Will RDJ's Doom Be Portrayed in a HUD?
With Doomsday just under a year away, I keep wondering how Marvel will actually present Robert Downey Jr. on screen. Specifically, do you think they’ll use a HUD-style portrayal similar to how Tony Stark was shown inside the Iron Man suit?
From a practical standpoint, it seems like a logical move. RDJ is known for expressive acting, subtle facial cues, etc - So, keeping Doom masked 100% of the time could limit that—especially for a character who is supposed to dominate scenes through presence and intellect. A HUD view would let the audience see RDJ’s performance while still preserving Doom’s iconic armor and mystique.
On the other hand, Doctor Doom is very different from Iron Man thematically. Doom’s mask adds to his mystique and scary persona. Showing too much of his face—or making him feel too “tech-forward” with HUD visuals—could undercut the menace and mystery that make Doom compelling in the first place.
There’s also the question of tone. Iron Man’s HUD worked because it fit the sleek, modern, tech-heavy vibe of the character. Doom leans more toward a fusion of science and mysticism. Would a HUD feel out of place for him, or could Marvel reimagine it in a darker, more arcane way?
Curious what everyone thinks:
From a practical standpoint, it seems like a logical move. RDJ is known for expressive acting, subtle facial cues, etc - So, keeping Doom masked 100% of the time could limit that—especially for a character who is supposed to dominate scenes through presence and intellect. A HUD view would let the audience see RDJ’s performance while still preserving Doom’s iconic armor and mystique.
On the other hand, Doctor Doom is very different from Iron Man thematically. Doom’s mask adds to his mystique and scary persona. Showing too much of his face—or making him feel too “tech-forward” with HUD visuals—could undercut the menace and mystery that make Doom compelling in the first place.
There’s also the question of tone. Iron Man’s HUD worked because it fit the sleek, modern, tech-heavy vibe of the character. Doom leans more toward a fusion of science and mysticism. Would a HUD feel out of place for him, or could Marvel reimagine it in a darker, more arcane way?
Curious what everyone thinks:
Commentaires
I think the obvious answer is that Doom's not gonna be masked for most of the film. Action sequences. But key moments he will have the mask off. The Doomsday poster is 100% gonna have Downey's face on it.
I also think Secret Wars will give us Downey back as Iron Man, and we will see a return of the HUD view there.
Like many others, I believe that Marvel would not have hired RDJ for this role if the intent were to keep his face hidden behind the mask. That would be the dream, but the chances it happens are slim - it seems ever more likely that his resemblance to Tony Stark will *somehow* matter. While I do not care for this idea particularly, your highlighting the issue of tone sums up my thoughts on it as I personally do not think it would be the right vibe for Doom at all, it would be certainly more palatable than Doom ditching the iconic mask to show off his links to Tony. For all RDJ's facial acting ability, that's not really Doom.
The mere fact that he looks like Stark would be something Doom would leverage and use to his advantage when dealing with the Earth 616 heroes. Even if him looking like Stark was a mere coincidence.
So at the very very least it will matter that way.
And that’s ok.
I made no mistake, you’re just really eager to correct people for… some reason. Go bother someone else.
God bless the block function.
He still does everything else.
There was a rumor that Marvel originally shot scenes where a stand in was used instead of Downey. Downey requested that they reshoot the scenes and have him in the scenes himself.
But my point is that he's face is gonna be in the spotlight.
But that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t take advantage of other performers doing things he doesn’t have to because his character is concealed.
Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy will probably get 8 figures each for the new Shrek movie for a day or two of voice work and publicity for the finished film.
Dude is on set. Dude doesn’t even have a trailer, he has a whole land. His own chefs his own a lot of stuff. So over the top it made the news.
Pretending / assuming he’s like Pedro Pascal in Mandalorian who 1) almost never shows his face and 2) is almost never on set is incredibly silly.
Is there a real difference between an animated feature and one filmed in front of green screen and/or with an animated background on high def monitors behind the actors with all the action made with CGI?
>Dude is on set. Dude doesn’t even have a trailer, he has a whole land. His own chefs his own a lot of stuff. So over the top it made the news.
>Pretending / assuming he’s like Pedro Pascal in Mandalorian who 1) almost never shows his face and 2) is almost be se on set is incredibly silly.
It’s probably exactly the same.
Pedro Pascal was in almost every scene to begin and by the last season, he wasn’t. That’s what happens when actors get clout and power.
God damn you are hilarious. Absolutely positively hilarious.
PS - Pascal was not in every scene in earlier seasons. He famously was not present at all in season 1 when Ron Howard’s daughter directed an episode.
PPS - Please recalibrate your expectations. Comics Doom is not MCU Doom. You’re going to see Downey’s face quite a bit.
He'll probably have an evil James Spader AI in the Doom Suit.
I am 50/50 on whether Sue and we the audience see his face in that scene or they show his face at the end of Act 1 instead.
But Doom is showing his face more than you think. They paid Downey too much to not show his face.
Will he be masked a lot for having Downey as him? Yes.
Will he be masked a lot compared to comics Doom? No way lol.
Doom will mostly wear the mask and have an altered voice, but take it off for key moments to humanize himself and trick 616 bc he looks like Tony. Possibly he uses Franklin to make his face that way
HUD returns briefly in Secret Wars with an Iron Man variant
The movie isn’t out yet.
But actually I meant for Housing and Urban Development. 😁
I could also see them relying heavily on an auto-forming nanotech Doom mask that reveals his face when he wants to show it outside of the armor, as they use for Iron Man, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, etc. This would allow RDJ to use facial expressions when addressing other characters. Using Tony's face when addressing the Avengers could make them more sympathetic to his cause.