Marvel Comic Books to Read Ahead of ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and ‘Secret Wars’ Movies

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Want to know why Robert Downey, Jr. is playing Doctor Doom in the MCU? Read these comic books.

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At San Diego Comic-Con, producer Kevin Feige and “Avengers” directors Anthony and Joe Russo announced Robert Downey, Jr. will make his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, he’s not going to reprise his role as Tony Stark (Iron Man). Instead Downey will play Fantastic Four supervillain Victor von Doom (Doctor Doom) in the new “Avengers” movies.

We rounded up the best Marvel comic books to read to get ready for “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars,” which are set for release in the summers of 2026 and 2027, respectively.

Although it might be strange that Downey will not play Iron Man in the MCU in the new “Avengers” movies, there is some reasoning behind this decision based on past Marvel comics, namely “What If? Iron Man: Demon In An Armor.” In this story, Tony Stark and Victor von Doom are good friends, but Doom creates a machine that swaps their minds. Doom is inside of Stark’s body and Stark is inside of Doom’s body.

Meanwhile, writer Robert Kirkman did a series of “Marvel Team-Up” stories from 2004-2006 that may playing into a larger crossover of Marvel superheroes, like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man and others. Additionally, writer Jonathan Hickman wrote a series of Fantastic Four stories from 2009-2012 that concluded with his vision for a major crossover event in “Secret Wars,” released in 2015.

Scroll down for the best Marvel comic books to read ahead of the new “Avengers” movies.