20 Upcoming Movies That Made INSANE Casting Choices

The world was left shocked when, in July 2024, it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to play supervillain Doctor Doom in the next two Avengers films, Doomsday and Secret Wars.

The fan response was as rational as one might expect, though more than anything there was general confusion over how Downey, who made Tony Stark such an iconic character and had such a terrific MCU send-off, could be coming back to play Doom.

The most likely prospect, of course, is that this version of Doom will be a Tony Stark variant of some kind, but regardless of the how, this is a casting choice that folk have had incredibly strong opinions about for the past 18 months.

And fair enough, really - it's easy to see it as a desperate, cynical ploy to renew flagging interest in the MCU, but at the same time, could the Russo brothers and co. have come up with a genuinely genius way for Downey to embody one of the most iconic Marvel villains?

Either way, we'll know the answer less than a year from now.