Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom has the potential to be the most powerful live-action villain of all time when he fights the MCU’s Avengers in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will provide a conclusion to the MCU’s Phase 6 and the Multiverse Saga as a whole. One of the most anticipated details about Phase 6’s two-part event is the introduction of Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, who will fill the role of the Multiverse Saga’s main antagonist and will mark the first time Robert Downey Jr. plays a Marvel character not called Iron Man.

In Phase 6, Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom will replace Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror in the role of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars‘ main villain after Jonathan Majors’ 2024 conviction and subsequent firing. Where Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom comes from and what his motivations are is still unknown given that the announcement of his arrival at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 was a complete surprise for fans. However, Doctor Doom could be aspiring to become God Emperor Doom, master of the multiverse, and Avengers: Doomsday could be the first step in the villain’s plan to become the ruler of all Marvel timelines.

Doctor Doom Has A Perfect Excuse To Kill Many MCU Avengers In Doomsday And Secret Wars

The Whole MCU Might Go Through A Multiverse-Wide Reboot In Avengers: Secret Wars

Due to the multiversal nature of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the likelihood of the Multiverse Saga’s conclusion leading to a franchise-wide reboot is quite high. Marvel Comics’ 2015 storyline Secret Wars, which will probably inform Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, directly led to the restructuring of the entire Marvel Comics multiverse. More importantly, the Multiverse Saga’s overarching story has repeatedly hinted at a Multiversal War that will affect all existing timelines, with clues spread across тιтles such as Loki season 1 and season 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Taking the probability of an MCU multiverse into account, Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom could easily display his power by killing several major heroes in Avengers: Secret Wars. Multiple Avengers could sacrifice their lives to stop Doctor Doom and save the multiverse. Once the imminent reboot comes, Marvel Studios could introduce a new streamlined universe where new variants of those heroes are alive again. The original heroes’ deaths would still be definitive, but it wouldn’t take long for new variants to replace them, similar to the original Loki’s death in Avengers: Infinity War and a new Loki variant’s redemption in Loki.

Secret Wars Might Be The Last Chance To Kill Off Several Avengers For Good

Many MCU Actors Could Retire On A High Note In Avengers: Secret Wars

Marvel characters have it difficult when it comes to final send-offs, as it’s very easy for future stories to put them back in action. Even death tends to be temporary for most heroes and villains, both in the comics and in live-action movies and shows. A franchise-wide multiversal MCU reboot could be a more definitive method, and Avengers: Secret Wars provides an opening. A heroic sacrifice could allow multiple Marvel actors to conclude their MCU journey with a bang and without leaving any loose ends. The Avengers’ deaths at the hands of Doctor Doom would prove how powerful he really is.

MCU characters who have either tried to retire or have come close to sacrificing their lives for the greater good could achieve their goals in Avengers: Secret Wars. Heroes like Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk have wanted to live a peaceful life after all their adventures, and characters like Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange have repeatedly put their lives on the line. Their deaths would be momentous events in the MCU’s history before a reboot replaces them with new variants.

Doctor Doom Killing The Avengers Could Make Him A Better Final Villain Than Kang

Doctor Doom Could Do What Kang Says He Did

In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror revealed to Scott Lang that he killed countless Avengers in numerous timelines — so many that Kang forgot which Avengers met their end at his hands. Shortly after, Ant-Man and his family defeated and probably killed Kang the Conqueror. In Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, Doctor Doom’s actions could speak louder than Kang the Conqueror’s words if Doctor Doom actually kills multiple Avengers on-screen. New variants of those heroes could return in Phase 7, but seeing beloved heroes fall before Doctor Doom could crown him as the most powerful Marvel villain ever.

Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom doesn’t have to kill as many Avengers variants or destroy as many timelines as Kang the Conqueror says he did in order to make a bigger impact. A villain’s raw power isn’t directly proportional to their appeal, as many MCU antagonists have already proved. For instance, Loki, Killmonger, and Green Goblin are nowhere near as powerful as Ultron, Surtur, and the Deviants, but they’re certainly more interesting characters due to how well-written and well portrayed they are. The on-screen deaths of fan-favorite Avengers would be more significant than the off-screen deaths of the countless Avengers Kang allegedly killed.

The Avengers’ Deaths Would Justify Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom Casting

Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom May Have Little Time To Leave A Mark

Robert Downey Jr.’s MCU return will be a big event in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. What will happen to Doctor Doom in Phase 6 is unknown, but considering how he’s set to be the Multiverse Saga’s equivalent of Josh Brolin’s Thanos, Doctor Doom is likely to be defeated. Robert Downey Jr. seems unlikely to be playing Doctor Doom for the long run, both because it would risk tarnishing his Iron Man legacy and because he’s an incredibly expensive actor. So, if the MCU goes through a reboot, Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom could also be replaced with a new variant.

In that case, in order to counterbalance Robert Downey Jr.’s brief time as Doctor Doom, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars could give Downey Jr.’s villain the honor of killing multiple heroes, or having him force multiple Avengers to sacrifice their lives to stop him. This would also flip Iron Man’s ultimate sacrifice against Thanos. When a new variant of Doctor Doom arrives after the MCU’s potential reboot, a new actor could play a version of Doctor Doom who shows off his might by tormenting the world’s heroes through various ways that don’t necessarily involve killing them or threatening the whole multiverse.

Upcoming MCU Movies

• 
  
  

  
  

  Captain America: Brave New World

  
  
  

  Release Date

  
  February 14, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  Powered by

  
  

  
  Expand
  Collapse
  

• 
  
  

  
  

  Thunderbolts*

  
  
  

  Release Date

  
  May 2, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  Powered by

  
  

  
  Expand
  Collapse
  

• 
  
  

  
  

  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

  
  
  

  Release Date

  
  July 25, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  Powered by

  
  

  
  Expand
  Collapse
  

• 
  
  

  
  

  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  Powered by

  
  

  
  
  Expand
  Collapse
  

• 
  
  

  
  

  Spider-Man Homecoming 4

  
  
  

  Release Date

  
  July 24, 2026
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  Powered by

  
  

  
  Expand
  Collapse
  

• 
  
  

  
  

  Avengers: Secret Wars

  
  
  

  Release Date

  
  May 7, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  Powered by

  
  

  
  Expand
  Collapse