At Comic Con, former Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. star shocked fans when he revealed that he would be the new Doctor Doom, not too long after winning his Oscar. Downey Jr. was met with a wave of screams and claps, but after that died down, questions began to form. Will this be a different universe than Tony Stark? How will they incorporate his very rich origin story? Will the Avengers recognize him as former Iron Man? And what the hell happened to Howard Stern’s role?!
Back in June 2022, Stern might have accidentally let it slip that he was possibly in talks to star as Doom, or some iteration of Doom, or simply a character in a Doom film. While signing off The Howard Stern Show, Stern’s mic briefly stayed live and he mentioned he would be involved in some sort of production about Doctor Doom, and that he was “miserable” about it.
“They’re going over the schedule with me and it’s gonna suck,” Stern said, seemingly unaware that his mic was on. When asked if he was working this summer, Stern replied, “Well, I told you I’m gonna do Dr. Doom. But… believe me, I’m f*cking miserable about it.” So it seems like he wasn’t too happy about it anyway. But then this is where things get interesting: Stern also mentioned calling up Robert Downey Jr. before the mic cut off. Could this have been the phone call that had Downey Jr. consider retuning to the MCU? Or did Stern bribe him to take over the role?
It’s also possible that maybe he was the original Doom, but the MCU has shifted dramatically since then, so we may never know.
There is always a possibility that Stern could appear as a different variant or iteration of Doom. That kind of stuff is much more common these days! Maybe that means Julian McMahon will finally get back on the big screen. One can only hope.
Downey Jr. will star as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday which is slated for a May 2026 release.