Is Doctor Doom a variant of Iron Man?

Imagine you completely missed the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, wake up a few days later, and see that Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Doctor Victor von Doom. Surprised? Everyone was.

During the Hall H show on Friday, July 26, Marvel revealed the surprises it had been safeguarding up its sleeve. Kevin Feige not only confirmed that the two actual Marvel Jesuses, the Russo brothers, will be back to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars — and hopefully redeem the MCU — he also revealed the main villain of the MCU going forward would be Doctor Doom, played by no other than the true Marvel Cinematic Universe icon, Robert Downey Jr.

Naturally, one of the first things to come to mind is that Disney/Marvel must be truly desperate to save itself if it has to resort to such a bold move. Secondly, is Doom a variant of Iron Man? Well, let’s try to unpack that last one.

Has this ever happened in the comics?

Since the MCU movies and shows are based on comic books, let’s dive into said comics first. Was there ever an Iron Man variant that became Doctor Doom? Well, no.

There is a comic where Victor von Doom takes up the mantle of Iron Man, believe it or not, but not the other way around. In the 2016-2017 Marvel comic Infamous Iron Man, Doctor Doom becomes the man in shining (red) armor. At its beginning, Doom rescues Maria Hill and then visits Tony Stark’s lab without any obstacle, since Stark himself is presumed dead after the events of Civil War II. There, he takes up the mantle of Iron Man. Many unexpected events take place afterward, such as Victor’s Iron Man having a vision of elderly Stark, who’s now the Sorcerer Supreme. But let’s leave it at that for now.

The point is, there was never a variant of Tony Stark who later became Doctor Doom. But is there a chance of it happening in the MCU? Possibly.

Will Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom be a variant of Iron Man in the MCU?

Unfortunately, for now, we don’t know what will happen in the MCU, so that leaves plenty of room for speculation. We know that Marvel likes to sometimes take a shortcut, so it’s possible Doom could just be Iron Man-turned-evil from another timeline. However, with Victor being shaped as the main villain of the two upcoming Avengers features, Doomsday and Secret Wars, it seems unlikely they’ll use such cheap tricks to build the next big bad guy’s story.

Nevertheless, there are already many such theories. If Marvel wanted to head in such a direction, casting RDJ is a perfect choice. Still, it’s hard not to see it as a desperate move to save the MCU from its current crisis rather than a story-dependent decision. Because let’s face it: Downey’s return to the MCU after his heroic departure in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame is bound to attract millions of viewers to the theater. He’s basically a money printer at this point, and I don’t say that to criticize him, because I’m sure he’ll do a stellar job. I’m just stating facts.

With that in mind, at this point, it’s impossible to say for certain if Doom will be Iron Man’s variant in the MCU. He could be, or he could not. We will certainly be one step closer to finding out with next year’s release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Doctor Doom is the first family’s arch nemesis, who hates Reed Richards with all his heart and has a massive crush on Susan Storm, so while the movie is set to have Galactus as its main enemy, it’s not too far-fetched to assume we’ll get a cameo of Doom now that he’s a confirmed villain of the MCU.