In a multiverse-melting surprise, Marvel Studios revealed that its most bankable star will be coming out of MCU retirement for a pair of Avengers movies.
Robert Downey Jr. is set to return to the film franchise as classic Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom for the newly titled Avengers: Doomsday, due out in May 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars, bowing in May 2027. Kevin Feige also officially confirmed the Russo bros. will direct these next two Avengers films.
Downey became one of the biggest movie stars in the world after launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008’s Iron Man. His work helped propel the MCU to become the highest grossing film franchise of all time — and he was handsomely rewarded, earning $50 million paydays in the process. Downey retired from the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, in which his character died saving the universe. It’s been a challenge for Marvel to find a protagonist to replace the large hole left by Downey, giving Saturday’s announcement all the more meaning.
“New mask, same task,” Downey told the audience from the stage.
Downey was revealed in an almost religious ceremony as about two dozen olive-robed men with metal, Doctor Doom-like masks walked on stage, joining Feige and the Russo Bros. “If we’re going to bring Victor Von Doom to the screen — he is one of the more complex characters in all of comics … this is potentially one of the more entertaining characters in all of fiction,” said Joe Russo. “If we’re going to do this … then we are going to need the greatest actor in the world.”
The audience, already thoroughly primed over the previous hour of Marvel Hall H frenzy, was on the edge of their seats. He continued, “As proof of the unimaginable possibilities of the Marvel Universe, we give you the one person who could play Victor von Doom…”
Then a masked man in a green suit stepped forward and unmasked himself: Downey, proud, ready for the adulation. Which was instantaneous, as all 6,500-plus people in the audience lost what was left of their minds.
Moments earlier, the Russos were introduced as the directors of these new Avengers films, which they will produce as well as direct.
“That four-movie run was incredible,” said Anthony Russo, after a montage of their films sizzled on screen. “And it left us really spent, with all of our emotions on the floor. In the time since, through a very special story, Joe and I have come to potentially see a road forward with you all.” Joe Russo picked up where his brother left off, adding, “It’s the biggest story that Marvel Comics ever told, it’s the first comic book run that I read as a kid that made me fall in love with comics. It’s the reason why Ant and I are standing up here. And I think you all the know the name of it.” Avengers: Secret Wars title flashed on the big screen.
Stephen McFeely, who co-wrote the Russos’ Marvel movies with Christopher Markus, will write the new Avengers movies. The Russos have long maintained that Secret Wars — which was the title of a pair of 1980s event comics for Marvel — was their dream project. In Secret Wars, an all-powerful being known as The Beyonder transported Marvel’s heroes and villains to a planet called Battle World, where they were forced to fight.
The news marks a creative makeover for the newly titled Avengers: Doomsday, which will come before Secret Wars and serve as Avengers 5.. Feige announced a different Avengers 5 two years ago in Hall H as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. The film would have starred Jonathan Majors as the time-traveling villain Kang, however in December, a New York jury found Majors guilty of harassment and assault of a former girlfriend, which caused Marvel to cut ties with the actor, and necessitated an overhaul of the film.
The move comes amid the record-setting opening weekend for Deadpool & Wolverine, which will easily land the top-opening of all time for an R-rated feature, and which has injected a renewed sense of energy to the MCU.
The Russo Bros.’ return is also notable. They had a record-breaking run with Avengers: Endgame (2019), which for a time topped Avatar as the biggest movie of all time, and they also directed Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018). In the years since, they’ve helmed streaming features such as Cherry and The Gray Man, but are best loved among audiences for their Marvel work.
The Avengers franchise is the crown jewel for Marvel Studios, which built its reputation by achieving what many thought was impossible when it combined the heroes of Iron Man, Captain America and Thor movies for a team-up that became a genre-defining hit in 2012.
Downey is coming off a career high with his first Oscar win earlier this year for his role as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The actor also recently earned an Emmy nomination for HBO’s The Sympathizer.