Summary
- Marvel's surprise announcement of RDJ as Doctor Doom sparked immediate fan backlash and disappointment.
- The decision to cast RDJ as Doctor Doom seems more about pleasing fans than creating quality content.
- It could be good, but let's be serious: it won't be.
As my colleague Eric Switzer 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:wrote last month, needed to put on a great showing at this year’s SDCC to assure fans that the is still worth getting excited for. After a series of box office failures, a general sense of ‘superhero movie fatigue’, and having to fire its star villain Jonathan Majors from his role as Kang after he was c⭕onvicted for third-degree assault and aggravated 🦩harassment, is having to run major damage control.
Whether or not you think its panel was a success or not, it was certainly a surprising one in at least one respect: the Russo brothers will be returning to direct the next two Avengers movies, which have had name changes and will no longer cen⭕ter around Kang. Instead, the focus is now on Doctor Doom. The real shocker here was that the villain will be played by none other than Robert Downey Jr., who is inexplicably returning to the MCU after securing his freedom from Disney with the death of Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame.
Marvel’s dependence on nostalgia here is bizarre, and this turn is incredibly disappointing for people who have been keeping an eye on Robert Downey Jr.’s career. It’s jaw-dropping that after leveraging his Marvel-bestowed fame and money to work on cool, critically lauded projects like Oppenheimer and The Sympathizer, RDJ is just going to go back to Marvel. I’m appalled.
While the reaction tꦜo the reveal in the room itself seemed jubilant – just listen to the screaming and roaring in the video as RDJ removes his mask – what’s particularly interesting about this announcement was the immediate fan backlash.
Magik's Big Sword Is My Reason To Care About Marvel Rivals
Magik's melee power is great for more casual players li🐲ke me in Marvel Rivals.
What’s Wrong With Doctor Doom?
Doctor Doom’s position as Marvel’s new big bad does make sense – after all, the Fantastic Four movie is coming up, and he’s known for being their archenemy, alongside having multiple beefs with practically everybody in the k🍨nown universe. It’s the casting that’s more upsetting to fans. Not to mention Ralph Ineson’s Galactus is also set to play a major role in the film too, so where does this decision leꩲave him?
Robert Downey Jr. .
Some have said that they feel RDJ’s return takes away the meaningfulness of Tony Stark’s death, or that it poi🔯nts to Marvel’s creative bankruptcy that it can’t bring one of the MCU’s biggest villains to the big screen without attaching one of its most successful actors from the franchise. You could easily interpret the choice to lean on nostalgia and affection for RDJ on Marvel’s part as being a desperate attempt to ensure fans continue to care and get people into the cinemas on opening night, as the masses grow increasingly disinterested.
It feels like Disney is making decisions based on what fans will get most excited about and not what will actually make the franchise good or interesting, which is par for the course. RDJ is one of Marvel’s most popular stars, he’s coming off an Oscar win for his great performance in Oppenheimer, and he’s been critically lauded for his five antagonistic roles in The Sympathizer, directed by beloved K📖orean auteur Park Chan-wook. His star power guarantees that fans will take notice, and it’s worked – but it feels like a cheap shot.
Some fans have also raised disappointment that Doctor Doom’s backstory isn’t 💛being properly acknowledged. Victor Von Doom canonically grew up in a Romani tribe, and that difficult upbringing is a strong motivator for his later actions. Most film interpretations of Doctor Doom have ignored this, and RDJ’s casting indicates tha🔯t this background is likely going to be pushed aside once again.
Downey Doom Could Be Interesting, But It Won’t Be
Understandably, theories are already swirling around the controversial casting choice. Some think that Doctor Doom will actually be a Tony Stark variant, or . This isn’t a stretch by any means – after all, we just saw Hugh Jackman return as an alternate timeline Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine. Marvel’s already set up a multiversal throughline, and it makes sense that it would continue to capitalise on the narrative work it's done so far.
Interestingly, The Guardian in 2023 and how the multiverse allows for this particular stunt casting🍨.
It’s unclear if this is actually the case, and even this theory is irking some fans who believe Doom should have had his own story, instead of being an expansion of Iron Man. Personally, I think it could be a very interesting interpretation if done right – I imagine the newer, more diverse generation of༺ heroes symbolically killing the older generation, clearing♏ the way for an MCU finally free of the roots that hold it back.
But I don’t believe this will happen. In practice, what we’re likely to get from this won’t be thematically complex eno🌱ugh to give critics pause – Marvel will just capitalise on nostalgia, and it won’t want to risk loꦗsing its most loyal fans by severing ties with older heroes. I would like to be surprised, but as usual, I’m not going to get my hopes up when it comes to Marvel. Being interesting is risky, and the company has so far proven it’s not willing to take that risk.
Marvel Rivals Is Everything Ave♚ngers Should Have Been
Marvel's big break into multiplayer should🎀've always been a hero shooter, not a looter shooter.
