How Robert Downey Jr. Casting as Doctor Doom Came to Be?

The idea that Robert Downey Jr. should play one of Marvel’s ultimate bad guys predates his tenure as one of its ultimate good guys.

When Downey walked onstage dressed as Doctor Doom at San Diego Comic-Con last year it was a shocker in large part because he had already saved the Marvel Universe as Tony Stark. 

The concept of Downey as bad guy Victor Von Doom goes way back to before the actor was ever cast as Iron Man’s alter ego.

“I remember you had all met with [Downey] already for like Doctor Doom or something on another project,” director Jon Favreau said in a 2023 conversation with Marvel boss Kevin Feige. “I think he had come through on maybe [2005’s] Fantastic Four, so everybody sort of knew who he was.”

While that part has long been known, Joe Russo — who is directing the next two Avengers movies with his brother Anthony — recently revealed who had the genius idea to bring Downey back — not as Stark but as the Fantastic Four villain: none other than Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige.

“That was Kevin,” the younger Russo recently told the online outlet Omelete. “Interestingly enough about that, that conversation was had a while ago."

Victor Von Doom was ultimately portrayed in the 2005 film by Nip/Tuck star Julian McMahon and Downey went on to debut as Stark in 2008’s Iron Man, but Feige held onto the idea of casting Downey as Doom.

This time around, once Downey agreed, the actor tried to talk his "Avengers: Endgame" directors into getting the band back together for the upcoming "Avengers: Secret Wars" and "Avengers: Doomsday". The duo demurred at first, according to Joe.

“Robert tried to talk us into doing it and we said ‘no.’ We just didn’t have a story. We didn’t have a way in. We were resistant for a while.”

The brothers did eventually spark to a concept.

“One day Steve McFeely, one of our chief collaborators, said, ‘I have an idea.’ We went, ‘That’s the story!’ That story has to be told. It’s a really powerful story.”

What is that concept? Neither of the directors would divulge much until Joe offered, “The only thing I will say about the movie is this: We love villains who think they’re the hero of their own stories. That’s when they become three dimensional and they become more interesting. And when you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a well shaped, three-dimensional character for the audience.”