Director of ‘Iron Man 3’ Says Robert Downey Jr. Will Revive the Comic Book Movie Industry as Doctor Doom

Shane Black, the director of Iron Man 3, is sharing his excitement about Robert Downey Jr. stepping into the role of Doctor Doom in Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday.

Speaking with ComicBook while promoting his new film Play Dirty, Black opened up about what he thinks Downey could bring to the part.

Black has been a longtime collaborator with Downey. The two first worked together on the 2005 movie Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang before reuniting for Marvel’s Iron Man 3 in 2013. On top of that, Black has always been a big comic book fan, which makes his take on the casting even more interesting.

“I think he’s going to singlehandedly reinvigorate the entire comic book movie industry with that,” Black told ComicBook.

“I mean, it seemed like at first a cynical idea, you know, ‘Oh, let’s just go back to the well of the one guy that seems to always save us.’ But it’s going to work. It’s really going to work. And he’s brought to it… I’m not at liberty to say anything, not that I know. I’m thrilled because I’m first in line to see that. I haven’t seen all the Marvel movies. I’ll see that one first.” He said.

When Downey was first announced as Doctor Doom, fans didn’t exactly celebrate the news. The reaction online leaned more negative than positive. A lot of that had to do with the fact that the fan-casting community had other favorites in mind for the role, with Cillian Murphy being one of the most popular choices.

Another reason for the backlash was that many fans worried Marvel would end up undoing Iron Man’s legacy in the MCU. Since Downey already defined Tony Stark so strongly, audiences feared it would be hard to separate his Doom from his Iron Man.

On top of that, people saw the casting as Marvel trying to cash in on nostalgia. The studio has made similar choices recently, like bringing back Chris Evans and reuniting the original X-Men, which only fueled that perception.

Still, with a filmmaker like Shane Black this confident in Downey’s performance, the conversation around Doctor Doom may start to shift as the movie gets closer.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!