A new rumor surrounding Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom suggests that the actor might retire from portraying the big bad villain in the MCU after making a possible last appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars. The announcement of Robert Downey Jr.’s comeback in the MCU as Doctor Doom came at the Comic-Con in San Diego in July 2024. The reveal was made by none other than the director duo, the Russo Brothers. They are also making a return to Marvel Studios to direct the upcoming and highly-anticipated Avengers movies.
Could Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom leave MCU after Avengers: Secret Wars saga?
Following the firing of Jonathan Majors, who was playing Kang the Conqueror in Phase 5 of MCU’s Multiversal Saga, Marvel Studios were burdened with the task of bringing a big bad for the upcoming Avengers movies.
Thus came the unexpected arrival of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, which surprised the whole fandom. After portraying the role of Iron Man in the MCU for almost a decade, the Oscar-winning actor has now decided to wear the green cape to play the role of a memorable MCU villain. His appearances are confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, with rumors of him being in Fantastic Four going around.
However, a scooper recently suggested that RDJ might leave the MCU after playing Doctor Victor Von Doom in Secret Wars. Recently, the scooper DanielRPK was asked about rumors of Downey making only two appearances in the MCU. To this, they replied on X ( formerly Twitter), “He’s not just set for two appearances. He’ll be in Fantastic Four and potentially some other projects between Doomsday and Secret Wars. But yeah, once the saga wraps up, that’ll likely be it for him.”
Furthermore, there are no statements by Marvel boss Kevin Feige and Robert Downey Jr. about his retirement as Doctor Doom. Meaning that, this is just a rumor as of writing.