Everyone has been asking Robert Downey Jr. To return to the Marvel Cinematic UniverseAnd now he is… but not as Iron Man.
At its big San Diego Comic-Con panel, Marvel Studios confirmed that the next film in the Avengers The franchise is Avengers: Judgement Day — The Avengers (and the Fantastic Four, apparently) against Doctor Doom. And the role of Doctor Doom in the film will be played by none other than Robert Downey Jr.
You can watch (and hear) the reaction to Downey’s revelation below.
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Downey isn’t the only person returning for Avengers 5 neither. Marvel confirmed at the panel that Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers Endgame — will return to direct both Avengers: Judgement Day and its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars.
The news marks a radical change of plans for the film from what Marvel had initially planned. Marvel formally announced Avengers 5 Two years ago, at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. At the time, the film was titled Avengers: The Kang Dynastyindicating that the film would focus on the time-traveling villain Kang, played by Jonathan Majors.
But then Majors got into trouble with the law and Marvel fired him in December 2023. Marvel quietly dropped him. The Kang Dynasty subtitle of the film and began simply referring to the film informally as Avengers 5. During this period, the film also lost its original director, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ Destin Daniel Cretton. Clearly, it’s a completely different project now.
Avengers: Judgement Day It is scheduled for launch on May 1, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars It is scheduled to take place on May 7, 2027. (It may be worth noting that in the Secret Wars In the comics from a few years ago, the main villain is… Doctor Doom.) I suspect people will suddenly be a lot more interested in both movies.
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