During an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub at San Diego Comic-Con following Marvel’s Hall H presentation, Hayley Atwell offered one of the clearest descriptions yet of what it was like working opposite Downey’s Doctor Doom, admitting his performance fundamentally changed the atmosphere on set. Asked how much she wanted to learn about Doctor Doom while filming, Atwell admitted she deliberately avoided asking questions because Downey’s performance spoke for itself, and explained that the contrast between Downey on and off camera made the experience even more striking. She told Collider:
“I didn’t ask, in part because his presence on set was so enigmatic as Doom. Robert, in between takes, he invites people to eat lunch with him, and he’s super open and fun and wants everyone to have a good time… But when he’s Doom, it’s so enigmatic. It’s so domineering that it’s really intimidating and very powerful.”
Rather than breaking that illusion, Atwell wanted to preserve it throughout filming, so that the feeling of dread, menace and uncertainty was rampant throughout her performance. It’s one of the most revealing descriptions yet of Downey’s take on Marvel’s iconic villain. “Also, when I was in scenes, I didn’t want that illusion to be broken for me,” Atwell explained, “so I kept that feeling of, ‘I don’t know who this person really is and what they’re capable of, but I just know there’s a darkness there.’”
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
Marvel Is Introducing Doctor Doom as a Completely New Character
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige also addressed Doctor Doom during Comic-Con, explaining that Avengers: Doomsday has been designed as a true introduction to the character rather than relying on audiences’ knowledge of the comics. Comparing Doom to villains such as Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Thanos, Feige explained that every great Marvel antagonist has to work for newcomers first. “This is a movie that introduces Doctor Doom to the world, and peels the onion on a fascinating, fascinating character,” said Feige. The Russo Brothers echoed that sentiment, describing Doom as “the smartest man in every room he walks into” whose mastery of both science and the Dark Arts makes him unlike any villain the MCU has faced before.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in cinemas on December 16, 2026.
