Robert Downey Jr.: Playing Doctor Doom felt "weird and isolating"

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Robert Downey Jr. has opened up about returning to the MCU as a new character, and he's admitted it was quite an isolating process.

Speaking after the Marvel SDCC 2026 panel , where new footage from the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday debuted , Downey Jr. was asked about the throughline between Iron Man and Victor Von Doom.

"I mean there's the science thing and they're considered pretty brilliant guys but Tony had the trauma that turned him into a hero and Doom has got the exact opposite to where it takes the prowess of all of these folks to go up against him," he explained to Entertainment Weekly . "It was a joy to pull [off]. It was really weird being on the other side of a bad guy mask because it's just such an isolated vibe, and I'm seeing them all socialise and I'm the enemy."

His Avengers co-star Chris Evans, who is returning as Steve Rogers in the Marvel Phase 6 movie, said working on the film reminded him of the original Avengers movie.

"I would find myself during that movie watching. You're in the scene but then you're like, 'Robert Downey Jr.'s playing Tony Stark' and 'Oh fuck, I have a line,'" he added to the publication. "And on this one I felt that a little bit again, just kind of watching you do this thing that I couldn't wait to see."

Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026 and sees a whole host of major stars return. Alongside the original Avengers like Thor and Rogers, the cast of Thunderbolts, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, and the Fox X-Men movies all star as well.

The official synopsis is pretty vague at the moment, reading: "Heroes from three different worlds must unite when they're thrust together to confront a catastrophic danger that could destroy everything they know." However, we did see some of the epic action in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer .

For more, check out everything that happened at SDCC 2026 in our San Diego Comic-Con 2026 live coverage as well as checking out our breakdown of all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way.