We've previously heard that Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) will utilize science and magic-based abilities in Avengers: Doomsday, and it sounds like the villain may harness supernatural power from an ancient, reality-altering source.
In this week's Cosmic Circus Q&A, Alex Perez was asked about previous hints he made about how Doomsday connects to magic-based Disney+ shows Agatha All Along and WandaVision.
"It mainly has to do with the concepts of magic that are explored in those shows. As much as this film is heavily based on the multiverse, time, and science, a good portion of it really goes into exploring the supernatural. The Darkhold, the runes, the way Agatha absorbs magic—it’s all relevant to something Doom does in Avengers: Doomsday. All I can tell you is to beware the man who carries the Word of God."
In the comics, The Word of God is a centuries-old book full of powerful spells that allows an individual to create, destroy, or manipulate reality. If Doom does indeed have access to this artefact, then he will undoubtedly be an even more formidable threat to the Avengers and the Multiverse than we realized.
As for why Doom will resemble Tony Stark, it's sounding more and more likely that this simply won't be a plot point in Doomsday.
Perez was also asked if there's "any truth to the theory that RDJ’s Doom was Iron Man originally but was tortured by Kang and ended up believing he was Doom?"
"There is no truth to that theory. In the same way that Chris Evans can play two different characters in the MCU with the same face, so can Robert Downey Jr. play Victor Von Doom. And just like how now we have a main Johnny Storm with Joseph Quinn, I’m hearing we’ll eventually have another Victor Von Doom."
Previous rumors have claimed that Doom will use the fact that he looks like Iron Man to manipulate the Avengers, so we'll just have to wait and see which route Marvel decides to go down here. But if the villain's visage is not brought up in Doomsday, we'd say it almost certainly will be in Secret Wars or beyond.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Doomsday will star:
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.