Marvel megastar to take up fan favourite role in Avengers 5

In one of the biggest bits of Marvel news in years, the original star of the MCU movies is going to return for its next Avengers era.

Robert Downey Jr became the figurehead of the Marvel movies during the epic Thanos arc as Iron Man, but he will switch to another character in the next films.

He will play Doctor Doom in the next Avengers movie, due in 2026.

This announcement was made during Comic Con in San Diego. A group of people dressed as Doctor Doom were on-stage. Downey Jr. stepped forward in a green suit and cowl, and pulled off his Doctor Doom mask to reveal his face.

It was a dramatic moment, if not an uncontentious one.

Doctor Doom is a character from the Kingdom of Latveria, a fictional Eastern European nation. He grew up as part of an oppressed Romani tribe.

There’s no direct link to Tony Stark here. Except there kinda is.

In one seam of the Marvel comics, there’s a multiverse strand where Doctor Doom and Tony Stark swap bodies. Doom tricked Stark into doing so.

This was the story line of 2010’s Iron Man: Demon in an Armor, part of the Marvel What if? Series.

Downey Jr. will take on the role in Avengers: Doomsday, due in cinemas on May 1, 2026.

This is the next Avengers film, overwriting plans for what we once knew as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

These plans were wiped after Jonathan Majors, originally hired to play Kang the Conqueror as lead antagonist of the film, was arrested on assault and harassment charges.

Other core crew remain, though. Avengers: Doomsday will be directed by the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe, who made Endgame, Infinity War, Captain America: Civil War and The Winter Soldier.

"New mask, same task,” Downey Jr. posted on Instagram after the announcement was made.

The film is also expected to star Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, and the Fantastic Four characters.

By then we will already have seen The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a “retro-future ‘60s” reboot of the franchise starring Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, alongside Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Thing).

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is out in cinemas on Jul 25, 2025, almost a year ahead of Avengers: Doomsday.

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