Robert Downey Jr. has finally explained how his Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) comeback came to be.
The Iron Man actor appeared on Tuesdayโs episode of The Hollywood Reporterโs โAwards Chatterโ podcast and confirmed that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige convinced him to return to the MCU as the notorious villain Doctor Doom.
Despite his character, Tony Stark, being dead, the 59-year-old actor shared, โSusan [Downey] and I were sitting down with Feige at one point, and he said, โIt just keeps occurring to me that if you were to come back,โ and Susan was like, โWait, come back as what?โโ
Downey Jr. recalled how he and Feige discussed the challenges of a potential return, asking themselves, โHow can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to beat expectations?โ
โAnd then he brought up Victor Von Doom,โ Downey continued. โI looked into this character. Later on, he said, โLetโs get Victor Von Doom right.โโ
Theย Sherlock Holmesย star explained that things became official after he and Feige met with Bob Iger at the Disney CEOโs home. Downey Jr. had already been planning to meet with Iger to discuss contributing to the companyโs parks and location-based entertainment.
โI donโt know how to describe that experience,โ Downey Jr. said. โIโve had a lot of really cool experiences. We go to Igerโs pad, and we sit down. I start saying, โI just really want to beโฆ,โ and he goes, โI like it.โ He likes it.โ
Iger then invited both the Oscar-winning actor and Feige to Disneyโs Imagineering Campus, which all but sealed the deal.
โ[We] go to the Imagineering Campus, and you want to talk about two guys that are not easy to have their minds blown, let alone at the same timeโI canโt say too much about [it], but what is going on there right now is so beyond my expectation of what was possible,โ he teased.
Downey Jr. shocked Marvel fans when he revealed his Doctor Doom role at Comic-Con last month.
โNew mask, same task,โ he said during his big Comic-Con debut. โWhat can I say, I like playing complicated characters.โ
Downey Jr. will be portraying Doctor Doom in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, set to be released in May 2026.