Doctor Doom’s plans are rarely what they seem.
What if the Doom we met at Comic-Con isn’t the real Doom?
And maybe Downeyisactually playing the real Doctor Doom.
If he is, theremight be only one way to make that workjust right.
It’s hard to take this announcement at face value, though.
This doesn’t feel like a creative move made because it’ll lay the groundwork for an interesting story.
What if this is merely a tease for something entirely different, though?
Let’s lay down some context.
Doom is a (usually) heavily-scarred character who wears a mask at all times.
The Multiverse
It’s important to remember that, for now, the MCU is a multiverse.
Thus far, we’ve met variants of a bunch of characters.
And then there are mischief characters like Loki and Deadpool who have variants in all shapes and sizes.
In one What If…?
storyline, Victor von Doom swaps minds with Tony Stark and takes his place.
In another, “Anthony” Stark becomes the Sorcerer Supreme and Victor von Doom becomes Iron Man.
If he really is Victor von Doom, he has to be from another universe at the very least.
Doombots
Doctor Doom isnotThanos.
Thanos was a force of nature, as inevitable as a tidal wave.
He had one plan and he was going to execute it no matter what the cost.
He is familiar with failure, in other words.
He doesn’t haveaplan, he has plans within plans like the Bene Gesserit ofDune.
His backup plans have backup plans.
One constant about Doctor Doom is that, as you battle him, you probably aren’t battling him.
You’re battling a Doombot.
Doombots are particular to Doctor Doom.
They’re not just robots, and they’re not Ultron.
), there’s no reason that a Doombot would have to look the same as Victor von Doom.
The Fantastic Four is Marvel Comics' First Family–the original sci-fi superheroes for the longtime comics publisher.
Jeff Bezos has been to space.
Instead, what if the Fantastic Four become the first explorers to intentionally breach the Multiverse.
Fantastic, AKA Reed Richards–with them, or creates him in the modern-day MCU in the process.
So that leads us to the question of why he has the same face as our buddy Tony.
But Doom could just as easily build a Doombot that has the same face as Tony Stark.
Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU isnotan inherently bad thing.
If played correctly, it could be interesting.
So here’s one last thing that we think points to thereat leastbeing something weird going on.
Every other year, Disney does a big D23 presentation.
But what itdidn’thave was a word about Downey or his Victor von Doom character.
It justwasn’t there.
TherealDoom will reveal himself at that point, played by an entirely different actor.
As we referenced before, he is not Thanos, and can’t simply march forward relentlessly.
He has to mess with the heroes and, by extension, with us.
Image credit: Getty Images/Jesse Grant
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