Avengers Secret Wars - November 7, 2025

[MeatHookGekko]

I see a lot of hate here…

We shall see when the movie drops…

I don't see hate, I see caution. This is stunt casting.

If you consider basic writing convention, the natural pathway for an RDJ Doom is to play into the Peter Parker/Tony Stark as a father/son surrogate dynamic. So this move could potentially risk the entire Spiderman franchise too, if it all backfires. ( And is there much room left to take Thor, Hulk and Hawkeye anywhere story wise? I find that Hulk could be super interesting, but they are stuck with Ruffalo, who is IMHO completely mediocre and just finds a way to be constantly irritating )

I'm not saying it won't work out, I am saying there's a potential risk here for one of the few stable MCU franchises left. I'd hate to see Tom Holland/Peter Parker take several steps backward, to accommodate some stunt casting that is going to be kind of a hazy sell to many in the audience. I think fans could handle a high risk/high reward kind of trade off, but the high reward part looks pretty fuzzy to be honest. This could work out, but it has a lot working against it logistically.

The only thing I can say for certain is that there are major elements of the current MCU that can be categorized as pure bloat. ( Simu Liu and Shang Chi for starters) I hope the Russos clean house. I hope they just decide to massacre and write off all the reduced to cannon fodder/just didn't click right kind of characters. Shuri. Captain Marvel/Danvers. The Eternals. Pepper Potts. And more. There are just a lot of characters that are kind of begging to be killed off now. I'd pay good money to show up for an Avengers film where I knew guaranteed there was an extended scene where Shang Chi would get beaten to death with a crowbar.

 

[choombaz]

How many people can do that? (Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day Lewis, it's a super short list)

Yeah and tbh I reckon half those guys don’t really bring the box office anymore. But did DDL ever bring box office? Not sure about that one.

Gas, time, parking, 45 minutes of previews/trailers, people with their cell phones and babies in theaters, etc, etc

Plus the running time of the movie itself. I can remember when I saw Oppenheimer it was literally an all day thing.

RDJ can only play RDJ.

Have you seen Oppenheimer? He’s incredible in that and def doesn’t play himself. He’s quietly, insidiously evil. And I may have just talked myself into this weirdo casting choice.

Also John Krasinki is a package deal with Blunt, and people hate working with that guy. I don't think the functional parts of the MCU could survive Krasinksi's ego for six films and a decade of bloat.

Yeah I know they say opposites attract but I never understood how one of the genuinely nicest people on the planet could be married to the biggest *******.

Though I think the best choice, Mads Mikkelson, was already wasted in Dr Strange

Yes he’s far and away the best choice

Edit:
The best way out of this is that VVD made a Tony Stark robot that is pretending to be DD. It’s kind of a Mandarin situation and no I’m not talking about the fruit.

 

[BurningRage]

 

[ironwez20]

View attachment 716458

Are you implying they aren’t good?

 

[Khev]

Are you implying they aren’t good?

No I'm sure he referred to them as two of the greatest examples of miscasting in cinematic history to remind everyone how awesome they were in their roles.

 

[xipotec]

And that's the problem with the MCU multiverse as a whole, it has no rules, it makes no sense. They're just throwing things at the wall and hoping they stick, it doesn't work.

Spider-Verse has rules, it makes sense and it works.

Things can just be fun, it does not have to have rules.....

Even though the multiverse does have rules, and was established for years in the MCU.

People just wanna rage at Disney.

RDJ as doom is gonna be epic.

 

[ironwez20]

No I'm sure he referred to them as two of the greatest examples of miscasting in cinematic history to remind everyone how awesome they were in their roles.

Ah jeez here come those “I grew up with the 70s stars wars movies so I never imagined him as a happy child” crowd

 

[chrisstbh]

Things can just be fun, it does not have to have rules.....

It does when you want it to be taken seriously, which is what they want.

 

[xipotec]

You are both exactly right and that is why it is so hard to even care about the characters or the stakes anymore

Character died? - theres an infinite number of them!
World destroyed? - no worries we have spares!
Hey, you know that perfect casting you always wanted? - Here they are as a joke and you will never see them again!
Want some 90s/2000s nostalgia? - dinner is served, but dont expect us to actually engage with them as an actual character or give them an arc!

It's like a parody of itself and I say this as a genuine passionate fan.... I am so over it and increasingly am losing hope of it ever course-correcting in the right direction.

The fact the hero died in one universe has not bearing on the stakes in another universe.

Did you have Infinity war and End Game, cause both of those films did the same thing.

 

[xipotec]

It does when you want it to be taken seriously, which is what they want.

Again, you may wanna rewatch Endgame, and pay close attention to a character named Thanos.

 

[ironwez20]

Things can just be fun, it does not have to have rules.....

Even though the multiverse does have rules, and was established for years in the MCU.

People just wanna rage at Disney.

RDJ as doom is gonna be epic.

Is it tho? I mean we don’t know. I mean. I love rdj but like this seems desperate and just like… yea.

So many options for doom. Also I sincerely hope this is t a variant. This multiverse crap is kinda destroying things cause now it’s like everyone and anyone can be the character. Screw 60 plus years of history. Let’s say multiverse and call it a day.

See when I complained about Harry Osborn being venom . Everyone cried “ it’s a different universe brah!” Now that we opened Pandora’s box we are gonna see a lot more of this character being that character and so on .

 

[chrisstbh]

Again, you may wanna rewatch Endgame, and pay close attention to a character named Thanos.

What?

 

[ironwez20]

Also since they did this stunt they better bring tchalla back. No ifs ands or buts.

 

[Dave_W]

This casting just feels like they tried changing things up and doing something new and it was a disaster (everything post Endgame), so they're falling back on to the tried and tested RDJ hype train to see if things can get back on track.

RDJ might be fantastic in the role and make for a really great villain, but for me, it will always have that 'going back to an ex because it's easier than dating all over again' aftertaste.

 

[Khev]

 

[loki2371]

The only way this movie would be worth watching for me is if VicTony Von Doom Stark kills all the current post EG Avengers (whoever they even are at this point, anyone actually know??).

When the villain becomes the hero.... Now that I would watch!!

Then we move to a new pure untouched MCU multiverse with a full reboot after Secret Wars. "The Secret in Secret Wars is we're starting over"....

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Things can just be fun, it does not have to have rules.....Even though the multiverse does have rules, and was established for years in the MCU.

There is quite a bit of push/pull here. Can this all work out the way the MCU and The Big Mouse hopes? Yes, it's possible. RDJ in general has been fantastic in the MCU, he's charismatic and he offers a type of "cost certainty" as a known quantity from the production side. There's comfort in that logistically.

However stunt casting RDJ will begin to corner the writers room. The only Tony Stark "thread" left from Phase 1-3 with narrative juice is the storyline about Tony assessing if he could out technology /out build a potential future mass attack like the Chitauri swarming New York. Also the "Multi-Verse" plotlines have all turned into a common trope now ( Main character tries to change the past or change history, then realizes it all blows up in their face, then comes to terms that they can only change themselves, they can't truly change the world around them. If you take away the future, you take away hope) And how many times can you beat that "Multi-Verse Is A Ticking Time Bomb" horse to death? The Tony Stark character development was built, in part, off of a composite including real life Elon Musk. How do you paint more Stark as a pure genius without uplifting the Musk elements within it? The Big Mouse is going to want to tightrope in taking huge pot shots at Musk via proxy through a Stark/Doom character. Now you've subverted the writers room beyond just telling a good story.

The push here is a narrower scope within the writing, where you are literally forced into certain storylines and arcs, that might be beneficial for the MCU, which has become far too complicated and bloated with current releases. While the opportunity to kill off a lot of extraneous characters in the MCU has logistical value, it will start to buckle the narrative ( Death for established characters needs to be purposeful. Whistler dying in the first Blade film was purposeful. You needed to push the Blade character beyond his limits to show a full arc. However Whistler dying in Blade Trinity was done to just write the reluctant actor out as fast as possible with no real true impact on any future Blade character development at all. It was pointless and pathetic. A full out all out massacre just to clean house has value, but it has tradeoffs too)

The pull here is once you keep going over covered ground, you are no longer telling a compelling story, you are just making content. You are now an energy drink company, not acting as real filmmakers. The risk here is forcing some Stark like entity back over and over again over preexisting coverage. Also, as mentioned before, it risks taking Tom Holland/Peter Parker, and actually setting that entire storyline/narrative in a backwards direction. Can you patch over old ground for two major films like two new Avengers films? That's taking a single gallon of paint and hoping to redo all of Yankee Stadium with it.

Yes, it could work out. RDJ is a lot of fun. He understands how to inject real charisma with the role and create a lot of interest from legacy fans. But from a functional writing standpoint, this is asking for some real heavy lifting. There are clear logistical and narrative pitfalls and road blocks that are just of unavoidable at this point. And if the writing falls apart, the films will fall apart too.

Yes, I agree with you that the "Multi-Verse" begins to shed some basic rules. That creates different openings and opportunities. I won't deny that. But if you want functional writing and you want to give your writers room a fighting chance, you do need practical boundaries. You simply can't find this "fun" without some kind of structure. What you are saying is true, but you've stripped it of all reasonable context to get there.

As a fan, I hope it works out. If not, as a pure collector, I hope we all get some damn good toys of it. Barring that, I hope at least fans get some spectacle like watching Simu Liu getting burned alive. But it's still stunt casting and it's a huge gamble.

 

[ZE_501]

I find that Hulk could be super interesting, but they are stuck with Ruffalo, who is IMHO completely mediocre and just finds a way to be constantly irritating )

I actually bought him as Banner in The Avengers. But he got more cartoon-y and/or hysterical in every following film, which I blame more on writing and direction.

Also thought he was good in Foxcatcher.

 

[ZE_501]

RDJ as doom is gonna be epic.

Right now it feels weird.

 

[crows]

it should have been Tom Cruise.
imagine, Tom Cruise didn't get the role of iron man. but imagine him taking this role.