Robert Downey Jr.’s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe—not as Iron Man/Tony Stark (RIP), but as Doctor Doom in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday—was one of the biggest bombshells to emerge from San Diego Comic-Con. And while money was certainly a factor in the reunion between studio and star, Downey recently explained there were other key reasons too: his deep ties with the bosses at Marvel and Disney, and his appreciation for Disney’s advancements in filmmaking technology.
“[Kevin Feige] and I have kept in touch. We’re pals. [Jon] Favreau and Feige and I have kept in touch. I’m close with the Russo Brothers; we have other business we’re doing. So there’s this little kind of group of fellow travelers,” Downey explained on the Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast. “And I had this instinct that I wanted to go to Bob Iger, and I had an idea outside of the [Marvel] Cinematic Universe for how I could be of service to what’s going on in the parks and all their location-based entertainment.”
But before that meeting, Downey recalled, he and his wife and producing partner Susan Downey were chatting with Feige, and the Marvel boss brought up the idea of Downey returning to the MCU. “Susan was like, ‘Wait, come back as what?’ And I was like [speechless confusion]? And then we both realized over time that it was another thing that just disproves any doubt anyone could ever have about that guy—a very sophisticated creative thinker—about how can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to beat expectations? And he brought up Victor Von Doom.”
Intrigued, Downey took a look at Victor Von Doom as a character. “I was like, ‘wow.’” he recalled. “Later on, [Feige] goes, ‘Let’s get Victor Von Doom right. Let’s get that right.’ So then I said to Kevin, ‘Can I go talk to Bob Iger?’ He goes, ‘About [what]?’ I go, ‘About everything.’ And I [went] to Bob’s house, which—I don’t know how to describe that experience. I’ve had a lot of really cool experiences. We go to Iger’s pad and we sit down and start saying, ‘I just really want to be…’ He goes, ‘I like it.’ He likes it,” Downey said. Then, Iger invited Feige and Downey to visit Disney’s Imagineering Campus, Disney’s research and development hub.
“[We] go to the imagineering campus, and you want to talk about two guys that they’re not easy to have their minds blown, let alone at the same time—I can’t say too much about [it], but what is going on there right now is so beyond my expectation of what was possible,” he teased. “It’s also the only way that I felt like I can give a certain entertainment-seeking audience something that they may have a hankering to have an experience of, in a way where I can continue to develop my interest in the future of entertainment … so it’s this crazy, weird thing that’s going on.”
Mysterious—but also intriguing! Perhaps we’ll realize what he’s hinting at here when the Russo Brothers-directed Avengers: Doomsday arrives May 1, 2026.
Listen to the Hollywood Reporter’s full Downey interview, in which he also shares memories of being cast as Iron Man nearly two decades ago, right here.
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