RDJ Reveals How Much Convincing it Took For him to Return to the MCU as Doctor Doom

This year’s SDCC delivered the shocking news that Rober Downey Jr. will be returning to the MCU but not as Iron Man, but as Doctor Doom, one of Marvel’s most notable villains. The reception to this announcement was mixed at best with plenty of fans being worried that they won’t be able to separate the actor from Tony Stark.

The actor recently talked to The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter Podcast and confirmed that he is indeed returning to the MCU, and he discussed how he was convinced to return to the franchise that resurrected his career.

Robert Downey Jr. recently shared that he had an idea for contributing to Disney’s Parks and location-based entertainment outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After discussing this with Kevin Feige and realizing there was potential for exploring new characters like Victor Von Doom, Downey approached Bob Iger with his proposal. Iger’s positive response led to a visit to the Imagineering Campus, where Downey and Feige were amazed by the innovative developments happening there, although details remain confidential.

So, probably a year ago…cause, you know, [Kevin] Feige and I have kept in touch. We’re pals. Favreau, Feige, and I have kept in touch. I’m close with the Russo Brothers; we have other business we’re doing. So, there’s this little group of fellow travellers and I had this instinct that I wanted to go to Bob Iger and I had an idea outside of the Cinematic Universe for how I could be of service to what’s going on in the Parks and all their location-based entertainment.

Susan and I were sitting down with Feige at one point and he said, ‘It just keeps occurring to me that if you were to come back…’ and Susan was like, ‘Wait, wait, come back as what?’ Then we both realised over time that it was another thing that just disproves any doubt anyone could ever have about that guy, a very sophisticated creative thinker, about how can we not go backwards, how can we not disappoint expectations, how we can continue to beat expectations? And he brought up Victor Von Doom. I looked up this character and I was like, ‘Wow.’ Later, Kevin goes, ‘Let’s get Victor Von Doom right. Let’s get that right.’

So then I said to Kevin, ‘Can I go talk to Bob Iger?’ He goes, ‘About?’ I go, ‘About everything. I’d gone to Bob’s house and I don’t know how to describe that experience. I’ve had a lot of really cool experiences, but I go to Iger’s pad, we sit down and he goes, ‘I like it.’ I was like, ‘He likes it.’ He said, ‘Come by the Imagineering Campus.’ Feige and I go to the Imagineering Campus and you want to talk about two guys that are not easy to have their minds blown, let alone at the same time…I can’t say too much, but what is going on there right now is so beyond my expectation of what was possible.

The whole return is still veiled in quite a lot of mystery since we don’t know exactly how RDJ will be implemented as Doom, but fans are already speculating that it’s going to be an alternate version of Doom from a completely different reality, perhaps reality from which Fantastic Four will arrive to the MCU.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

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