Robert Downey Jr. was Considered for ‘Fantastic Four’s Doctor Doom Before ‘Iron Man’
The future of both his career and the Marvel Cinematic Universe could have been very different had he landed the earlier role.
Robert Downey Jr. as the man in the metal mask threatening the likes of Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis? According to Jon Favreau, the actor who saw his career skyrocket a few years later with ‘Iron Man’, almost ended up playing Doctor Doom in 2005’s ‘Fantastic Four’.
Fantastic Four
Of course, history ended up going a very different way: Julian McMahon ended up playing Victor Von Doom in Tim Story’s superhero movie and Robert Downey Jr. saw his career skyrocket to new heights playing Tony Stark in the first film Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The revelation came from ‘Iron Man’ director Jon Favreau, who sat down with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige for a video looking back at the making of the 2008 movie.
Says Favreau in the video (which you can watch above),
“I remember you had all met with him already for like Doctor Doom or something on another project. I think he had come through on maybe ‘Fantastic Four,’ so everybody sort of knew who he was.”
Robert Downey Jr. in 'Iron Man 3'
Fantastic future?
It’s fun to speculate on what might have happened with Downey and the ‘Fantastic Four’ movies had he ended up in the role. Would he have made more of an impact than McMahon (who admittedly came back for the sequel)? Almost certainly. Might it have turned those ‘Fantastic Four’ movies into a hugely successful franchise and spared us all the gloomy 2015 reboot? Less certain.
It’s unlikely that Downey Jr. would have enjoyed the same freedom and collaboration that he had with Favreau and the scrappier, still-an-independent company Marvel. Back in 2005, ‘Fantastic Four’ was a tentpole for 20th Century Fox and we doubt the riskier shooting style would have been embraced. In the same video, Favreau opens up about both the re-writing process of the film and how RDJ’s casting unlocked ‘Iron Man’ for him and his team.
Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom / Doctor Doom in 2005's 'Fantastic Four.'
Related Article: ‘Fantastic Four’ Director Matt Shakman Expects 2024 Production Start
Here’s what he says,
“Once it was him, that’s when my life got a lot easier, because he understood. He understood the voice of the character. And then one by one, people were just signing on board because now it became something interesting.”
Downey’s casting was a domino that then led to opportunity to add Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Paul Bettany and more, and the rest, as they say, was history. The MCU was born and would go on to earn more than $29.5 billion at the box office alone.
Had someone else ended up as Tony Stark (historically, Tom Cruise was circling the role years before Marvel’s version), who knows whether the movie would have taken off to the same degree. So perhaps we are living in the best timeline when it comes to that history.
Marvel, of course, is producing its own take on the 'Fantastic Four,' with ‘WandaVision’s Matt Shakman directing and casting rumors flying thick and fast –– currently Margot Robbie, Adam Driver and Paul Mescal are those being talked about, but nothing has been officially confirmed. With Comic-Con next month, we’re expecting to learn more.
Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom / Doctor Doom in 2005's 'Fantastic Four.'
Other Movies Similar to ‘Iron Man' and 'Fantastic Four':
- 'The Fantastic Four' (1994)
- 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer' (2007)
- 'The Incredible Hulk' (2008)
- 'Iron Man 2' (2010)
- 'The Avengers' (2012)
- 'Iron Man 3' (2013)
- ‘Fantastic Four' (2015)
- 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' (2015)
- 'Captain America: Civil War' (2016)
- ‘Avengers: Infinity War' (2018)
- 'Avengers: Endgame' (2019)
- 'Fantastic Four' (2025)
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