Robert Downey Jr. is opening up about his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The 59-year-old former Iron Man actor announced his MCU comeback as Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom at San Diego Comic-Con, who will appear in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, he spoke about the conversations with Kevin Feige and Bob Iger that led to his return.
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During the conversation, he said that he and Kevin are “pals,” keeping in touch since Endgame.
“I had this instinct that I wanted to go to Bob Iger and I had an idea, outside of the cinematic universe, for how I could be of service to what’s going on in the [theme] parks,” he explained.
“[My wife] Susan and I were sitting down with Feige and he said, ‘It just keeps occurring to me that if you were to come back …’ Susan was like, ‘Wait. Wait. Come back as what?’”
He also said Kevin is a “very sophisticated, creative thinker.”
“[Kevin said], ‘How can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to beat expectations?’ And he brought up Victor Von Doom. And I looked into this character and I was like, ‘Wow.’ Later on, he goes, ‘Let’s get Victor Von Doom right.’”
He then met with Bob Iger, who said he liked the idea and arranged for Robert and Kevin to visit Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney’s research and development facility in California.
“You wanna talk about two guys that are not easy to have their minds blown, let alone at the same time … I can’t say too much but what is going on there right now is beyond my expectation of what was possible,” he said.
“It’s also the only way that I felt like I can give a certain entertainment-seeking audience something they may have a hankering to have an experience of, in a way where I can continue to develop my interest in the future of entertainment. Where the hell else would you go but there?”
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