Less than a minute of footage is all it took to quell fans' worries about Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. Downey's casting as Doom took the comic-book movie world by storm in 2024, as he returns to the MCU seven years after his monumental sacrifice as Iron Man in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. A key part of this casting is the potential connection between his two characters, which has been a major talking point amongst fans for over two years.
To this point, Marvel Studios has shared just under a minute of Avengers: Doomsday footage featuring Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor Von Doom in trailers. While fans have heard Downey use a very different accent from the one he used as Iron Man, the trailers have all had one consistent factor: none of the shots of Doctor Doom show him without his iconic metal mask.
The closest the footage has come to showing any part of Downey's face has been a couple of close-up shots of his eyes, which have been changed from his usual dark brown to a bright green.
When Downey was announced to be playing Doom, many fans were worried that he would simply be used as a multiversal gimmick and that the movie would focus heavily on his face and star power after spending 11 years playing Iron Man. However, this would be in direct conflict with one of Doom's biggest character traits, as he is known to never remove his mask in the comics for any reason whatsoever.
Not shown at all in the first four trailers, Doom made his first appearance in publicly released footage in the trailer that was released just before San Diego Comic-Con 2026 in July. Along with the Latverian accent Downey employs, these trailers provide a tease of just how powerful he will be in the MCU, including stopping a swing from Thor's Stormbreaker axe with only two fingers.
Also of note amidst this trailer footage is one of the post-credits scenes from the re-release of Avengers: Endgame, which was officially titled Avengers: Endgame Encore. This release included four new post-credits scenes, one of which paid homage to the moment when Tony Stark first forged the original mask for his Mk. 1 Iron Man suit.
Using the same sounds fans heard when Tony hammered out the kinks in his mask (which were also heard at the end of Avengers: Endgame's original release), this scene changes the moment and features Doom as the main character. Quick flashes show Doom pulling his mask from a liquid before the footage cuts to him wearing it under his green hood.
While this is unquestionably a nod to the fact that Downey plays both Iron Man and Doom, it is the first bit of footage that makes any sort of connection between the two characters in the MCU.
Will Robert Downey Jr's Face Be Shown in his Doctor Doom Portrayal?
With concerns rising about Marvel Studios' choice to bring back Downey after his 11-year tenure as Iron Man, it appears the team behind Doomsday is making a conscious effort for his portrayal of Doom. All signs thus far point to the movie offering no more than a subtle hint that Stark and Doom are played by the same actor, at least from what has been shown in the trailers.
Also notable about Doom's portrayal is that the movie will include key members of his family, starting with his mother, Cynthia. Rumors have indicated that he could also be depicted as having a wife and children, which may add to his motivation to want the multiverse destroyed if they are part of what he loses in his backstory.
All this considered, any potential ties between Tony Stark and Doctor Doom are unlikely to be fully revealed until Doomsday is released in theaters on December 18. Even so, Doom is going to play a massive role in the movie as its central character, likely unleashing all kinds of hell on multiple dimensions once he rises to full power.
