Julian McMahon, the Doctor Doom actor from the 2000s Fantastic Four movies, has revealed his excitement over Robert Downey Jr.'s take on the role in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
"It's Robert, you know what I mean? What are you going to say? His body of work speaks for itself. He's a super talented guy. I love watching his work," McMahon told Screen Rant.
McMahon pointed to his time on the Fantastic Four series as operating in a very different environment to the monolithic MCU system under Kevin Feige.
Back then, it appears the idea of what the Fox-produced series was going to be was rapidly changing – not a problem for Marvel Studios as it gets set to commence Marvel Phase 6.
"When we did the movies years ago, we were at the [precipice] of all that stuff happening. So, we were finding our way a lot, and we were trying to figure out what space the movie itself lived in," McMahon commented. "Was it a kid's movie? Was it a family movie? Was it more comedy-driven, or was it more trauma-driven? We were trying to find all that stuff as we were shooting."
McMahon added, "If you've got Robert Downey Jr, who's one of the great creatives of the last however many years we've been watching him for, mixed with the elements of how we can make movies these days? I think it's going to be pretty extraordinary."
McMahon played Doctor Doom, AKA Victor von Doom, in 2005's Fantastic Four and 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The character appeared in the 2015 movie but, since then, his on-screen presence has remained dormant in live action – until Robert Downey Jr.'s surprise reveal that he would return to the MCU not as Iron Man, but as Latveria's leader.
Downey Jr. is set to appear as Doctor Doom in next year's Avengers: Doomsday and 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars alongside the currently-confirmed cast of Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four. Potentially leaked concept art suggests a new Avengers team, including Kate Bishop and Ms. Marvel, will be formed to stop an impending Doom-shaped threat.
There's even talk of Robert Downey Jr showing up in some capacity during this year's Fantastic Four – but nothing has been confirmed as of writing. Besides, he's probably busy writing some more Doom backstory.
For more, check out the upcoming Marvel movies coming your way very soon. Then catch up on all things MCU with the Marvel timeline and our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
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