Despite the rumors, the SDCC announcement that Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom after playing Tony Stark for over a decade came as a surprise to fans – as well as quite a few of his co-stars.
It seems Downey Jr. and Kevin Feige attempted to keep things under wraps by telling as few people as possible, with Brie Larson recently revealing that she was completely taken aback by the news after speaking with the Marvel Studios boss just before Comic-Con.
Gwyneth Paltrow also responded to RDJ’s Instagram post with confusion, and Florence Pugh seemed completely gobsmacked when asked about the Doom development in a video interview.
Now, Jeremy Renner has revealed that he never heard a thing, despite being part of an active group chat with RDJ and the other original Avengers.
“I had no idea. The son of a bitch didn’t say anything to me,” the Hawkeye actor tells US Weekly. “We’re good friends. There’s the Avengers family chat. The original six. He said not a peep. I got online and started blowing up his phone like, ‘What’s going on? You’ve been hiding this from us the whole time?’ It’s exciting news. I’m really, really excited about it.”
Renner was also asked about potentially reprising the role of Clint Barton for the next Avengers films, and it sounds like he’s definitely in – even if he’s not quite ready to make it official.
“You got Downey back in the mix, you got the Russo Brothers back in the mix. This is a direction where Marvel is going to do well,” he said. “The Avengers movies have always been fan favorites and there’s so many wonderful characters in them. It’s going to be challenging to get everyone together. But I am excited about it. We’ll see. I think we’ll probably be doing it. It’s all brand new. They just made the announcement. They got to start figuring it out.”
Lexi Rabe, who played Tony’s daughter Morgan Stark in Avengers: Endgame, also responded to Downey’s Insta post with a single word: “Dad?” Fans have been (jokingly… we hope) speculating that Morgan could also show up in Avengers: Secret Wars, as Doom greets her with: “I hate you 3000.”
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027. Both films will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
“Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Have another look at some photos Downey Jr. shared to Instagram after the big reveal below.
