Robert Downey Jr. Had Already Met to Play Doctor Doom in 2005s Fantastic Four B

July 2024 · 5 minute read

Robert Downey Jr. returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to play the villain Doctor Doom in two new “Avengers” movies came as a massive shock to fans, but it turns out the news might not be a total surprise. In a video Marvel Entertainment debuted last year in which director Jon Favreau sat down with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to reminisce on the making of the first MCU movie, 2008’s “Iron Man,” Favreau revealed that Downey had already been in the Marvel orbit. And for what role? Doctor Doom.

“I remember that Robert had come in for a general [meeting] on [‘Iron Man’] and you had already met with him for Doctor Doom or something,” Favreau told Feige, who was an executive producer on 2005’s “Fantastic Four” and 2007’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”

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“I think he had come through on ‘Fantastic Four.’ So everybody knew who he was,” Favreau continued as the memory of meeting Downey for Doctor Doom two decades ago came back to Feige, who nodded in approval. “I remember sitting down with the guy and I was like, ‘He’s got that spark in his eye and he’s ready.’ That’s when we were in your office and we were putting to his headshot and saying we’ve gotta try and figure this out [for ‘Iron Man’].”

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It was “Nip/Tuck” actor Julian McMahon who ended up nabbing the part of Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom in 2005’s “Fantastic Four,” but now Downey is finally getting his chance to play the iconic Marvel villain. As Marvel announced at Comic Con, the Oscar-winning actor will star as Doctor Doom in 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday” and 2027’s “Avengers: Secret Wars,” both of which will be directed by the Russo Brothers.

Around the time Downey would’ve met for Doctor Doom more than 20 years ago, his star power had completely faded due to a series of legal troubles. The actor was arrested in 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded gun and given three years of probation. He was then jailed for nearly four months a year later after skipping a court-ordered drug test. He skipped another test in 1999 and was sentenced to three years in prison. Downey served 15 months, then was arrested again four months after his release for drug possession.

Downey’s troubles more or less made him a pariah in Hollywood. Around the same time that “Fantastic Four” was in development, so too was Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins.” Nolan revealed earlier this year that he actually met with Downey to discuss the villain role of Scarecrow in the movie, although Nolan was “a little afraid” of the actor at the time.

“I had heard all kinds of stories about how you were crazy,” Nolan told Downey in a joint interview with The New York Times. “It was only a few years after the last of those stories that had come out about you.”

Those stories also made Marvel nervous about casting Downey as Iron Man, even though Favreau knew he was the perfect choice. Marvel Studios’ former president David Maisel also wanted to cast Downey, but “my board thought I was crazy to put the future of the company in the hands of an addict.”

“I helped them understand how great he was for the role,” Maisel said last year. “We all had confidence that he was clean and would stay clean.” 

Downey will make his Doctor Doom debut when “Avengers: Doomsday” opens in theaters May 1, 2026.

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