Call us Marvel News Blog instead of Disney Food Blog because we’re bringing you everything you need to know about the latest bombshell announcements!

©Marvel

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is expanding with new Avengers films, villains — you name it. It all came to a head this past weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, where Marvel execs and celebs joined together on stage to drop some seriously huge news, including just who will be playing the villain in the next installment of the franchise. Let’s get into it!

Just when he thought he was out, those checks pulled him right back in. Probably. Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) — this time, as Doctor Doom/Victor von Doom. The actor — who played Iron Man in the MCU — is returning for the latest film, Avengers: Doomsday, which will be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo who are also returning to the franchise.

via Variety

Downey took to the stage at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend to don a new mask and help make the announcement, which you can see below.

Presenting Victor Von Doom.

Robert Downey Jr. stars in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday, in theaters May 2026. #SDCC

pic.twitter.com/P34bBScrGm

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 28, 2024

According to Variety, Downey had recently said in interviews that he’d be open to returning to Marvel, which most fans took to mean he’d want to return as Iron Man/Tony Stark. Ultimately, though, the fandom was shocked by the announcement.

Iron Man at Disney California Adventure

Oddly enough, though, this isn’t the first time Downey and Doom have been paired up. Before he became synonymous with Iron Man, he was actually once considered for the role of Doctor Doom in the original Fantastic Four franchise.

Iron Man director (and Happy Hogan actor) Jon Favreau revealed in a past interview that, “Robert had come in for a general [meeting] on [‘Iron Man’] and [Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige] had already met with him for Doctor Doom or something.”

©Disney

Avengers: Endgame featured the death of Iron Man, an emotional exit of a beloved character. But, with the MCU focusing more on the multiverse — it’s possible we could see some sort of Tony Stark variant as Doctor Doom.

There could be another explanation, though — one that also already exists in-universe. In a comic book issue of What If? Iron Man: Demon in an Armor, there is a universe where the Tony Stark from Earth-11029 switches minds with Doctor Doom. There’s a lot more to the story, of course, but we don’t want to reveal any potential spoilers.

Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see what storyline Marvel is going to take — or if we’ll be surprised completely.

©Marvel

As far as other Marvel announcements from Comic-Con go, we also learned that the new Fantastic Four movie will be called The Fantastic Four: First Steps and will be set in New York in the “retro-future ’60s.”

©Marvel

In the meantime, we’ll be on the hunt for even more Marvel and Disney news, so make sure you stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog for the latest updates and more!

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What do you think of these Marvel announcements? Tell us in the comments.