The Avengers 5 Return of Robert Downey Jr. Verifies the #1 Marvel Rule That Fans Have Known for Decades
Fans of Marvel Comics should see Robert Downey Jr.'s comeback as normal, since it just adheres to one of the company's core values.
The Return of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom
In Avengers: Doomsday, Robert Downey Jr. will play the same persona he played in the past, even if his most famous MCU character died. The shocking announcement that Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his role as the renowned Marvel villain Doctor Doom was made during this year's San Diego Comic-Con. He will be in the upcoming Avengers movie, directed by the Russo Brothers again and retitled from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty to Avengers: Doomsday.
A plethora of speculations and concerns regarding the MCU's handling of this new approach have been aroused by this revelation. Robert Downey Jr.'s comeback has, on the one hand, prompted criticism that Marvel is out of ideas. However, given the MCU's recent failures to generate excitement (and profit) from new characters after the end of the Infinity Saga, his talent and star power cannot be disregarded. But RDJ's comeback is fully anticipated.
The first rule of Marvel is that nobody dies—except for Uncle Ben.
Marvel Comics is notorious for ending the lives of well-known characters just to bring them back later. Marvel superheroes like Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Captain America have died more times than others before coming back to life in later comic books. In Marvel Comics, Iron Man himself has perished multiple times. In the 1991 comic "Infinity Gauntlet," he even met a grisly end at the hands of Thanos' ally, Terraxia, when they fought. In actuality, Uncle Ben from Marvel Comics is the only character that is still alive.
In order to examine the Uncle Ben phenomena, Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse made his death—or its equivalent in other universes—a canonical occurrence.
For fans of Marvel Comics, bringing a dead character back to life is only normal. As evidence that the idea is not new to the MCU, Avengers: Endgame also showed the resurrection of a number of adored heroes when Smart Hulk reversed the Blip. The MCU hasn't seen many more well-known resurrections; that's just a result of the film series being far older than the comic book series it is based on. Furthermore, RDJ's MCU comeback isn't exactly a resurrected one.
Endgame Is Not Ruined by Robert Downey Jr.'s Avengers 5 Return
The main topic of discussion ever since there were rumors of RDJ making an MCU comeback has been how this would impact Iron Man's MCU legacy. After all, his death in Avengers: Endgame was the ideal way to wrap up his character journey and it truly deserves all the accolades it got. These worries would be legitimate if RDJ were to return to the role of Earth-616's Tony Stark, but it has been made plain that he will not be doing so (at least not just yet).
The primary MCU timeline, Earth-616, is still referred to as the "Sacred timeline," as defined in Loki, according to confirmation from Deadpool and Wolverine.
Two possibilities arise from the Russo Brothers' confirmation that RDJ will play Doctor Doom. He might be joining the ranks of other MCU performers who have played several characters by taking on the role of Victor Von Doom. Alternatively, he might be a badass Tony Stark clone who goes to a different world (probably the same one as the Fantastic Four in the MCU), with his statement "New mask, same task" indicating a few possible storylines for how this could happen. In any case, he isn't playing a revived Tony Stark, who stays dead and preserves his legacy inside the hallowed timeline.
Reasons Marvel Shouldn't Pay Attention To RDJ's Return Criticism
In the end, the MCU is free to follow in the footsteps of comic book antecedents and incorporate as many surreal story threads as needed. Even though there has been a lot of conjecture following the SDCC disclosure, more proof is need before we can fully understand what Marvel Studios has in store. The studio made a huge but well-thought-out decision, certainly cognizant of the potential backlash that RDJ's comeback may cause. Furthermore, this is yet another dangerous MCU choice that has an equal chance of success.
Before accepting, Robert Downey Jr. has made it clear that his MCU comeback must make sense. Given his recent Oscar victory, RDJ is less inclined to accept assignments purely out of selfish interest, which is encouraging for his decision to make a comeback in Avengers: Doomsday. Regarding worries about whether his portrayal of Doctor Doom would be comic-accurate, only time will tell. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of opportunity in the franchise to create a more true-to-life portrayal of the figure beyond Avengers: Secret Wars.
