Though Doctor Doom has faced off against pretty much every major hero in Marvel Comics at one point or another over the years, the villain first appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four and has always been viewed as the nemesis of Reed Richards.
Robert Downey Jr.'s Doom made his MCU debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps' post-credits scene, but only made a very brief appearance and did not share the screen with Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal).
Fans have been wondering whether the two characters would interact much in Avengers: Doomsday. Rumors have claimed that they will share a few scenes, but it seemed likely that Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) was being positioned as Doom's primary foil in the movie.
Pascal was asked if Richards and Doom would share any "big moments" in Doomsday during an interview with JEUXACTU.
“I will tell you there is so much to expect that I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
A vague response, but Pascal's comments would seem to suggest that we can indeed expect to see at least one exciting confrontation between the ruler of Latveria and the leader of the FF.
First Steps director Matt Shakman set the internet buzzing last year with his comments about how much of a challenge it was to cast Pascal's character during a wide-ranging interview with Variety.
“He goes from being the nerdy scientist who’s locked away in the lab, to the husband and the father who’d do anything to protect his family, to the guy who’s leading the Avengers,” Shakman said of the FF patriarch. “I realized that the version we were building had to have all of those elements.”
Though some took this as confirmation that Richards will lead the Avengers in the upcoming MCU event film, it's entirely possible that Shakman was simply referring to Reed's journey in the comic books. Or was he?
Previous reports have suggested that Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) will take command of one roster of heroes, with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) leading the New Avengers that were formed at the end of Thunderbolts*. But what if Richards is set to head-up a third team?
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were hit with significant delays last year, 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.