. will embody an evil variant of Tony Stark, or a new origin story of Fatalis. In any case, during Comic-Con, the actor was presented as Victor Von Fatalis.
Good or bad idea?
Since the news broke, fans have been weighing the pros and cons. If Fatalis is a variant of Tony Stark, this plot twist would at least make sense in terms of the treatment of the multiverse. For a few productions now (No Way Home, Loki, Doctor Strange 2, Deadpool 3), the MCU has indeed revolved around the multiverse. So it would make sense that Downey Jr. plays a Tony Stark variant who was drawn to the dark side of the Force, eventually becoming Doom. But if Robert Downey Jr. is playing a pure Doom, who has no connection to Tony Stark, what's the point of casting an already-famous actor in a different role?
Robert Downey Jr. won't be the first actor to play multiple characters in the MCU. Chris Evans has already played Captain America and the Human Torch. As for Gemma Chan, she plays both Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel and Sersi in The Eternals. But Robert Downey Jr. has been considered THE face of the MCU since its creation in 2008. It will therefore be difficult to make people forget Downey Jr.'s past within the MCU. To replace Iron Man with Fatalis so easily.
So is it really a good idea to recycle Robert Downey Jr. in this way? Frankly, we loved him as Iron Man. And it's a bit of a shame that Marvel Studios didn't go find another actor to play Fatalis, who is an iconic comic book villain. If this new Fatalis is not a variant of Tony Stark, there is no legitimacy in bringing back Robert Downey Jr.
Above all, Marvel Studios should probably have kept the element of surprise. Rather than revealing Downey Jr.'s return at Comic-Con, the company could have kept this revelation warm and left the surprise to the audience to discover the return of Tony Stark in the next Avengers. A surprise effect that could have even been a plot element of the plot. The Russo brothers could have played with the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. The characters and the audience would have initially believed that Robert Downey Jr. plays a variant of Tony Stark, before the latter is revealed to be Doom. But as usual, Marvel Studios preferred opt for non-surprise marketing… Too bad…