To quote Robin Williams in Jumani, what year is it? It’s 2024 (we think), and yet Hugh Jackman just played Wolverine on the big screen — appearing opposite Wesley Snipes’ Blade, Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, and Chris Evans’ Human Torch, no less. What’s more, Robert Downey Jr. is back in the MCU for two new Avengers movies directed by the Russos brothers. Someone call the TVA, the timeline is officially tangled!
Downey’s big debut as Doctor Doom (no, he’s not playing Iron Man anymore, keep up) won’t happen until Avengers: Doomsday gets here in 2026. And yet, while filming is still a long ways off, the Endgame icon is already starting as he means to continue. Downey caught up with another Marvel legacy legend in NYC recently, giving us a taste of a team-up (or maybe face-off) that we would love to see become a reality in either Doomsday or 2027’s Secret Wars.
Jessica Alba, the erstwhile Invisible Woman herself, blew fans’ minds when she took to Instagram to share a bunch of selfies with Downey, after she caught up with him when catching his new play, McNeal, on Broadway. In her caption, Alba gushed over her famous friend’s talents: “@robertdowneyjr – I could watch you read the dictionary – you are so brilliant + talented. Until next time.”
Unsurprisingly, the comments are full of those losing it over this unlikely Marvel crossover. “MY IRONMAN AND SUSAN STORM HEART,” wrote someone in danger of needing some defibrillating. Some were more worried about what Alba’s on-screen husband would say at her buddying up with his enemy. “What’s Sue Storm doing with Dr Doom?” another comment joked.
Others, on the other hand, couldn’t get over how different Downey looks, with one admitting how they “didn’t recognize” him at first glance. Many are convinced RDJ is morphing into an aforementioned Australian hunk. “He looks like Hugh Jackman! Maybe makeup for the play,” one queried, as another quipped, “He’s slowly turning into Hugh Jackman.” Some feel Downey is gifted with Benjamin Button genes: “This man grows backwards.”
Personally, I’m not exactly seeing the alleged Hugh-ification of Downey just yet, but no doubt he will undergo something of a physical transformation once he starts playing Victor Von Doom, to get in shape to portray the all-powerful ruler of Latveria. Or, who knows, maybe he won’t need to. I’m not entirely convinced that he won’t just be stuck under a metal mask the whole time, allowing for a stunt performer to mostly play the character, a la Pedro Pascal in The Mandalorian.
Speaking of Pedro, the door is open for Downey to drop by as Doom in next July’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. That introduces Vanessa Kirby as the latest cinematic incarnation of the Invisible Woman, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Alba’s missed her shot to reprise Sue Storm. Seeing as she and Downey are apparently such good pals, it sounds like her chances of following in the footsteps of her Marvel brother Chris Evans and showing up for Secret Wars just went up.
