The reactions to RDJ’s return to the MCU are decidedly mixed

While there are plenty of Marvel fans out there, even they seem lukewarm about Robert Downey Jr.’s new role. At San Diego Comic Con, Avengers: Doomsday was announced, and with it, the casting choice of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. Although plenty were happy to see him make a return to the franchise, the response was mixed with a collective: “huh?”

Fans were quick to share memes about how they felt on social media, some poking fun at the assumed greed necessary to “ruin” the ending of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s third phase. A lot more of the disdain shared around this casting decision stems from the two likely outcomes that this choice will bring: 

Doomsday Outcomes

1:RDJ getting tossed back into the MCU as Doctor Doom will be a vehicle for a fourth-wall bending cameo that barely adds to the plot, reading along the lines of Spider-Man going “Huh, you look familiar.” Plenty of fans agree that this would just be plain boring. Others think it’s simply not worth the excessive amount of money. Some fans have waited through the entirety of the MCU to see Doctor Doom, and whoever they wanted to see got beaten out for the role by RDJ’s popularity.

2: The entirety of the Avengers: Doomsday plot will revolve around RDJ Tony Stark’s influence affecting the canon. These beats will echo the way that each Peter Parker’s influence was shown in Spider-Man: No Way Home. At best, that runs the risk of feeling too familiar to No Way Home. At worst, this will echo the fans’ fears that the franchise is out of ideas and that there’s no where to go from here.

Any MCU fan, along with the average moviegoer, is likely aware of RDJ’s place in the franchise as Iron man. He played Tony Stark throughout his own run of movies and he continued to use that clout to put fans in seats up until the climactic ending of Avengers: Endgame. Most were happy to see him go out that way, it was a proper, dignified sendoff that closed the book on an already long story. As the adage goes: “You either die a hero-” 

The MCU is bored of normal storytelling

Well, It seems that RDJ has now lived long enough in the MCU to become its villain. Although some fans are excited, and they have reason to be, more people are concerned that the MCU has long-since jumped the shark. Based on the way it’s continuing, Marvel may be making a case for repeated shark-jumping.

People have expressed a desire to see Tony Stark be a villain before. Seeing your favorite hero do something edgy is a classic wish that plenty of nerds accept won’t come true. Exploring ideas like that is largely the purpose of media like internet memes and fan-fiction. If you’re aware that the writers are never going to explore a concept, then you can explore it yourself. Furthermore, Tony Stark is already a morally grey character. Considering the actions he took in Captain America: Civil War, along with his general demeanor and utilitarian approach to situations, most MCU media goes out of its way to tell the viewer that Iron Man is not a saint. 

As fans have pointed out, a lot of Tony Stark’s character’s purpose in the MCU is to emphasize that seeing the grey area in issues can actually be useful. This is not what Doctor Doom is. Doctor Doom is obsessed with perfection, and his mask, hiding facial abnormality, is a testament to that. A lot of fans worry that the portrayal of the character will wring a little hollow when the whole time they’re just thinking about Tony Stark. 

So, what purpose does this serve?

The most likely answer is that it offers a showcase of RDJ’s skill as an actor while bringing back the attention that the MCU has been losing over the years. If you were or still are a fan of the MCU up until now, chances are superhero fatigue has hit you at some point. If that hasn’t happened, that’s frankly very impressive. Most people will acknowledge that phase four of the MCU has been messy, to say the least. There are so many characters and ideas flowing around that the intended refined palette of MCU content now feels just as disorganized as the comic universe.

The irony is not lost on Marvel, as it has committed to reducing its output to prevent that clutter. This display of self-awareness makes it quite apparent that this new slate of MCU content hasn’t been anywhere near as successful since phase three. Marvel’s solution appears to be having one of the most loved actors from its movies return. 

People will probably go to see Doomsday out of interest alone. The very idea of having RDJ come back is so crazy that it just works. Despite all of the dissent launched at this concept, Seeing RDJ put his own spin on a new role will still be something unique that only the MCU can do. A lot of that is because of the hype surrounding RDJ’s Tony Stark and the legacy that the MCU holds in pop culture. People will be watching this movie for the novelty even if they don’t end up finding the plot that interesting. Marvel knows this, and that’s why he’s its best pick for now.