Robert Downey trades Iron Man film role for Doctor Doom

USA Today reported from the SDCC on what's simply no longer exciting news regarding Marvel live action movies:

Robert Downey Jr. is back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and wearing armor again. But he's not Iron Man anymore.

Marvel had already won Comic-Con with a raucous screening of “Deadpool & Wolverine” at the pop-culture convention. Then the studio pulled its best surprise at a panel Saturday night: Downey will play the villainous Victor Von Doom in two upcoming "Avengers" movies, "Avengers: Doomsday" (in theaters May 2026) and "Avengers: Secret Wars" (May 2027).

Fans also got to see new footage from three movies with release dates in 2025: “Captain America: Brave New World” (Feb. 14) starring Anthony Mackie; the supergroup film “Thunderbolts” (May 5), with returning MCU veterans Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh and David Harbour; and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” (July 25) headlined by Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby.

Gee, I'm not sure at this point why we should care that a notable actor is swapping a heroic role for a villainous one. Nor why we should even care a series like Thunderbolts is coming to silver screen, even if the premise from the late 1990s was that several villains were trying to redeem themselves. That in itself is admirable, but still doesn't compensate for how heroism's been dealt a damaging blow in entertainment lately.

And again, Pascal's proven he's not reason to watch the new FF movie in preparation.