Marvel Studios changes course by playing it safe

The more things change, the more things stay the same in the world of showbiz because… well, it’s still biz after all. Following a number of commercial and creative flops over the past few years, Marvel Studios and Disney decided to stick to what works – i.e. what makes the most money – by changing course for the next phase of their Cinematic Universe. What was supposed to be a series of interconnected films – intended to roll out in 2024, 2025 and 2026 – eventually leading to a battle across realities between the Avengers and Kang the Conqueror, will now be a series of cameos and two films leading to a similar battle between the Avengers and everyone’s favorite rumored new Marvel villain: Doctor Doom.

Doctor Doom is one of the most iconic villains in comic book history, a complicated character that was originally connected to the Fantastic Four in the 1950s but has since crossed paths with practically every hero team in the Marvel universe – because, make no mistake, it usually takes whole teams of superheroes to face this villain of superior intellect and unfathomable ambition. Doctor Doom will make an appearance in the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps movie (presumably in some other places too) before becoming the Thanos-like threat that the new Avengers will have to address in Avengers 5 and Avengers 6, booked for 2026 and 2027 respectively.

This Marvel Studios choice has been making the rounds as a rumor for some time, ever since it became clear that Disney – having stopped working with Jonathan Majors for the role of Kang the Conqueror, effectively terminating The Kang Dynasty project – wanted to step away from the Kang storyline for the next two Avengers movies. So Doctor Doom becoming the next big threat of the MCU was pretty much expected. What nobody expected was to see a familiar face return for this particular role: Robert Downey Jr., the very actor who billions of people all around the world have watched bringing Tony Stark, the Iron Man, to life for more than 20 years.

This turned out to be a controversial choice that has already divided opinion among Marvel fans. Downey Jr. is a great actor and he would definitely do Doctor Doom justice, but he is too familiar a face in the eyes of many. It’s obviously not the first time that the same actor has played different Marvel characters – the 2005 Human Torch was none other than the 2011 Captain America, for instance – but the face of Tony Stark/Iron Man may be too much of a Marvel Studios symbol to just conveniently recycle. Old-school Marvel fans also seem to believe that a classic villain of Victor Von Doom’s stature deserved a new, distinctive face. Not a rehashed one.

The notion that Marvel Studios would rather play it safe with the next Avengers films – the last two were its biggest earners up until now, let us not forget – is further reinforced by Disney’s directors of choice: Joe and Anthony Russo, who led those two Avengers films plus two Captain America films to success, will be directing both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. On one hand, their creative talent and experience in putting together these massive, complex productions will prove invaluable, so Marvel fans will most likely not be disappointed. On the other hand, this tried-and-true style of storytelling and visuals, dependable but highly predictable, is what got Marvel Studios into trouble in the first place. Here’s hope that the Russos understand this and that they are willing to mix things up a bit.

Marvel Studios plans to release Fantastic Four: First Steps in July 2025, Avengers: Doomsday in May 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars in May 2027. There will have to be a few more Marvel movies and TV shows released between 2024 and 2026 in order to familiarize audiences with all the new Avengers, as the MCU Phase 6 team will differ wildly to the MCU Phase 4 one (it’s currently believed that only Spiderman appears in both). There’s also the MCU introduction of the X-Men to consider, which will have to be pretty much complete by the time Avengers: Secret Wars hits theaters (comic book fans already know why).

There’s little doubt in anyone’s mind that the new direction Marvel Studios is taking with the next Avengers films and the MCU as a whole holds a lot of promise, but if the last five years or so proved anything, is that not everything goes according to plan when it comes to building cinematic universes. Not even for Mighty Marvel.