Hot off the heels of the recently-released “Deadpool & Wolverine” film, Marvel and Disney are hoping to keep the train going by hyping the fans up – and what better way to do that than by breaking some big news at the biggest comic convention of the year — San Diego Comic Con (SDCC)?
At this event, we know what Disney is cooking in the background, such as the upcoming “Captain America: Brave New World,” for which they announced who the main antagonists will be. They include none other than Sidewinder, a much more down-to-earth villain compared to what we’ve seen both in the MCU and the comics, but he still does some nasty stuff behind the scenes.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige mentioned that it will be an espionage movie, in the same way “The Winter Soldier” was. This perhaps hints to us that the film will be a much more modest-scale action flick compared to the more recent MCU films.
However, one of the biggest reveals of the event was Robert Downey Jr.’s return to the MCU, not as Iron Man, but as Doctor Victor Von Doom, debuting the character in the future Avengers film, “Avengers: Doomsday.” Marvel also revealed that the renowned Russo brothers, who are best known for helming “Infinity War” and “Endgame,” will be directing the two Avengers films, “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
Though this is, without a doubt, exciting news for one half of the fanbase, the other half reacted with bafflement and even mocked the decision, and it’s quite understandable why. After years of theatrical rule, followed by a massive dry spell, which was unanimously dubbed “superhero fatigue,” the studio suffered an enormous loss in their revenue stream. Follow this up with the sentencing of actor Jonathan Majors, the supposedly next main antagonist in the upcoming Avengers saga, and what you have is the end of the MCU. Because of this, the studio had to quickly pivot and save whatever projects they had down the pipeline. As a result, the “X-men” and “Blade” titles have gone missing from the studio’s timetable.
Fans have speculated on RDJ’s return, but as Iron Man, not Dr. Doom. This move created the back half of the controversy, with MCU being accused of simply bringing back an iconic face to lure back old fans who dropped the series after Endgame. People online are voicing out that they hadn’t heard much about “The Fantastic Four,” the natural enemies of Dr. Doom, until the same day they dropped news of RDJ’s return. Furthermore, during the SDCC panel, we found out that Fantastic Four is the furthest out of any of the movies that premiered during the panel. To offset this, we were given our first glimpse of the planet-eater Galactus.
On the flip side, there’s a chance that this gambit might work – but only if it’s built up and executed properly. Dr. Doom, being a master of both science and magic, is known to be the most devious and complex character in all of Marvel, with the ability to hop in from different universes, giving him a canonical reason as to why he would have Tony Stark’s features. Regardless of what happens, we’re stoked to see what happens next and how this will shape both the films leading up to Doomsday and Secret War, and stories thereafter.
