Is Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom the Hero or Villain of Avengers: Doomsday?

[00:03] >> Marvel Studios tantalized fans by debuting a trailer for Avengers Doomsday at Cineacon, but only for those lucky enough to be in the room where it happened. Fortunately, that trailer has now gone wide, and that means we've all

[00:15] gotten our first real taste of Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Doom. Suffice to say, cape. The new Doomsday trailer doesn't reveal a lot about the plot of the new film. If anything, it raises a bigger question about Doom's role in this

[00:29] multiverse conflict. Is he the hero or the villain here? Is he the Doomsday the Avengers and X-Men are desperate to prevent, or is he our hero's only hope against the coming destruction? Let's take a closer look at this new footage

[00:42] and explore what role Doom seems to be taking in this conflict. Doomsday footage Marvel has released, but it is the first trailer to actually

[00:57] feature Doom himself. All four teaser trailers that were attached to Avatar Fire and Ash focused on the Avengers and X-Men, leaving Doom still shrouded in mystery. But at long last, we finally got a good look at the character and can

[01:11] actually hear his voice. Before this day is done, we shall be faced with an unthinkable decision. pretty close to the comic book source material here, certainly more so than

[01:24] with previous cinematic incarnations of Dr. Doom. He's got the emerald green robes covering the silver almost medieval looking armor. The mask is About the only visual difference we can see here is that Doom's chest is covered

[01:38] by armored plating, whereas in the comics, he usually just has a green flourish seems to be a nod to the work of Secret Wars artist Riich. It's not surprising that a film that's finally giving us the Fox X-Men characters in

[01:53] comics inspired costumes would also opt for a very traditional version of Doom. Lee and Jack Kirby in the early Fantastic 4 comics, it really hasn't changed much over the decades. One thing the trailer doesn't tell us is what

[02:07] Downy's Doom looks like under the mask, which is understandable, as he's Marvel has offered a number of different some of which offer conflicting accounts of what Doom's face looks like. One

[02:21] origin story suggests that Doom forged his mask to hide a single scar only to dawn the mask before it had properly cooled and burned himself irreparably. In the MCU, characters tend to be a little freer about unmasking. In part

[02:35] bucks on these A-list actors just to hide their faces. One would assume the same holds true for Downey and Doomsday and that we'll eventually see him reveal his face to a group of aruck Avengers. As it stands, Doom already showed his

[02:49] postredit scene for the Fantastic 4 First Steps. Franklin, for his part, seemed pretty intrigued by what he saw. The trailer does give us a clear taste of Downy's Doom voice, however. Up till now, it was an open question as to how

[03:04] Downey would handle the voice. Would Doom sound pretty much like an evil version of Tony Stark? Would Downey dust off his trusty British accent from films answer, it seems, is that Downey is opting for something much different and

[03:17] more reflective of Victor von Doom's Eastern European roots, which makes sense since First Steps established that Levaria exists as its own country in Earth 828. Doom may look like Tony Stark, but he seems to have the

[03:30] background and upbringing of the classic Dr. Doom. Downy's Doom voice is quality with a distinctive AustroHungarian accent. Again, that universe Lavaria is supposed to be located. Downy's doom voice reminds us

[03:45] more than a little of the late Henry Kissinger. And we wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that the actor drew inspiration from Kissinger's many speeches in crafting his character. The most striking thing about Doom's voice

[03:57] in the trailer is just how different he sounds from Tony Stark. If Marvel didn't playing this role ahead of time, would anyone realize it was him under the mask? That may be the entire point here. Whatever the real explanation for why

[04:10] Dr. Doom has Tony Stark's face in the film, Doom may be looking to hide that fact from the Avengers until the inevitable grand reveal finally arrives. We can see easily how the Avengers would be none the wiser until Doom is finally

[04:23] be none the wiser until Doom is finally unmasked. about the plot of Avengers Doomsday that we didn't already know. We knew that Doomsday is a multiverse spanning film that centers around the Avengers of

[04:38] that centers around the Avengers of Earth 616, the X-Men of Earth 10005, Earth 616, the X-Men of Earth 10005, and the Fantastic 4 of Earth 828. We see trailer, including several shots confirming the X-Men and Avengers will

[04:51] indeed be battling one another. For example, we see Channing Tatum's Gambit brawling with Simu Leu's Shani and Rebecca Rain's Mystique fighting and impersonating Florence Pew's Yelena Bova.

[05:03] But what the trailer does do is raise new questions about how Doom fits into the overall picture. Is he really the villain of the film, or is there a very least, we get a strong impression

[05:16] Josh Brolan's Thanos. He's a guy doing what he feels he has to for what he sees as the greater good of the universe, [music] or in this case, the multiverse. When we first see Doom in the trailer,

[05:28] he's telling the Avengers something is coming. something we may not be able to deter. Before this day is done, we shall be faced with an unthinkable decision. Doom is almost certainly referring to the incursions, a cosmic phenomenon

[05:41] that's been referenced in past multiverse saga films like 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and 2023's The Marvels. In case you've forgotten, incursions happen when the Earths of two parallel universes start

[05:53] to collide. If one Earth isn't pushed back or destroyed, both universes will die as a result. The incursions are a chain reaction of destruction that is currently rippling across the multiverse. Doom seems to be warning the

[06:06] Avengers that an incursion is coming to destroy [music] Earth 616. Only by making what Doom refers to as an unthinkable decision will Earth's mightiest heroes be able to save their home. They may well have to accept that

[06:19] >> [music] >> And we bet good money that that other world in question is Earth 10005, [music] the home of the Fox X-Men. That seems to be at the root of the conflict between the Avengers and X-Men in the

[06:34] film. Each team is fighting for the fate of their respective Earth. That's why work alongside one another are instead at each other's throats. [music] They don't have the luxury of time or cooperation here. But what is Dune's

[06:48] true aim? Is he helping the Avengers overcome the X-Men? or maybe vice versa. know about the character's origins and true motivations. Is Doom trying to preserve his own Earth here? Which Earth is his true home anyway? Is Doom simply

[07:03] playing both teams against one another for his own benefit? Doom's ultimate goal isn't to save the multiverse so much as make himself

[07:17] master of all existence. In 2015 Secret Wars, Doom confronts the Beyonders, the cosmic gods behind the incursion phenomenon and becomes a god himself. Doom transforms himself into the god emperor of Battleworld, an artificial

[07:30] planet composed of the fragments of dozens of dead realities. Doom may have similar plans in mind here. His goal may be to manipulate the Avengers of Earth be to manipulate the Avengers of Earth 616, the X-Men of Earth 10005,

[07:43] and the Fantastic 4 of Earth 828 as part of a larger plan to achieve ultimate power over reality. It's clear that Doom already has plenty [music] of power to spare in Avengers Doomsday. We hear Chris Hemsworth's Thor urging the

[07:56] Avengers and X-Men to put aside their differences and prepare for the ultimate differences and prepare for the ultimate battle. Thor [music] warns them, >> "We're going to need a miracle." >> We then get a taste of Doom's full might

[08:09] and Doom calmly stops the weapon with his fingers. Bear in mind, this is the weapon that gravely wounded Thanos in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. But it's a trifle for Doom. Doom's mastery over science and sorcery is apparently so

[08:24] great that not even a thunder god stands a chance against him. It's here that the trailer reveals the man who might be the miracle Thor desires. Echoing the climax of 2019's Avengers Endgame, [music] we see Chris Evans's Steve Rogers enter

[08:37] the battlefield, pick up Mjoluer, and tell Thor, "Hey, pal." central to this conflict. In fact, [music] rumors suggest that Steve is the heart of the incursion problem with his decision to elope with Haley Atwell's

[08:51] Peggy Carter in another universe being the root cause of these disasters. If those rumors are true, Steve's happy retirement has come at the price of the very multiverse itself. Rumors also suggest that Doom has a very personal

[09:05] decision. As much as comic fans [music] are used to seeing Doom direct all his rage and hatred toward Reed Richards in the Fantastic 4, it would seem that he has a very different arch nemesis in the MCU. Ironic considering that he has the

[09:19] face of Tony Stark. We also wonder how much Doom's plan involves [music] targeting the children of the Avengers. The first teaser trailer for the film revealed that Steve is now a happy doting father, and the second alludes to

[09:31] Thor's adopted daughter, Love. Meanwhile, this trailer pointedly shows us a glimpse of Katherine Newton's Cassie Lang, reminding us that many of ones to protect. And let's not forget that Doom already confronted the

[09:44] Fantastic 4 and revealed himself to young Franklin Richards. Franklin is speculated to be the source of Doom's god-like power in much the same way Molecule Man was in the Secret Wars comic. But does Doom also have designs

[09:56] on Steve's son and other children like Love and Cassie? Is he stealing the next parents to raise [clears throat] them in his own image? After all, every God emperor needs an error. Let us know your theories about Doom's motivation in the

[10:10] comments below. And for all your MCU needs, keep it locked to IGN.