Doctor Doom's goal may not be as villainous as it seems, according to star Robert Downey Jr. The Marvel villain is set to make his debut as the MCU's next big bad in Avengers: Doomsday, with Downey Jr. switching sides from his previous role with the Avengers as Iron Man, to now serving as the antagonistic Victor von Doom. While Doctor Doom is shaping up to be one of the biggest threats the Avengers have ever faced, Marvel Studios has a penchant for making its villains understandable, and the same can be said for RDJ's new character.
Doctor Doom has certainly been positioned as the villain in all of the marketing for Avengers: Doomsday so far, although Downey Jr. sees things a little differently. In a new Instagram post sharing the latest poster for Avengers 5, Downey Jr. wrote, "Nothing gets fixed gently." This reinforces the main theory regarding Doctor Doom's goal in the movie, which is that he wants to fix the Multiverse - by whatever means necessary.
Downey Jr.'s phrasing from his character's perspective makes it clear that Doom's work isn't evil in his eyes; he's doing it for a greater good. Doom's goal of fixing the Multiverse would seem to be an effort to prevent incursions, catastrophic events that can wipe out entire universes.
While stopping incursions is something everyone would seemingly support, it seems Doom's methods may be what brings him into conflict with the Avengers and make him the villain.
The reason Doctor Doom's so hellbent on achieving his goal has been hinted at in Avengers: Doomsday's trailers. In the newest trailer, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) can be heard recounting how Victor "used to be different," adding that he was "kind" and "caring," before "everything he loved was taken from him."
At the same time, visuals of Doom looking at a portrait of a woman and child, likely his wife and son, are shown. This insinuates that Doom losing his wife and child is related to whatever is wrong with the Multiverse.
The prevailing theory here is that Steve Rogers' decision to go back in time in Avengers: Endgame and live out his life with Peggy Carter caused a ripple effect that has consequences throughout the Multiverse, and this could be what killed Doom's wife and child. Doom is later heard in the trailer threatening the Avengers for their actions, saying, "All of you have lived stolen lives, but now you must give them back." This also reinforces the notion that Doom is looking to restore the Multiverse, with an intention of righting what the Avengers have wronged.
Doom's goal seems heroic from that perspective, as he is motivated to fix the Multiverse by whatever means necessary so that no one else experiences the tragedy he did. But if Steve Rogers is the cause of his tragedy, then that puts the former Captain America directly in Doom's crosshairs, and his attempts to kill Steve and potentially the Avengers' entire universe would make him the villain to all.
All will be revealed when Avengers: Doomsday is released in theaters on December 18, 2026. Along with Downey Jr., the Russo Brothers return to direct the fifth Avengers movie, with MCU stars Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Paul Rudd, and many more reprising their roles.
Doctor Doom's Villainy Has Heroic Motivations
When it comes to the villains in Marvel Studios' films, particularly those directed by the Russos, their villainous actions are always grounded in relatable or understandable circumstances.
The MCU set up a similar conundrum with its last big villain, Thanos, in the Infinity Saga. While the Avengers sought to stop Josh Brolin's character from uniting the Infinity Stones to wipe out half the universe, Avengers: Infinity War explained that Thanos had his own good reasons for seeking this outcome, having been traumatized by the death of his homeworld due to overpopulation.
In Thanos' eyes, halving the population through the use of the Infinity Stones was a fair and necessary means to ensure the survival of the rest of the universe, but from the opposite side, he was conducting mass genocide that resulted in the loss of millions of loved ones.
Now with Victor von Doom, the Russo Brothers are once again grounding their main villain in relatability. Doom's actions are motivated by the loss of those he loves, and in his eyes, the Avengers have done wrong by messing with the Multiverse. But from the Avengers' point of view, Doom threatens all of them and their loved ones, so he has to be stopped.
