The Pop Culture Pundit

At this year’s San Diego Comic Con, the biggest surprise was undoubtedly Marvel’s reveal that Robert Downey Jr. will be once again joining the MCU–but rather than reprise his role as the heroic Iron Man, he’ll be joining the dark side as the villainous Doctor Doom. Decked out in a green suit, Downey proclaimed “new mask, same task”–and generated quite the stir with his former MCU co-stars in the Instagram comments.

“I don’t get it, are you a baddie now?” Gwyneth Paltrow, who played Iron Man’s girlfriend Pepper Potts, asked in an Instagram comment. 

But it was perhaps Mark Ruffalo’s comments that were the most intriguing. 

“Hey Brat, green suits you,” he simply commented. 

Indeed, summer’s biggest trend has been that of “Brat,” coming from the title of Charli XCX’s critically acclaimed sixth album that dropped in June. In a Tik Tok, Charli elaborated on the meaning of “brat,” saying “you’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like, parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. That’s brat.” 

Being a “little messy” could very well describe what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been through of late. After a string of flops, including Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania, The Marvels, and TV shows such as Secret Invasion that debuted to less-that-stellar reviews, Marvel could use a win. Furthermore, the firing of Jonathan Majors after he was found guilty of assault and harassment led to an entire re-structuring of the future of the MCU films. No longer would they center on Majors’ villain Kang the Conqueror from Quantamania. They needed someone new. A fresh face–or perhaps a familiar one to re-invigorate the franchise. 

Enter Robert Downey Jr, dressed in a color very similar to that of Brat’s signature lime green. RDJ’s casting as Marvel’s villain makes complete sense when you think about the past couple years. This past year, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his turn as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer, who turns on the titular character after falsely believing that “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer says disparaging things about him to none other than Albert Einstein (Oppie and Einstein were instead talking about more important things such as their fears over the world being destroyed). Nonetheless, Downey Jr. has already played a man who goes from a highly esteemed figure to publicly disgraced villain–what better role for him than the evil, world-destroying Doctor Doom after the courageous Iron Man, who sacrificed his life for the good of the world? Furthermore, Oppenheimer is the third-highest grossing R-rated film of all time and was a part of last year’s Box Office Barbenheimer phenomenon, which means Marvel could generate further future box office success with the casting of Downey Jr. 

After a messy year, it looks like Marvel is finally seeing some wins. Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel’s first R-rated movie, saw the biggest debut for an R-rated film as well as the 4th highest box office debut for the superhero genre, only after Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Furthermore, Marvel is now the only franchise in history to cross the $30 billion mark. After being a little messy and having a little bit of a breakdown, Marvel is back on top and ready to party, and Robert Downey Jr.’s green-suited re-entrance into the MCU canon cements Marvel’s spot in Brat summer. 

Now, the only question remaining is: how will they incorporate Downey Jr. into the Marvel universe? Will they use a Multiverse explanation to explain his similar physical appearance to Iron Man? Or will there be a more unique backstory, with Strauss from Oppenheimer stealing an atomic bomb prototype and running experiments that go so poorly he turns into a world conquest-hungry supervillain? 

While the latter is probably unlikely, it will be fun to see the origin story play out. But one thing’s for certain: there absolutely needs to be a Brat needledrop in Avengers: Doomsday when it drops in 2026. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom make his grand entrance to the lyrics of “I’m tectonic, moves, I make ’em/Shock you like defibrillators…I’ll always be the one…Lookin’ like an icon” from Brat’s “360”? If we’re still celebrating Brat summer in two years, we’ll only be so lucky.