Summary

• Robert Downey Jr. has been cast as Doctor Doom for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, becoming the fourth actor to portray the villain in live-action.
• Doctor Doom has never been played by a Romani actor in live-action, despite this heritage being a huge part of his Marvel Comics backstory.
• It would be great to see a Romani actor cast as the MCU's official Doctor Doom after Downey Jr.'s portrayal, marking huge progress in Romani representation in Hollywood.

Robert Downey Jr. will be returning to the Robert Downey Jr.'s casting as Doctor Doom.

Doctor Doom will replace Kang the Conqueror and his variants as the primary antagonist of the Multiverse Saga, with the next Robert Downey Jr. being cast as Doctor Doom ignores a huge part of the villain's important Marvel backstory.

Robert Downey Jr. As Doctor Doom Ignores The Villain’s Romani Roots

While Victor Von Doom first crossed paths with Reed Richards while studying in the United States, his roots are actually in Latveria, a fictional Eastern European country in Marvel Comics. Doom was born into a tribe of Latverian Romani people, his mother a powerful sorcerer, and his father the tribe's leader and medicine man. Doom's early life among the Romani people is a crucial aspect of his backstory, but this has been completely forgotten about in previous live-action portrayals, and Robert Downey Jr.'s casting continues this unfortunate pattern.

Doctor Doom has never been played by an actor with Romani roots. Because of this, it may have been difficult for Joseph Culp, Julian McMahon, Toby Kebbell, and now Robert Downey Jr. to fully understand the character, as his Latverian Romani roots have never been explored on-screen. Romani culture is something that has seldom been seen represented in cinema, so it would be a huge mark of progress if Marvel Studios focused on Doctor Doom's Romani roots in the MCU.

Which Romani Actors Would Be Perfect To Play The MCU’s Doctor Doom?

Robert Downey Jr. certainly has the gravitas, recognition and screen presence to do a brilliant job at bringing Doctor Doom to life. However, it would have been even better to see an actor with Romani heritage cast in the role, even if this meant casting a relative unknown as the iconic Marvel Comics villain. One option could have been English actor Connor Swindells, whose mother was of Romani heritage. After gaining prominence for his roles in Sex Education and Barbie, Swindells could have brought a youthful energy to Doctor Doom.

The continued erasure of the villain's Romani heritage is disappointing.

More seasoned actors like Saša Barbul, Danny Wynter, Paul Eryk Atlas, Lindy Larsson and Bálint Jaskó could have also been fantastic choices to play Victor Von Doom in the MCU. All of these actors are practically unknown, but have delivered dramatic, intense and comedic performances, so deserved a chance to at least audition for the crucial MCU role. It makes sense that a bigger name actor such as Robert Downey Jr., hot off an Academy Award win, would be cast as Doctor Doom, but the continued erasure of the villain's Romani heritage is disappointing.

Marvel Studios Can Still Solve This Problem In The Multiverse Saga

Luckily, there is a clear way that Marvel Studios can solve this problem, since Robert Downey Jr. will be debuting as Doctor Doom in the Multiverse Saga. Given the fact that Downey Jr. played Tony Stark in the MCU's main continuity for over a decade, it can be assumed that he'll be returning to the franchise as a version of Doctor Doom from an alternate reality, whether that be Victor Von Doom or a variant of Tony Stark. This creates the opportunity for the MCU's official version of Doctor Doom to finally be played by a Romani actor.

Marvel Studios has recently provided brilliant representation of Native American, Asian, Jewish and Muslim communities in projects such as Echo, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel. Casting a Romani actor as Doctor Doom after Robert Downey Jr. plays the villain in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars could do the same for this massively underrepresented culture. It's about time a faithful and comic-accurate Doctor Doom graces our screens.