It’s that special time of year when the nerds of the world collectively gather in San Diego to experience the one, the only San Diego Comic Con. And every year the Con surprises us, especially with the random appearances at pannels. Like Kurt Russel steeping in to throw the Ravengers out of the Guardians Pannel, or Loki demanding we all bow to him. But this year’s announcement of Robert Downey Jr. coming back to play Doom had Hall H in an uproar.

This isn’t RDJ’s first time stealing the show at SDCC. There is, of course, his famous entrance Iron Man 3 entrance, but this time round, he went for something more dramatic.

So RDJ is our new Dr Doom and I’m wondering, is this a good idea?

So in this article I want to take a look at the pros and cons of this situation.

Avengers: Doomsday is set for 2026. This is the new working title for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. The film has had a change in writer and now has The Russo Brothers directing. Kang is out and Doom is in.

So is this good or bad?

Moving away from Jonathan Majors is definitely good, but did they need to move away from Kang?

Personally recasting Kang with David Washington would have been a good choice. In my opinion, he is a great actor and could have brought a more subtle energy to the role. But at the same time Kang as a character has left a bitter taste in people’s mouths so maybe putting him on the back burner is a good idea.

What about everything Marvel have built up too?

Well, phases 4 and 5 were all about Kang. We have two seasons of Loki and an Ant-Man film. So, are these phases really all about Kang, or could they now be about a world struggling for meaning without its mightiest hero.

How will this Dr Doom work?

We frankly, I see two options.

1. He is a variant who is his universe version of Iron Man. Thus explaining the same actor. But this forces the MCU back into more multiverse shenanigans, and audiences may not want that.

2. Doom never removes his mask, thus allowing RDJ to play both roles. If this is the case, then where has Doom been this whole time?

Is bringing RDJ back a good idea?

Well maybe not, because now it looks like the MCU is once again anchoring themselves on RDJ and this is not healthy for growth.

But on the other hand. RDJ helped bring this franchise to life, and if you are not seeing his face, then maybe this could be a good thing. After seeing his work as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer and also his work in the Sympathiser, I feel like he can really bring a menacing tone to Doom, which few can.

Overall, I’m choosing to be positive about this.