In Avengers: Doomsday, Joe Russo insists Doctor Doom shares “zero similarities” with Iron Man
oe Russo isn’t having your Iron Man and Doctor Doom comparisons as Robert Downey Jr. gears up for Avengers: Doomsday.
Speaking to Empire, director Joe Russo cut through months of fan theorizing about Robert Downey Jr.’s Marvel return in Avengers: Doomsday. Asked whether Victor von Doom might be a twisted Tony Stark from another universe, he shut the door on the idea and said Downey isn’t winking at Iron Man in any way.
“Zero similarities,”
Russo said Doom is being built as his own force inside the MCU — a full-on villain and not a multiverse riff on the character Downey played for a decade. That separation, he added, extends to the performance itself.
Not another Stark
Downey performed Doom through performance capture, a process the Russos compared to how Marvel created James Spader’s Ultron and Josh Brolin’s Thanos. Anthony Russo said the actor seemed to have “a lot of the same fun” digging into Doom — but strictly as Doom.
On the page, Victor von Doom has long been one of Marvel’s most formidable antagonists: a brilliant ruler and scientist defined by authority, intellect, and an obsessive need for control. The filmmakers have stressed they want that identity front and center, not a tech-genius echo of Stark.
Why revisit Endgame
Russo has also encouraged fans to rewatch Avengers: Endgame ahead of Avengers: Doomsday, framing the new film as part of the MCU’s ongoing multiverse arc and hinting that Endgame is a useful primer for where things are headed.
Ticketing site Fandango currently spotlights both releases and lists the Doomsday lineup as follows:
- Robert Downey Jr. — Victor von Doom
- Chris Hemsworth
- Anthony Mackie
- Sebastian Stan
- Tom Hiddleston
- Patrick Stewart
- Directors — Joe Russo and Anthony Russo
The studio is timing a big-screen return for the 2019 blockbuster as Avengers: Endgame Encore heads back to theaters on September 25, 2026 .