One of the most memorable moments from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con was the Hall H reveal that Robert Downey Jr. is coming back to the MCU as Doctor Doom alongside the Russo brothers in the next two Avengers movies. And at D23, it was also announced that Downey will be playing Tony Stark/Iron Man in an upcoming attraction at Disney California Adventure’s Avengers Campus. Now, Downey has revealed that it was his idea to play Stark again for the Disney parks, but it was Kevin Feige who approached him about playing Doom.
Downey was a guest on the current episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, and he mentioned that he has maintained contact with Feige, Jon Favreau, and the Russo brothers since his departure from Marvel after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. During one of his meetings with Feige, Downey and his wife, Susan Downey, were expecting to talk about the actor’s idea for playing Iron Man outside of the MCU in Disney theme park attractions. However, Feige wanted to talk about bringing him back into the MCU as Doom.
“[Feige] said, ‘It just keeps occurring to me, if you were to come back…,’ and Susan was like, ‘Wait, wait. Come back as what?,'” recalled Downey. “We both realized over time that it was another thing that just disproves any doubt anyone could ever have about that guy,” before adding his assessment that Feige is “a very sophisticated creative thinker.”