MCU Fans Remember Robert Downey Jr. Met to Play Doom in 2005's Fantastic Four as Old Clip Resurfaces
29.07.2024 23:57:18 Yorum Yok Görüntülenme
Robert Downey Jr. will play Doctor Doom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but this isn’t his first brush with the iconic Marvel villain.
Fans started revisiting MCU past following the announcement of his new role at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 over the weekend. While it’s true that he’ll appear as the character on-screen for the first time in films like Avengers: Doomsday, this almost wasn’t the case. In fact, the Iron Man star was nearly cast to play the first-ever live-action Victor von Doom in 2005.
Superhero die-hards re-discovered the bit of comic book movie trivia in a video featuring MCU orchestrator Kevin Feige and Iron Man director Jon Favreau. Posted in May 2023, the clip sees the two creatives remembering the early days of their cinematic universe and how it was assembled, which involved perhaps one of the best casting decisions in history: Downey as Tony Stark. Favreau recalls a past interaction that saw the Iron Man star auditioning to play Doctor Doom for 2005’s Fantastic Four.
“I remember you had all met with him already for, like, Doctor Doom or something,” Favreau said to Feige. “I think he had come through on, maybe, Fantastic Four.”
Fantastic Four went on to cast Nip-Tuck and Charmed star Julian McMahon as the all-powerful Doom, a role he returned to for the 2007 follow-up, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Though Downey missed out on the part, he’ll get a chance to show what he’s got on the MCU’s grand stage.
“Everybody sort of knew who he was,” Favreau continued when remembering the casting process for Iron Man, “and I remember sitting down with the guy, and I was like ‘Jeez, he’s got that spark in him, in his eye, and he’s ready.’ That’s when we were in your office, and we were pointing to his headshot, saying, ‘We gotta try to figure this out.’”
It’s a story of what could have been that’s had Marvel fans spiraling through the last day. While the fanbase is split on whether or not Downey’s casting as the new Doctor Doom is a good or bad thing, it seems the character is one the actor has had his eye on for a long time.
It’s unclear when Downey will first appear as Doctor Doom, but we know that we’ll at least see him show up in Avengers: Doomsday when it premieres in May 2026. Marvel also announced at SDCC that superhero veterans Joe and Anthony Russo are returning to direct both that film as well as its 2027 follow-up, Avengers: Secret Wars. For everything else the company had to reveal at this year’s Comic-Con, click here.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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