Robert Downey Jr’s Avengers: Doomsday Performance Gets Surprising Update, But It Makes Sense
Audiences were truly shocked to learn that Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the MCU, but what made that significantly more shocking was the fact that he wouldn’t be returning as Tony Stark/Iron Man but rather as Doctor Doom. Still, with just four months to go before Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters, it’s not clear what this casting choice will mean. It seems most likely that Doctor Doom will be a Tony Stark variant (or Tony Stark will be revealed to have been a Doctor Doom variant), but that’s not a sure thing. In fact, bewilderingly, it was just revealed that Doctor Doom and Tony Stark apparently have “zero similarities,” according to Doomsday co-director Joe Russo. That seems impossible, and Black Widow and Thunderbolts* actor David Harbour has made comments about Doomsday that suggest even the characters may recognize similarities.
Regardless, for the time being, very little about the MCU’s Doctor Doom, his motivations in Doomsday, or why he would be played by Robert Downey Jr. is known. However, we have gotten some details about the character and his upcoming role, including new information about how the character has been brought to life in terms of Downey Jr.’s performance. Specifically, speaking with Empire, Joe Russo explained, “[Downey Jr.] was on set performing everything. Because of the way we’re creating the character with a digital layer, we also get a second pass at him in terms of what we can do on a digital level. There was a lot of experimental performance. It’s incredible, but also unexpected. What he brings to the table, you couldn’t see coming.” This approach to the character is certainly a surprising one, although it does align with what we know so far.
This Approach to Doom Makes Sense for RDJ and the Character
The fact that Doom will be brought to life in Doomsday with a mix of approaches, including “experimental performance” and this digital work that Russo described, is somewhat unexpected, although it’s actually familiar territory for Downey Jr. already in the MCU. Specifically, the Tony Stark star had already done motion capture work for Iron Man, and it’s actually easy to imagine that these approaches looked quite similar (but, obviously, with Doom being less hero and more evil villain). Likewise, as Empire itself articulates, a similar technique was used when it came to other major MCU big bads, including with Josh Brolin as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame and James Spader as Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Still, it will be interesting to see how these mixed approaches to Doom translate on screen and what that digital layering really entails. In fact, on the one hand, this will presumably mean a range of incredible feats for Doom, which is to be expected, but perhaps that will also explain how and why Russo is claiming that Doom and Tony have zero similarities. However, if Doom really shares no similarities with Stark, then one has to wonder why it was crucial for RDJ to play the role—and we have several months left before we may learn the answer to that question.
