We always knew Marvel Studios’ return to Hall H at Comic-Con this year was going to be big, but it would be safe to say nobody had a Robert Downey Jr. MCU return on their bingo cards. And yet, that’s exactly what we got with Kevin Feige and co’s mic drop of a closing panel reveal. As Harvey Dent once said, “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” And in Iron Man actor Downey Jr.’s case, he’ll have done both when he takes to our screens as Doctor Doom (!) in The Russo Brothers’ newly titled Avengers: Doomsday (formerly Avengers: The Kang Dynasty) and the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars. Check out the moment Downey Jr.’s return was revealed below:
Now, there’s a lot to process here. Firstly, the Russo Brothers’ return on the Hall H stage brought with it confirmation that the Infinity War and Endgame masterminds are officially back after last week’s whispers of their MCU homecoming, with Stephen McFeely — one half of the Russos’ MCU writing duo Marcus and McFeely — attached to script both new Avengers films. Secondly, not only is Avengers: Doomsday an incredibly exciting new title for the inbound fifth Avengers movie, but it’s also seemingly confirmation that Kevin Feige and co’s Kang plans are dead in the water at this point as the Multiverse Saga presses on and builds towards its big finale. And thirdly, most significantly, ROBERT DOWNEY JR. IS PLAYING DR. VICTOR VON DOOM IN THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE! How? We don’t know. Why? We don’t know. But are we hyped to see the legendary Latverian supervillain make his MCU debut? Absolutely.
For now, details on what exactly Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will entail and what the Russos and RDJ have in store for us are firmly under wraps. But with Doomsday set to release in May 2026 and Secret Wars set for May 2027, we’ll be finding out soon enough. Until then, as the cool kids say, we are so back!