Gwyneth Paltrow Did Not Hide Her Confused Reaction To Robert Downey Jr’s Surprise Doctor Doom Role

Over the weekend, studios dropped so much casting news at San Diego Comic-Con , and much of those announcements were just that: casting news. However, one tidbit from Marvel’s panels yielded a real scratcher, and that would be the revelation of Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU to portray Doctor Doom.

Say what? Downey, of course, portrayed Tony Stark for over a decade until definitively ending that character’s life with an “I am Iron Man” and a snap. Stark is, of course, remaining dead, and the Doctor Doom casting now puts Downey into a different type of MCU spotlight, but Hall H did break into applause , as the below Variety video reveals.

Well, Gwyneth Paltrow, who appeared as Pepper Potts alongside Downey in several MCU movies (but don’t ask which films, because she won’t remember), did not hide her confusion, and commented on RDJ’s Instagram post to that effect : “I don’t get it, are you a baddie now?”

This might be the most relatable sentiment ever from the GOOP CEO. How can RDJ pull off two lead characters in the same universe? Of course this doesn’t make sense, and only RDJ could explain his reasoning for climbing back into a helmet. It is, however, easy to see why Kevin Feige wanted to go there. With Jonathan Majors’ recent post-conviction firing , the MCU needed to completely retool its future with plans for a Kang-free continuation. Also, it’s no secret that most MCU movies have not fared well at the box office since Endgame , which was the final movie for both RDJ and Chris Evans. (And not every movie, sadly, can star Deadpool or bring Deadpool -type box-office results ).

Meanwhile, the Russo Brothers (who are also magically back in the MCU again, several years after Avengers: Endgame ) were more enthused than Paltrow : “We’ve always said green is your color.”

Additionally, Variety is drawing attention to a 2023 interview , in which Feige and Iron Man director/Happy actor Jon Favreau discussed how RDJ had originally gone for the Doctor Doom role in those Fantastic Four movies of the aughts. Fortunately, he turned into Iron Man instead, and it remains to be seen how the newfound Doom addition will roll out. Only Feige and the Russo Brothers could fill in those gaps right now, and everybody else is free to remain confused. Including Gwyneth Paltrow.