Robert Downey Jr. Is Doom

[Arachnerd]

I wonder if Feige genuinely thought this choice would be well received by the fans.

He didn't do it for fans. He did it as a desperate attempt to regain goodwill from critics and general audiences so they would fork money over.

"Michael Keaton can't play Batman! He's Mr. Mom!"

"Heath Ledger can't play The Joker! He's a pretty boy who played a gay cowboy!"

This is why I take all the salt regarding RDJ playing Doom with more than a grain of salt.

Not at all comparable. It's not a question of RDJ's acting, it's the nature of why he was brought back to play an important role that could have gone to someone else. Someone, gasp, of the right ethnicity for once.

 

[Spider-Fan]

"Michael Keaton can't play Batman! He's Mr. Mom!"

"Heath Ledger can't play The Joker! He's a pretty boy who played a gay cowboy!"

This is why I take all the salt regarding RDJ playing Doom with more than a grain of salt.

Apples to semi-trucks. No one doubts RDJ's ability to play the character. This is about the creative direction of the character and what Marvel is actually doing with the character. Not at all the same

 

[Chris B]

I kind of feel like Cillian Murphy would've been the better option if they were looking to create buzz for Doom's casting. He was a popular fancast but is also coming off from the momentum of Oppenheimer.

 

[Arachnerd]

Eh. I honestly still would have prefered a Romani actor at the end of the day. Or RDJ just playing Superior Iron Man.

 

[Pennywise]

If they wanted to do variants, they could have cast Sebastian Stan, as he’s from Romania at least!

 

[Arachnerd]

Being Romanian and Romani aren't, uh, the same thing, Pennywise.

 

[Pennywise]

Being Romanian and Romani aren't, uh, the same thing, Pennywise.

My bad!

 

[BobJM]

Having RDJ back as the big bad for the Multiverse Saga is not a bad idea. In fact, I like it. It’s the exact thing the multiverse should have been doing from the start—fan service key-jangling and then flip expectations.

But wrapping Doom up in all this is where it gets murky, especially when Superior Iron Man is right there and could, arguably, achieve the same desired effect in the current state of the MCU.

 

[Boom]

Having RDJ back as the big bad for the Multiverse Saga is not a bad idea. In fact, I like it. It’s the exact thing the multiverse should have been doing from the start—fan service key-jangling and then flip expectations.

But wrapping Doom up in all this is where it gets murky, especially when Superior Iron Man is right there and could, arguably, achieve the same desired effect in the current state of the MCU.

Right. Conclude the Multiverse Saga with Superior Iron Man.

Then the Mutant Saga with X-Men, Fantastic Four, Magneto, and Doctor Doom.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Apples to semi-trucks. No one doubts RDJ's ability to play the character. This is about the creative direction of the character and what Marvel is actually doing with the character. Not at all the same

The problem with this argument is that we don't actually know what they are going to do creatively with the character, other than that they cast RDJ to play him and that he's going to be the villain for the next two Avengers movies. That is basically it. Everything else is rumor and speculation, all of which we should not put a lot of stock in at the moment. The final product is ultimately what matters.

In a vacuum, an actor of RDJ's caliber is a great choice for Doom. He's an Oscar winning character actor. He is charismatic as **** and has a ton of screen presence. Those are qualities I want in the actor playing Doctor Doom and Downey has them.

So it seems to me most of this outcry is just a heightened version of other castings that have had similar outcry in the past. People are taken aback because of the prior baggage the actor has playing another role and can't imagine this actor playing this character, and or they are upset that their personal fancast didn't get the role. This is just the latest and perhaps craziest version of that, in that an actor who played Iron Man for a decade and had an onscreen death is now coming back to play a different character. Its not the exact same baggage, but its still the same issue. "I can't see this actor playing this role because he played X" "I wanted someone else!" None of that **** is new in the long history of comic book movie castings. We've seen this song and dance before. Again... the final product is what matters.

And I am confused. Some of you were upset because you assumed he was coming back to play a Tony Stark variant, and that idea upset you. But now you are backtracking and wondering "why didn't he just come back as Superior Iron Man". Before it was "too safe" to bring him back as Iron Man, but now you want the safety and security of him being Tony Stark again in some form. So which is it?

Again... the final product is ultimately what matters.

 

[Spider-Fan]

The problem with this argument is that we don't actually know what they are going to do creatively with the character, other than that they cast RDJ to play him and that he's going to be the villain for the next two Avengers movies. That is basically it. Everything else is rumor and speculation, all of which we should not put a lot of stock in at the moment. The final product is ultimately what matters.

In a vacuum, an actor of RDJ's caliber is a great choice for Doom. He's an Oscar winning character actor. He is charismatic as **** and has a ton of screen presence. Those are qualities I want in the actor playing Doctor Doom and Downey has them.

So it seems to me most of this outcry is just a heightened version of other castings that have had similar outcry in the past. People are taken aback because of the prior baggage the actor has playing another role and can't imagine this actor playing this character, and or they are upset that their personal fancast didn't get the role. This is just the latest and perhaps craziest version of that, in that an actor who played Iron Man for a decade and had an onscreen death is now coming back to play a different character. Its not the exact same baggage, but its still the same issue. "I can't see this actor playing this role because he played X" "I wanted someone else!" None of that **** is new in the long history of comic book movie castings. We've seen this song and dance before. Again... the final product is what matters.

And I am confused. Some of you were upset because you assumed he was coming back to play a Tony Stark variant, and that idea upset you. But now you are backtracking and wondering "why didn't he just come back as Superior Iron Man". Before it was "too safe" to bring him back as Iron Man, but now you want the safety and security of him being Tony Stark again in some form. So which is it?

Again... the final product is ultimately what matters.

But this isn't in a vacuum. The MCU exists. RDJ was a prominent figure in it. You cannot ignore this. Marvel also clearly wants people to remember it. Hence why they're paying him $100 million dollars each movie. He won't be entirely divorced from Stark. They're not paying RDJ this kind of money for it to not echo Iron Man or rely on Iron Man to sell it

As for your last point, the difference is Superior Iron Man at concept IS an evil Iron Man. Therefore using Iron Man's actor to be an evil Iron Man isnt the same as changing Doom into whatever this RDJ version is.

 

[BoredGuy]

Being Romanian and Romani aren't, uh, the same thing, Pennywise.

Although Romania has one of the highest concentrations of Romani people, so entirely possible Seb has Roma ancestry

 

[BobJM]

Right. Conclude the Multiverse Saga with Superior Iron Man.

Then the Mutant Saga with X-Men, Fantastic Four, Magneto, and Doctor Doom.

Yess; slowly reintroduce Avengers and the reset 616 slowly to audiences through X-Men movies, just like X-Men ‘97. I’m sure Sony would be up for Holland’s Spider-Man teaming with the X-Men for Spider-Man 5 or whatever.

 

[Venom 1988]

And I am confused. Some of you were upset because you assumed he was coming back to play a Tony Stark variant, and that idea upset you. But now you are backtracking and wondering "why didn't he just come back as Superior Iron Man". Before it was "too safe" to bring him back as Iron Man, but now you want the safety and security of him being Tony Stark again in some form. So which is it?

No?

Then do Superior Iron Man

Heck, that Illuminati universe had Ultron bots, so it would definitely would be an organic continuation if the Stark from that world was Superior Iron Man and became an antagonist.

Heck, all the OG Avengers are coming back anyway. So had this been like Superior Iron Man, Hydra Cap, Thor calling himself Ragnarok, Natasha as Madame Viper working with Hydra Cap, Maestro, and whatever you call evil Hawkeye and call that Dark Avengers, that would have been better!

The issue people had wasn't a variant Stark but rather a variant Stark that became Doom. But like Spider-Fan said, even if he's straight up playing Doom, the shadow of Iron Man is still there.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

with rumors going around that RDJ's Doom also comes from that universe...

what does that mean for his character???
cause everything from Doom's armor appearance (being reminiscent of a Knight/King) too his Latveria castle/Kingdom is very medieval era inspired

will it lead to a more modernized Latveria style? or more Roman Empire? or ancient Greece? influence

 

[Arachnerd]

I have literally never heard of this guy before, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. I do buy that RDJ Doom is from the F4 universe because everyone and their mother has already drawn that conclusion with a little bit of thinking alone.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Ironfan72]

I cant say im not disappointed with this casting, he said in a recent interview that he is not playing a Tony Stark varient, so whats the plan here, RDJ has been the face of the MCU for over a decade, he is literally one of the faces they would put on the mount rushmore of comic movie actors and that was Tony Stark, now, everyone for a decade who loved him as Stark is supposed to forget that he was Stark and accept him as some doom varient? Hard sell.

 

[Arachnerd]

*plus his own private plane and personal trailer encampment.

To say the man is greedy af is an understatement.

 

[Ironfan72]

*plus his own private plane and personal trailer encampment.

To say the man is greedy af is an understatement.

I get that looks greedy, but Marvel didnt have to pay it, so what drove them to be so desperate to bring him back not to play Tony Stark then pay him a crazy amount? I heard they wanted to get doom right, really, so getting the guy who played Tony Stark for a decade was the best they could think of with so many talented actors who would have been far cheaper and they run the chance of turning off fans who know RDJ as Stark and suddenly are expected to be ok with him as a completely different person from a different earth that looks just like Stark, ok, that needs to be one hell of a script

 

[Arachnerd]

I can assure you it has nothing to do with the script. Feige is just willing to go to any lengths to regain back goodwill from critics and the general audience because he's very much aware of how the MCU has been losing its steam and praise since the decade began. Hence relying on the old toys that are still functional, so to speak.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Has nothing to do with "getting Doom right" and everything to do with preying off nostalgia

 

[Ironfan72]

So their best bet was bring back the actor who played Tony Stark as a bad guy with a different name, ughh, i am trying not to be a upset fanboy, as i have been an iron man fan since i was 9 (52 now) but all i heard is they would not bring back Iron Man because it was demenish the scarafice of 616 Stark, hence why no reference of him since home coming, so you are telling me they will not bring back an Iron man of any kind, but will bring back the actor who made Iron man popular by making him Dr. Doom from an different earth

 

[Iceman]

I cant say im not disappointed with this casting, he said in a recent interview that he is not playing a Tony Stark varient, so whats the plan here, RDJ has been the face of the MCU for over a decade, he is literally one of the faces they would put on the mount rushmore of comic movie actors and that was Tony Stark, now, everyone for a decade who loved him as Stark is supposed to forget that he was Stark and accept him as some doom varient? Hard sell.

Oh damn, if it's true he's not playing a Stark variant as well then this feels like a huge waste of money.

 

[Iceman]

I get that looks greedy, but Marvel didnt have to pay it, so what drove them to be so desperate to bring him back not to play Tony Stark then pay him a crazy amount? I heard they wanted to get doom right, really, so getting the guy who played Tony Stark for a decade was the best they could think of with so many talented actors who would have been far cheaper and they run the chance of turning off fans who know RDJ as Stark and suddenly are expected to be ok with him as a completely different person from a different earth that looks just like Stark, ok, that needs to be one hell of a script

There are tons of great actors who could have nailed Doom at a fraction of the cost. They also could have got someone who could play the role over multiple phases and built him up properly (also seeing the Kang storyline through properly). If RDJ costs this much how is he going to ever make a full appearance in a F4 film too? Probably won't see it as worth it given he can make a ton more for doing less in an ensemble film where the expected return of the film can absorb his costs (unlike F4 which is less of a guarantee).