It Took Over 2 Years, But Doctor Doom Finally Feels Like The MCU's Big Bad

Published Nov 15, 2026, 8:56 AM EST

Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release.

He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years.

In July 2024, Marvel Studios dropped a bombshell: Doctor Doom was coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and former Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. was going to play him. The news came as part of the unveiling of a revamped plan for the fifth Avengers, now known as Avengers: Doomsday, with Anthony and Joe Russo officially confirmed to direct it and the sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars.

Fast-forward over two years, and Avengers: Doomsday is just one month away from hitting theaters on December 18, 2026. Audiences around the world have gotten a Doom-heavy marketing campaign, one that has shown his impressive power level by easily stopping Thor's attack with Stormbreaker and teased the multiverse-destroying plan he's part of.

However, there has long been a feeling that Doom's arrival has been rushed and poorly set up. Marvel previously spent the better part of a decade setting up Thanos to be the Infinity Saga's ultimate big bad. Victor Von Doom hasn't received the treatment, with RDJ's casting coming as the Multiverse Saga was already reaching its end, and his first appearance coming only a year before he'll fight the Avengers, Thunderbolts, X-Men, and Fantastic Four.

While it may have come later in the game than desired, Marvel has fixed the MCU's Doctor Doom setup, seeding him into multiple projects ahead of Avengers: Doomsday. The result is making him finally feel like the big bad that the Multiverse Saga's conclusion needs and has been building to.

Marvel's Late Pivot From Kang To Doctor Doom Hurt Avengers: Doomsday's Setup

It's difficult to fully fault Marvel for the lack of build-up to Doctor Doom and Avengers: Doomsday's storyline throughout the Multiverse Saga. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige may argue that Doom has been part of the saga's plans for longer than it seems, but even if that is the case, he wasn't meant to fight the Avengers this quickly.

Avengers 5 was originally going to have Kang the Conqueror as the villain. Jonathan Majors was introduced as He Who Remains in Loki season 1 as a way to build to this eventuality, with his role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania really pushing him into a spot to be the franchise's overarching foe. This was meant to lead to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, and have a newer group of heroes battle the Council of Kangs.

But Marvel had to trash these plans once Jonathan Majors' allegations came to light. They officially fired him from the role in December 2023 after he was found guilty of misdemeanor third-degree assault and second-degree harassment against his ex-girlfriend. Rather than recast Kang, Marvel elected to move on from the multiversal villain entirely, shifting its focus to Doom.

As a result, the MCU's big picture changed. Deadpool & Wolverine couldn't have teased Doom without spoiling RDJ's San Diego Comic-Con announcement. The MCU's 2025 movies each had teases for Avengers: Doomsday, but most didn't have any concrete connections to Doom due to a lack of time. Criticisms that the build-up was lacking are understandable, but it's not like Marvel was completely mishandling things.

Doctor Doom Being Avengers: Doomsday's Villain Has Proper Build-Up Now

The studio has instead now taken advantage of a few opportunities to feature Doom before he fights the Avengers. The result is him actually feeling like a villain who has been lurking in the franchise all this time and directly impacting the multiverse ahead of Doomsday.

It all started with The Fantastic Four: First Steps' post-credits scene, which marked his MCU debut. He was seen in the Baxter Building on Earth-828 visiting with a young Franklin Richards as Sue Storm entered the room. The appearance initially sparked beliefs that Doom was there to kidnap Franklin and use his incredible powers to conquer the multiverse.

Given the rest of the MCU's slate before Doomsday, there was no guarantee that audiences would see him again outside of the blockbuster's marketing campaign. That's proven not to be the case, with Avengers Endgame: Encore's new scenes delivering another major Doom appearance. He is featured, off-screen, in one sequence collecting Hulk after Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The final scene is of Victor forging his metal mask.

Marvel delivered one final Doom appearance through a surprise VisionQuest post-credits scene. He is seen lifting the rubble of Mount Wundagore so he can resurrect Scarlet Witch. In what should be his final appearance ahead of Avengers: Doomsday, Doom has now become connected to some of the biggest MCU characters and events, increasing the idea that he's truly the big bad of this saga.

Doctor Doom Has Even Tied Thanos' MCU Appearance Record Before Fighting The Avengers

The VisionQuest cameo gives Doom three appearances of some form in the MCU before he becomes an Avengers villain. That's notable because it's exactly as many appearances as Thanos had before he came face-to-face with the MCU's biggest characters in Avengers: Infinity War.

The key difference here is timing. Thanos had three appearances across four years before taking a two-year hiatus ahead of being Infinity War's main character. All three of Doom's MCU appearances have come in 16 months, with the last one happening just over one month before he really becomes the focus.

As a result, Thanos has been the prime example of how the MCU can build to an overall villain. Until recently, there would be no room to debate that Marvel Studios did better at setting up Doom over a shorter amount of time than they did interweaving Thanos into the larger narrative. But with them now having the same number of appearances before taking on the Avengers, Doom has become superior.

Doctor Doom's MCU Setup Is Better Than Thanos'

For all the credit Marvel gets for delivering on the 2012 promise that Thanos would one day fight the Avengers, the Mad Titan's appearances were far less clear in how they set up the Infinity Stone-seeking villain.

His debut was just a smile, with the suggestion that he'd court Death not going anywhere. Guardians of the Galaxy gave him some more defined characterization (as well as a new design and actor in Josh Brolin), but his motive and plan were less defined. Seeing him put on the Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Age of Ultron's post-credits tease was exciting, yet it didn't really give us any new insights into the character; Infinity War even retconned the scene by explaining how and where Thanos got the giant glove.

The less concrete approach to setting up Thanos makes sense considering how far out Marvel was teasing him. They didn't want to establish anything that forced their hand when it came to him fighting the Avengers, so vague scenes meant just to build hype versus introduce the character were the move.

That's the benefit of Doom's setup coming so much later and closer to Avengers: Doomsday. These scenes have all come with full knowledge of his role in the Phase 6 event films and the direction his story is going. Seeing him collect Hulk and Scarlet Witch is infinitely more insightful than anything Thanos did before Infinity War.

Now, the question is whether Doctor Doom will prove to be an equally great or even better villain than Thanos once Avengers: Doomsday comes out. The multiple appearances and display of his powers in them suggest its possible, so hopefully RDJ and the Russos deliver.

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  Victor von Doom

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  Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic

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  Thor

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  Vanessa Kirby

  Sue Storm / Invisible Woman