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Avengers: Doomsday's Doctor Doom is a brand new cinematic creation
A lot of "experimental performance" went into Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday
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I don't know about you, but one of the things I'm most excited about seeing in Avengers: Doomsday is what Doctor Doom's mask is going to look like. Doctor Doom is the definition of aura-farming in Marvel Comics, which is why he definitely wears shoulder pads under that magnificent cape. So obviously, if Marvel Studios wants to do right by this classic comic book character, they wouldn't make the same mistake that the 2015 Fantastic Four film did for Toby Kebbell's Doom mask, which was a CGI monstrosity.
That said, in a recent interview with Empire magazine, director Joe Russo revealed that they are using CGI to bring Doom to life onscreen. "I think Downey had a lot of the same fun on this [as Josh Brolin's Thanos in Infinity War]... He was on set performing everything. Because of the way we're creating the character with a digital layer, we also get a second pass at him in terms of what we can do on a digital level. There was a lot of experimental performance. It's incredible, but also unexpected. What he brings to the table, you couldn't see coming," Russo said.
As much as I am a fan of a well-crafted helmet or mask onscreen, thanks to the craftspeople at Wētā Workshop who made the Lord of the Rings trilogy an instant classic, I can also understand how having Robert Downey Jr.'s face smushed behind a layer of foam might not be ideal. Let's remember that Tom Hardy had to redub all of his dialogue in The Dark Knight Rises because the practical Bane mask he wore on set rendered his speech unintelligible. Doctor Doom, like Bane, is an extremely smart character who loves to wax poetic. And with a powerhouse actor like Robert Downey Jr. playing him, we're going to hang onto every word.
Anyway, we'll see the fruits of Marvel Studios' labor when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18.
Ahead of Avengers: Secret Wars, learn how the comic it's based on (both of 'em!) ended!
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