MCU fans torn over sneak-peek at RDJ's Doctor Doom

I am, on the whole, an optimist, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a few reservations about Avengers: Doomsday.

The long-awaited film has finally begun production just one year ahead of its 1 May 2026 release date.

It’s believed that filming is due to last for around six months, although projects of this size usually involve a few reshoots and pick-ups beyond that.

That leaves less than six months for post-production teams to edit, score, and add visual effects to the film, amongst other tasks.

It’s no secret that Marvel has received a bad reputation for its visual effects in recent years, with many coming across as, well, a bit amateur looking.

You’ll often see tweets asking why the MCU’s recent visual effects look so phony when franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean were pulling off incredible feats in the 00s.

Well, those who work in the relevant departments say that’s down to time constraints and here we are with Doomsday seemingly operating under quite a rapid schedule.

I’m imagining it’s going to be a pretty CGI-heavy movie, not least because of this latest Robert Downey Jr Doctor Doom tease.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is up next for the MCU.

Downey Jr recently posted a photo from the set of Doomsday and while it doesn’t give a ton away, we can deduce a few facts about his iteration of Doctor Doom.

The photo doesn’t feature a glimpse of Doom’s outfit, but it does show that Downey Jr is wearing a muscle suit in order to look ‘beefed up’ for the role.

The most interesting tidbit though comes from the actor's face.

If you look closely, it’s covered in black dots which suggests that there’s some kind of CGI magic going on there.

Could Doom’s mask be computer-generated? Considering he’s the film’s main villain, whatever is going on is going to add a whopping extra workload for the VFX teams.

“Hopefully, the mask is not CGI,” wrote homeofdcu.

“I really hope they pull this off cause it still feels wrong,” added sycamoressource.

We’ll find out in 2026, I suppose.