If Marvel wants to rivalAvengers: Infinity Warand Thanos withAvengers: Doomsdayand Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, the latter should copy the former’s villain POV trick. Robert Downey Jr. was the first name ever confirmed onAvengers: Doomsday’s cast list, with the shock announcement at 2024’s San Diego Comic-Con panel ratcheting up the excitement for the 2026 film. Since then, more updates aboutAvengers: Doomsday’s story, cast, and release date have only further increased the hype for the first installment in the series since 2019’sAvengers: Endgame.
Beyond this, though, the most intriguing part about theupcoming Marvel movieremains Robert Downey Jr.’s casting as the iconic Marvel villain, Doctor Doom. Many are curious to see whether the gamble of hiring an actor synonymous with an MCU hero like Iron Man as a major villain will pay off, as well as whether the character of Doom will be depicted correctly. To succeed in this and makeAvengers: Doomsday’s villainone of the MCU’s best, the film could copyAvengers: Infinity War’s Thanos POV trick, and I am very curious to see if Marvel will do so.
Avengers: Infinity War Made Thanos More Than A Simple Villain
Thanos' Mindset Was Conveyed Heavily To The Audience
Firstly, it is worth exploring the Thanos trick fromAvengers: Infinity War. In the comics, Thanos was known as the Mad Titan, who sought out the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe out half of all life in the universe as a means of appeasing Lady Death, whom he was infatuated with. This motivation has some depth to it but is admittedly too far-fetched to make Thanos' actions believable, sympathetic, and easy to invest in. InAvengers: Infinity War, the MCU changed that by giving Thanos a much more noble motivation.
How Powerful The MCU’s Thanos Is Compared To The Comics
Thanos was the most iconic villain the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s history, but his powers are notably different from his comic book counterpart.
The MCU depicted Thanos as someone who had to watch his planet, Titan, be destroyed, along with everyone who lived on it. Thanos predicted this would happen as the planet’s soaring population would lead to environmental issues and the destruction of his race, something that eventually came to pass. Thanos' motivation for The Blip in the MCU was to remove half of all life in the universe so that other planets would not suffer the same fate as Titan.
Thanos was more of a protagonist ofAvengers: Infinity Warthan the likes of Captain America or Iron Man, as proven by the villain receiving the most amount of screen time in the film…
ThroughoutAvengers: Infinity War, this code of belief was highlighted at several points. In fact, entire scenes were dedicated to Thanos' motivations, making the character a much deeper depiction of his comic book counterpart with more believable, almost sympathetic motivations than thestrongest of MCU villains. In many ways, Thanos was more of a protagonist ofAvengers: Infinity Warthan the likes of Captain America or Iron Man, as proven by the villain receiving the most amount of screen time in the film at 29 minutes, over 10 minutes more than the character in second, Gamora.
I Could See Avengers: Doomsday Making RDJ’s Doom A Main Character
To Make Doom As Successful As Thanos Was
Stemming from this, I could easily see Marvel Studios repeating this with RDJ’s Doctor Doom inAvengers: Doomsday. For one, it proved incredibly effective withAvengers: Infinity War, with the film often being considered among thebest of the MCU’s many moviesand Thanos regarded as the franchise’s best villain. Beyond this obvious benefit of making Doom a main character ofAvengers: Doomsday, there is an actor as talented and beloved as Robert Downey Jr. in the role.
Overall, I think it is safe to say that Robert Downey Jr.’s casting as Doctor Doom is one of the single most discussed choices in comic book movie history. Marvel knew this would be the impact it had on the wider audience, explaining why such a big moment of it was made at SDCC 2024. With that in mind,I cannot see why Marvel would cast Robert Downey Jr. in the role just to give him a smaller villain roleakin to the MCU’s lesser-beloved villains. With RDJ, a main role is all but guaranteed.
There are theories that the first act ofAvengers: Doomsdaywill focus solely on Doom, either killing alternate versions of Thanos or the Council of Kangs, backing up this theory about him being a main character.
Another reason as to why I could seeAvengers: Doomsdayhaving its titular villain as a main character is the benefit it would bring to the narrative. The heroesconfirmed as part ofAvengers: Doomsday’s castare fairly disparate, be it the Avengers who have little connection to the Thunderbolts, or The Fantastic Four who are from an entirely separate universe. If the film played out from Doom’s perspective, the narrative would have a central focal point, just as Thanos brought toAvengers: Infinity Warwhen there were three different bands of heroes facing off against him and his forces.
Why It Would Be Good For Avengers: Doomsday To Make Doom A Main Character
It Would Benefit Not Only The Character But The MCU’s Future Beyond Doomsday
If the studio chooses to make Doom the main character inAvengers: Doomsdayand replicate former successes, this would also bring several benefits regarding Doom’s character and his MCU future. Where Doom himself is concerned,Avengers: Doomsdaywill be his first MCU appearance, discounting any small potential cameo he could have in thestory ofThe Fantastic Four: First Steps. Therefore, making him the main character ofAvengers: Doomsdaywould mean his character could be more fleshed out than a typical villain role would allow for, rendering him a more three-dimensional antagonist than a dull, underdeveloped, one-off villain.
Regarding the overall MCU, Doom being the main character ofAvengers: Doomsdaywill benefit the story ofAvengers: Secret Wars. The storyline of the latter film will likely follow that of the comic book of the same name, with Doom presiding over Battleworld. Battleworld is a combination of the universes that remained after mass incursions caused the multiverse to collapse, with Doom establishing his dominion over it.
Avengers: Secret Wars: Release Date, Plot Details & Everything We Know
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Making Doom a sympathetic main character inAvengers: Doomsdaywho is seeking to create Battleworld to save people, yet placing himself as their ruler, would emulate Thanos' more noble motivations while still keeping him a firm villain. Given thatAvengers: Secret Warswill likely explore Battleworld and Doom’s rule more thanAvengers: Doomsday,the latter fleshing out the character’s story and motivation would give the former more narrative weight. As a result,Avengers: Doomsdaywould be improved via Doom’s exploration, as would its sequel.
RDJ’s Doom Being The Thanos Of Doomsday Would Create 1 Big Problem For The MCU
Linked To The Depiction Of The Avengers
Despite the many obvious benefits of RDJ’s Doom being the main character ofAvengers: Doomsday, there is one problem it creates thatAvengers: Infinity War’s Thanos did not. In the latter case, the Avengers of the film were already well-fleshed out. The previous 10 years of movies had solidified the core Avengers across three movies and several standalone films, with the same being said for the Wakandans and Guardians of the Galaxy. This meant that placing a focus on Thanos could be allowed, as the villain needed fleshing out more than the heroes who we already knew would band together.
With the Avengers ofAvengers: Doomsday, the same cannot be said. Phases 4 and 5 have lacked the presence of the Avengers completely. As such, the team assembled will have a lot of catching up to do, despite some characters having interacted in the past. There is also a lack of main heroic characters like Captain America and Iron Man, with Sam Wilson having had just as many appearances as a younger hero like Ms. Marvel, for example, in the Multiverse Saga.
With all of this in mind, giving Doom more screen time could be a detriment to the heroes of the Multiverse Saga, given that the previous movies and shows have not established them as a team. Individually, the problem remains too, as some heroes confirmed for the film will only have had one or two MCU appearances by the timeAvengers: Doomsdayis released. Evidently,Avengers: Doomsday’s script will have to be incredibly tight to avoid these issues and make Doom as a main character work as Thanos did before him.
