The MCU’s Phase 4 has many issues, but Doctor Doom could be able to course correct it if he fills Iron Man’s role. Through the MCU’s Infinity Saga, Iron Man acts as the central emotional focus across some of Marvel’s tentpole titles, such as Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Avengers: Infinity War. Since the character died in Avengers: Endgame, however, Iron Man’s role as an emotional interconnective tissue throughout the MCU has not been filled.
The MCU’s Phase 4 has been a largely experimental age for the franchise to date since it doesn’t have much tying it all together besides establishing the multiverse. For instance, Black Widow was a weird choice for Phase 4 because it lacks a strong thematic connective tissue to stories like Eternals, Loki, and Wandavision. One huge strength the Infinity Saga has that Phase 4 doesn’t have yet is a central role or theme that ties its films together neatly. Iron Man tied together the Infinity Saga by being the emotional crux of the greater story; it’s Tony’s decisions and feelings that influence what moves that saga forward, and Phase 4 doesn’t have that kind of focus.
Besides rumors that Doctor Doom’s MCU entrance is coming soon, Kevin Feige has acknowledged that Marvel’s Phase 4 story is soon becoming clearer - and Doom’s best role should align with Feige’s tease about the greater Phase 4 story. Doctor Doom provides the perfect opportunity to act as the figurehead for the MCU’s direction, especially since he’s already so similar to Tony Stark on a surface level. Doom is similar enough to Stark that his development can feel familiar while also emphasizing an important difference: he’s a supervillain. Because of that, he can interact with and impact the larger cinematic universe in a way Iron Man's early MCU developments once did.
The MCU currently lacks an emotional core that all of its projects revolve around. Iron Man acted as the perfect central figure during the Infinity Saga because his character is a normal man in a superhero-filled world, and he believes he has to make the hard decisions to keep the world safe. Doctor Doom and Iron Man share many traits, including vanity and superhuman intelligence. They’re so similar that Robert Downey, Jr. nearly played Doom himself; meaning Doom is the perfect choice to supplant Tony Stark’s role as the archetypical fast-talking genius while playing the villain to keep the world safe (from his perspective). They’re very similar characters, each riding the line of hero and villain at times. The most significant difference between the two, however, is that they each firmly land on a different side of that line.
Placing focus on a villain is precisely the kind of shake-up the MCU needs. With the return of villains like Baron Zemo, Abomination, and the ongoing survival of popular newcomer Agatha Harkness, it’s clear Phase 4 of the MCU has a love for supervillains. The MCU needs to dip into familiar territory while establishing its direction as something entirely new. By placing a villain in the central role, the MCU has the potential to develop a character with even more layers and depth than Thanos while also giving the villains of the MCU a tentpole character to revolve around. As a supervillain, Doom also has an important advantage in that he can cause havoc in every corner of the MCU, whether he’s sowing a political conflict with Wakanda or settling a personal score with the Fantastic Four.
Marvel needs to fill the role left absent after Tony Stark’s death. In this way, Doctor Doom’s character provides an opportunity to create a foil for Tony Stark while capitalizing on everything that made that character interesting. Additionally, Doom’s villainous nature makes him the perfect choice for the MCU to expand beyond its roots as a superhero universe, giving the villains their time to shine. Given the chance, Doctor Doom can bridge storylines across the Marvel universe and provide the MCU’s future with much-needed focus.
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