Academy Award winner and Hollywood icon Robert Downey Jr.

returns to the MCU in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday. But he won’t be playing Tony Stark. Instead, Downey Jr. will debut as the iconic Marvel supervillain Doctor Doom, with the actor having now teased his MCU comeback in a new image from the set of the Avengers sequel.
Pictured on the set of Avengers: Doomsday, the image shows Robert Downey Jr. sporting the muscles needed to fill out that green cloak and take on the likes of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Sam Wilson’s Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The New Avengers, and The X-Men single-handed. The actor has also had some black dots drawn on his face, which can only mean that some CGI trickery is afoot.

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In the image, Downey Jr. is also shown drawing strength from fellow MCU star Jeremy Renner’s new book, “My Next Breath: A Memoir,” which details the actor’s “gripping and inspiring story” of recovery after being run over by a snowplow. “Reading Renner’s book and feeling stronger already…what a journey to wisdom … very instructive…a must read!” Downey Jr. said in a caption alongside the image.
‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Is Due To Hit Theaters on May 1, 2026

Alongside Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, Avengers: Doomsday will boast a stacked ensemble cast of familiar faces from across the Marvel multiverse. The official cast has now been announced (though there is likely more to come), with several predictable names, such as Anthony Mackie, Chris Hemsworth, and Paul Rudd, being confirmed. However, alongside the ones we all expected, there were several surprises.
Joining Captain America and Thor, several members from Fox’s original X-Men universe will return for the Avengers outing. This includes Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, and James Marsden as Cyclops. Rumors have since claimed that Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom will pit the MCU groups against The X-Men and is thus more of an “Avengers vs. X-Men” movie as opposed to an adaptation of any of Doctor Doom’s comic book arcs.
Directed by Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame’s Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely, Avengers: Doomsday stars a huge ensemble cast that so far includes Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, and Robert Downey Jr.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released on May 1, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars due for release on May 7, 2027, both as part of Phase Six of the MCU. The next phase of the MCU officially begins with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is due to land in theaters on July 25, 2025.