Spider-Man actor Tom Holland recently revealed that he was one of the first to know about Robert Downey Jr.’s shocking return to the MCU as Doctor Doom. He also admits that it was not an easy secret to keep.
While a guest on the Rich Roll podcast, Holland said: “I’ve been speaking to [Robert Downey Jr.] a lot, especially about him making his [Marvel] return, which is super exciting.”
Holland added, “That was a tough secret to sit on because I have a reputation for ruining things. Strategically, I have done no press.”
As you know, Holland is notorious for spoiling Marvel movies in his interviews. There’s som many spoilers that there’s even a YouTube compilation of them titled “Tom Holland Spoiling Marvel Movies for 13 Minutes Straight”
Downey Jr. returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars is pretty wild and it’s going to be interesting to see how his story arc plays out. Then you’ve got the Russo Bros. directing those movies.
It’s safe to assume that Spider-Man will find himself coming face-to-face with Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom at some point, and that’s going to make for a interesting dynamic.
When previously talking about when the whole process started, Downey Jr. said: “Probably a year ago, because Feige and I have kept in touch. We’re pals. Favreau and Feige and I have kept in touch. I’m close with the Russo brothers. We have other business we’re doing.
“So there’s this little group of fellow travelers, and I had this instinct that I wanted to go to Bob Iger. And I had an idea, outside of the cinematic universe, for how I could be of service to what’s going on in the parks and all their location-based energy.
“And Susan and I were sitting down with Feige at one point, and he said, ‘It just keeps occurring to me that, if you were to come back…’ And Susan was like, ‘Wait, wait, come back as what?’ And then we both realized, over time, that it was another thing that just disproves any doubt anyone could ever have about that guy.
“[He’s] a very sophisticated, creative thinker about, ‘How can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to to beat expectations?’
And he brought up Victor von Doom, and I looked into [the] character, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ And later on, he goes, ‘Let’s get Victor von Doom right. Let’s get that right.’ So then I said to Kevin, ‘Can I go talk to Bob Iger?’ He goes, ‘About?’ I go, ‘About everything.'”
“And I’d gone to Bob’s house, which I don’t know how to describe that experience,” Downey continued. “I’ve had a lot of really cool experiences. We go to Iger’s pad, and we sit down and start saying, ‘I just really want to be…’ He goes, ‘I like it.’ I was like, ‘He likes it.’ He goes ‘Come by the Imagineering campus.’
“Feige and I go to the Imagineering campus and — you want to talk about two guys that are not easy to have their minds blown, let alone at the same time. I can’t say too much about it, but what is going on there right now is so beyond my expectation of what was possible. no wonder it was numinous to me.
“It’s also the only way that I felt like I can give a certain entertainment-seeking audience, something that they may have a hankering to have an experience of, in a way where I can continue to develop my interest in the future of entertainment.
“Where the hell else should you go back there? So it’s this crazy, weird thing that’s going on, and if that all goes to sh-t, we’ll just remake what many people say is the greatest film of all time.”
Are you excited about the direction that Marvel is currently looking to take the MCU?
