Robert Downey Jr tells the story behind Marvel return: ‘Let’s get Victor von Doom right’

Robert Downey Jr has revealed that conversations about his Marvel return to play Doctor Doom started a year ago.
The 59-year-old actor left the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) after Iron Man died in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, but has been confirmed to return to the franchise as the Fantastic Four villain in Joe and Anthony Russo’s upcoming films Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, and has now detailed the story of how Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige pitched the new role to him and his wife Susan Downey.
During an appearance on ‘The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter’ podcast, he recalled: “Susan and I were sitting down with Feige at one point, and he said, ‘It just keeps occurring to me that, if you were to come back…’ And Susan was like, ‘Wait, wait, come back as what?’
“And then we both realised, over time, that it was another thing that just disproves any doubt anyone could ever have about that guy.
“(Feige is) a very sophisticated, creative thinker about, ‘How can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to beat expectations?’
“And he brought up Victor von Doom, and I looked into (the) character, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ And later on, he goes, ‘Let’s get Victor von Doom right. Let’s get that right.’”
After the actor realised he wanted to play the villain, Downey Jr and Feige went to Disney CEO Bob Iger’s house to pitch the idea and found that the executive was a big fan of the plans.
The Oppenheimer star recounted: “So then I said to Kevin, ‘Can I go talk to Bob Iger?’ He goes, ‘About?’ I go, ‘About everything.’
“We go to Iger’s pad, and we sit down and start saying, ‘I just really want to be…’ He goes, ‘I like it.’ I was like, ‘He likes it.’
“He goes, ‘Come by the Imagineering campus.’ Feige and I go to the Imagineering campus and – you want to talk about two guys that are not easy to have their minds blown, let alone at the same time.
“I can’t say too much about it, but what is going on there right now is so beyond my expectation of what was possible.”