Marvel had a tough trick to pull off last year and dealt with the situation admirably. I’m talking about the Jonathan Majors problem that had a massive impact on the remainder of the Multiverse Saga. The actor was supposed to play Kang, the main villain of Avengers 5 and Avengers 6.
Following his legal issues, Marvel parted ways with Majors. That wasn’t surprising. What was surprising is that Marvel didn’t immediately explain whether it would recast the role or change the Avengers movies. The latter seemed daunting, but that’s the trick Marvel pulled off brilliantly.
Kevin Feige and Co. got the Russos brothers back to direct the next Avengers movies. The studio changed the Avengers 5 title to Doomsday to make it clear this wouldn’t be a Kang story. But the best part is that Marvel brought Robert Downey Jr. back to the MCU. The actor would play Doctor Doom instead of Iron Man, however.
Only one problem remained: Unlike Kang, Doctor Doom didn’t have a presence in the Multiverse Saga. With only a handful of movies before Doomsday premieres, RDJ cameos should be expected everywhere, especially in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, where it makes the most sense.
But will we see RDJ in this year’s Fantastic Four? We have no confirmations, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach isn’t ready to tell. The Bear star who plays The Thing in the Marvel reboot was asked this question specifically and refused to answer. Before I tell you more, you should know that big spoilers might follow.
Going into The Fantastic Four and Doomsday, we know two things to be true. The Fantastic Four come from a different reality, not the MCU’s Earth-616. Similarly, the Doctor Doom multiversal threat the Avengers will have to face isn’t of the main MCU reality.
That doesn’t mean the Doctor Doom and Fantastic Four variants we’ll see in these movies come from the same reality. We do know that Galactus will be the main villain of Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot. It’s not going to be the expected fight against Doctor Doom.
Also, in whatever comes after Secret Wars, we’ll probably have a Fantastic Four team residing in the primary MCU universe. It might be the current team or a different one. But I’m certain RDJ’s Doctor Doom can’t be the MCU’s main Doom. We’ll probably get a recast after Secret Wars.
What I’m getting at is that there’s no real reason to have RDJ’s cameo in The Fantastic Four except for establishing some of his Doctor Doom’s character arc in Multiverse Saga. Like Thanos (Josh Brolin) in the Infinity Saga, Doom needs to appear in some MCU stories in some capacity before Doomsday.
That makes The Fantastic Four the perfect place for such an introduction. Rumors say that RDJ will appear in the film’s credits scenes. We also know from leaked photos that Marvel hid the identity of one cast member of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the last days of filming.
If you’re aware of these developments, you’ll understand why Jimmy Kimmel asked Ebon Moss-Bachrach to tell him something about The Fantastic Four that Marvel told the actor not to tell.
The show host went straight for the Robert Downey Jr. cameo, asking Moss-Bachrach if it’s true the two of them really hit it off and became good friends on the set. Moss-Bachrach joked that they live together now, as Robert Downey Jr. asked him to move in.
While The Bear star said he’s been through rigorous training to avoid spilling secrets, he seemed a little flustered when answering. That’s not enough to confirm that Robert Downey Jr. will appear in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but it’s definitely entertaining to see.
You can check out Kimmel’s full segment with Ebon Moss-Bachrach. It also covers some of the actor’s work as Ben Grimm/The Thing for the movie, with a focus on the type of “suit” he had to wear while filming Fantastic Four.
