Marvel has shared a first look at Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom ahead of the actor’s hotly anticipated return to Avengers.
The Iron Man star made his final appearance as Tony Stark in the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame – but he’ll be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as the entirely new character in Avengers: Doomsday.
The ambitious film is the first half of a two-part Avengers finale and will unite characters from across Marvel’s many universes, including Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, the X-Men, Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh).
Andy Park, Marvel’s former visual department director, has given fans their first look at Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom mask in a piece of concept art.
Posting the art on X, Park – who departed his role after six years in April – said Doomsday was “the final full film I had the honor of leading as Director of Visual Development at Marvel Studios”.
He added: “This illustration commemorates that journey & reveals the characters & their looks for the first time.”
The image also includes a first look at returning X-Men characters Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), Beast (Kelsey Grammer) and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), who Variety reports had not been seen in previously released promotional material.
Tom Hiddleston’s Loki also features in the set, as a mysterious figure in the centre of the picture.
Tony Stark’s death, as he sacrificed himself by using the Infinity Stones to defeat Thanos, was one of the most significant moments in the MCU’s cinematic history.
Marvel went to extreme lengths to keep Iron Man’s exit under wraps until the film arrived in cinemas, famously lying to (frequent accidental blabbermouth) Tom Holland.
The actor previously revealed that he was left feeling confused when he turned up to shoot Stark’s funeral, as the crew had lied about what they would be filming.
He explained during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live: "This is how bad it is for me. I was told it was a wedding. I showed up to the ‘wedding’, and I was like, ‘Where’s Robert?’.”
While Marvel has presumably gone to similarly extreme lengths to keep the Doomsday plot under wraps, a minute-long trailer released in January showed the Fantastic Four travelling to Wakanda to meet Letitia Wright’s Shuri and M’Baku (Winston Duke).
Marvel also confirmed Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor and the X-Men would be returning in short clips released online last December.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in cinemas on 18 December.
