Robert Downey Jr. continues to promote the Doctor Doom character ahead of the release of Avengers: Doomsday, releasing an image that appears to hint at his character's future successor. When the Russo brothers took the stage at San Diego Comic-Con and announced that Downey Jr. would be swapping his red suit for a green one, the fan reaction was positive, to say the least. They weren't concerned about the implications of handing over arguably Marvel's most important villain to one of Hollywood's most sought-after actors.
Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel Studios are handling all of this, preserving the present while planning for the future. Of course, they knew from the start that Downey Jr. wouldn't be around for long, as he's been playing superhero characters for over a decade. All signs point to Doom terrorizing Earth's Mightiest Heroes in Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars before hanging up his cape and heading off to find a better life.
But a two-part storyline is clearly not enough for a villain of Doom's caliber, especially considering he's unlikely to get as much screen time with his arch-nemeses, the Fantastic Four, as in previous iterations. It's a shame there's no way for Downey Jr. to fully enjoy the villains without shutting Doom down for good.
It turns out Downey Jr. may be hinting at just such a scenario in a recent Instagram post. In honor of Father's Day, the actor released a card made by Doom's son, which celebrates the villain's exploits and pokes fun at the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. While this humorous image may be just a quirky marketing ploy, it's hard to ignore the hints that Doom has a son in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In Marvel comics, Doom encountered a young orphan named Kristoff Vernard in his native Latveria. Wanting to help, he took the boy home and raised him as his own, even naming him heir to the Latveria throne. Unfortunately, Doom's misdeeds came back to haunt him, and he met a horrific death during an alien invasion.
However, Doom's army of robots couldn't accept the death of their master. They captured Kristoff and reprogrammed his mind, making him believe he was the real Doom. Soon, the new Doom began clashing with the Fantastic Four and anyone else who stood in his way.
The path to Kristoff's appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems fairly straightforward. In films like Doomsday or Secret Wars, he could be portrayed as Doom's protégé, watching from the sidelines as his adoptive father loses control of the multiverse. In reality, this would be common practice for Marvel Studios, which has a knack for turning the children of villains into fully developed characters.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a great reputation for creating classic villains.
Marvel Studios' first major villain was none other than the Mad Titan Thanos. Desperate to collect all six Infinity Stones, he sent messengers across the universe to do his bidding, including his two adopted daughters, Gamora and Nebula. It didn't take long for Gamora to see through Thanos's lies, but Nebula remained by his side for a time.
Nebula simply wanted to be accepted by the only true family she knew. Fortunately, she realized her mistake before it was too late and joined the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Following Nebula's retirement from the superhero world, Kristoff could have become a candidate to take up the mantle in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Furthermore, the original story allowed him to start a new life and become a key ally of the Fantastic Four.
Clearly, Kristoff will need to be introduced into a live-action film before he considers abandoning his father's dream. However, Downey Jr. makes no secret of the fact that his new Marvel character has a family, and that family holds enormous potential for a franchise that desperately needs it.