by Robert Downey Jr. was once again the biggest thing to come out of this year’s Marvel panel at San Diego Comic-Con. He has consistently stolen the show at Marvel’s Hall H presentation every year he’s attended while playing Tony Stark, aka Iron Man of the MCU.
He’s been absent for a while, since the release of the epic Avengers: Endgame (2019), in which Stark, played by Downey Jr., heroically gives his life to save the world.
But now he’s back, this time as the villainous Victor Von Doom, and he opened up a bit about the journey to get here in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, where he began by sharing how the whole process began:
“Probably a year ago, because Feige and I have stayed in touch,” Downey revealed. “We’re friends. Favreau, Feige and I have stayed in touch. I’m good with the Russo brothers. We have other business to take care of.
“So there’s this little group of fellow travelers, and I had this instinct that I wanted to go to Bob Iger. And I had an idea, outside of the movie universe, about how I could be useful to what’s happening in the parks and all of their location-based energy.
“And Susan and I were sitting with Feige at one point, and he said, ‘You keep thinking about, if you came back…’ And Susan was like, ‘Wait, wait, you come back as what?’ And then we both realized, over time, that it was another thing that refuted any doubts anyone could ever have about this man.
“[He’s] a very sophisticated and creative thinker about, ‘How do we not go backwards? How do we not disappoint expectations? How do we continue to exceed expectations?’ And he brought out Victor von Doom, and I looked at [the] character, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ And later, he’s like, ‘Let’s do Victor von Doom right. Let’s do it right.’
“So I asked Kevin, ‘Can I go talk to Bob Iger?’ He said, ‘About?’ I said, ‘About everything.'”
“And I went to Bob’s house, I don’t know how to describe that experience,” Downey continued. “I’ve had a lot of really cool experiences. We go to Iger’s house, we sit down and we’re like, ‘I just want to be…’ He’s like, ‘I like that.’ I’m like, ‘He likes that.’ He’s like, ‘Come to Imagineering Campus.’
“Feige and I go to the Imagineering campus and… you want to talk about two guys who are not easy to blow their heads off, let alone at the same time. I can’t say much about it, but what’s happening there right now is so beyond my expectations of what was possible. No wonder it’s been numinous for me.
“It’s also the only way I felt I could offer a certain entertainment-seeking audience something they might yearn to experience, in a way that allows me to continue to develop my interest in the future of entertainment.
“Where the hell are you supposed to go back to? So it’s this crazy, weird thing that’s happening, and if it all falls apart, we’re going to remake what a lot of people say is the greatest movie of all time.”
I can’t wait to see him in action in his new role! Downey was created specifically for Marvel, and I know he’ll give us another great performance.
Avengers: Judgment Day It is scheduled for a theatrical release on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars May 7, 2027.
by Jessica Fisher
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
