We're in the beginnings of a brand new year and, for Marvel Studios fans, it's looking like it will be a stacked one! The most popular franchise is Hollywood history looks to stage the biggest comeback imaginable with two potential billion-dollar phenomenons coming out in 2026, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day arriving this summer and Avengers: Doomsday closing things out in December.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe's history with both Avengers movies and Spider-Man movies is flawless, as all of these respective films have brought in big box office numbers. There's no reason to think that these two won't do the same, especially as there will be some big returns expected from both.
Speaking of which, one return in particular is going to dominate 2026. And now that we're finally in the year, we can officially prepare for the biggest comeback in MCU history.
Robert Downey Jr. officially returns to the MCU this year in Avengers: Doomsday
You know how great it is to finally be able to write that above sentence. Yes, the man who turned the MCU into a global phenomenon is officially coming back to the franchise this year. Robert Downey Jr. is set to lead Avengers: Doomsday but he will do so in the brand new role as the villainous Doctor Doom - a character who fans have been longing to see in the franchise for years.
The announcement was made back at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, during which the Russo Brothers shocked the world by confirming that the formerly titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty had shifted to Avengers: Doomsday, with Downey Jr.''s Doctor Doom taking over as the main villain after the MCU moved away from Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror.
Now that we've officially arrived in 2026, this marks the first year that the legendary actor appears in an MCU movie since his retirement from the franchise in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Well, in an official capacity at least - Doctor Doom made his official debut in the MCU in the post-credits scene of The Fantastic Four: First Steps and, although we didn't see his face, it has been confirmed that the uncredited cameo was indeed Downey Jr.
The star appeared in the first ever Marvel Studios movie, bringing Tony Stark to life in 2008's Iron Man. He would become closely associated with the iconic Marvel hero for over a decade, reprising the role in 2010's Iron Man 2, 2012's The Avengers, 2013's Iron Man 3, 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2016's Captain America: Civil War, 2018's Avengers: Infinity War and 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
Tony died in the final chapter of Endgame when he sacrificed himself by using the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe Thanos out of existence and save the universe. It marked a major turning point for the MCU franchise, which now had to go on without multiple core Avengers who launched the saga in the first place. And it was very much believed that this would be the end of Downey Jr.'s time in the MCU.
However, with a number of misses throughout the Multiverse Saga, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and co. reimagined what Avengers 5 would look like, deciding to make it more of a direct sequel to the previous Avengers movies. Therefore a number of stars who left in Endgame - also including Chris Evans' Steve Rogers / Captain America - will return to continue their story. And that will no doubt make crossing paths with Doom, who looks exactly like Tony Stark, an incredibly powerful moment.
As for how Victor von Doom looks exactly like Tony Stark remains to be seen. The most obvious explanation is that, this being the Multiverse Saga and all, he is simply a variant of Tony from another earth. However, there still seems to be an air of mystery surrounding this, so Marvel Studios might have come up with something different altogether.
Nevertheless, it's going to be a thrill to see RDJ back in the MCU after all this time. Even though it's been out there for some time now, it was always so far off in the distance that it almost felt like it wasn't really going to arrive on the big screen. Even the recent Avengers: Doomsday trailers haven't featured him in any capacity, so the mystery surrounding his return has been maintained.
But 2026 is here, and so is Robert Downey Jr.'s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We can't wait to see it come to fruition on December 18 when Doctor Doom arrives on the silver screen.