In a multiverse-melting surprise, Marvel Studios revealed that its most bankable star was coming out of retirement for a pair of Avengers movies.
Kevin Feige announced during Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con panel that Robert Downey Jr. is set to return to the film franchise as Doctor Doom. Feige also officially confirmed the Russo bros. as directors for the next Avengers film.
Downey previously helped launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the 2008 title Iron Man and is now coming back as the longtime villain of the Fantastic Four. “Same mask, new task,” Downey told the audience from the stage.
The news officially marks a creative makeover to Avengers 5, which Feige announced onstage two years ago in Hall H as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. The film would have starred Jonathan Majors as the time-traveling villain Kang, however in December, a New York jury found Majors guilty of harassment and assault of a former girlfriend, which caused Marvel to cut ties with the actor, and necessitated an overhaul of the film.
The move comes amid the record-setting opening weekend for Deadpool & Wolverine, which will easily land the top-opening of all time for an R-rated feature, and which has injected a renewed sense of energy to the MCU.
The Russo Bros. will direct the new Avengers movie after making a surprise return to Marvel following their record-breaking run with Avengers: Endgame (2019), which for a time topped Avatar as the biggest movie of all time. The pair also directed Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War.
The Avengers franchise is the crown jewel for Marvel Studios, which built its reputation by achieving what many thought was impossible when it combined the heroes of Iron Man, Captain America and Thor movies for a team-up that became a genre-defining hit in 2012.
Downey is coming off a career high with his first Oscar win earlier this year for his role as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The actor also recently earned an Emmy nomination for HBO’s The Sympathizer.
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