The Marvel panel was the big show of week at Comic-Con, and as expected there was huge news to be dropped. But it’d be a lie to say the whole thing was epic. While the introduction of the Red Hulk and the footage from The Fantastic Four: First Steps brought the roof down, the Thunderbolts panel was a bit lackluster. Much of the cast came out, and it was cool to see Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, Sebastian Stan, and David Harbour together. The footage suggested an anti-hero version of Guardians of the Galaxy, but it didn’t spark a ton of excitement to be honest.
The same can’t be said for the huge news that dropped tonight. Kevin Feige finally addressed the big elephant in the room: Avengers 5 is now officially known as Avengers: Doomsday. No more Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. That’s gone, kaput. That will be followed by Avengers: Secret Wars, and both films are confirmed to be directed by the Russo Brothers, making their trumphant return to the MCU.
And that wasn’t all. The Russos, who were treated like returning heroes by fans and by Marvel alike, revealed that they neede the greatest actor alive to play the most pivotal character to the Secret Wars storyline. And that man is Robert Downey Jr., who will play the ultimate villain, Doctor Doom.
The rumor about Downey coming back to the MCU as Doom has been around for a little while, but I don’t know if anyone thought it was true. That Doom will be in the next two Avengers movies means more now that we know the Fantastic Four will also be appearing in them, as well.
But why and how is Robert Downey Jr. playing Doctor Victor Von Doom? We have to assume that he is still Tony Stark, and that this is an alternate, evil version of him. In the comics, there is a storyline in which an alternate universe version of Stark (whose mind had been switched with Victor’s) becomes Doctor Doom. So this could be a play on that. The fact of the matter is that Marvel needs to reconnect with the fans they have lost in recent years and what better way to do that than by bringing back their most popular actor?
This finally puts to bed all of the turmoil surrounding Avengers 5. The film had been in trouble since director Destin Daniel Cretton stepped down and screenwriter Jeff Loveness was replaced. Jonathan Majors had been in place to play Kang the Conqueror until he got booted. It’s worth nothing that there wasn’t a single mention of Kang at all. It’s like he never existed. Michael Waldron was the latest screenwriter aboard, but it would be shocking if Russo favorites Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely don’t take over.
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on May 1st 2026, Secret Wars on May 7th 2027.
