Ever since Marvel Studios revealed that Robert Downey Jr. has been cast as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, there has been speculation about the possibility of his prior role as Tony Stark factoring into his new role as the MCU big bad.
In a new piece in Empire, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shot down the theory that Victor Von Doom will turn out to be a variant of Stark.
“People wondered, ‘Is Doom just a variant of another character? Is this just a shortcut to bringing back another character?’ The answer is no,” Feige said. “He’s Victor Von Doom.”
In defense of the casting of Downey, Feige brought up that fans did not make the same connection when Chris Evans debuted as Steve Rogers/Captain America, four years after playing Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
“Is Steve Rogers a Johnny Storm variant?” Feige asked rhetorically.
With the theatrical release of Doomsday about a month away, there is no reason for Feige, Downey, or anyone associated with the film to spill any secrets about the role of Doctor Doom.
In a 2023 Vanity Fair profile on Downey, Feige seemed adamant about leaving Stark’s story alone.
“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” he said. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”
