Gwyneth Paltrow, confused MCU fan and occasional star, doesn't 'get' Robert Downey Jr.'s new role

Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't really get the Marvel Cinematic Universe, despite appearing in more than half a dozen of the near-three dozen films.

But can you blame her? Who's got time to keep up with all those heroes and multiverses when there are Goops to run and chagrined optometrists to wish well?

On Saturday at Comic Con in San Diego, the MCU further confused Paltrow when Avengers franchise directors Joe and Anthony Russo announced that the erstwhile Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr., will be taking over the role of Dr. Doom, one of the greatest villains in Marvel Comics lore.

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Paltrow — who played Stark's love interest Pepper Potts in six MCU films, though forgot she was in a seventh, Spider-Man Homecoming — posted a comment on RDJ's Instagram post revealing his return: "I don't get it, are you a baddie now?"

For the record, RDJ has always been a baddie — and not in the villain sense, but in the sense of someone who's been slaying and snatching since the mid-80s. But, yeah, what is this about?

Unless you've been actively avoiding the MCU these past 16 years or so, you probably know that RDJ's Tony Stark died saving the universe/all of existence in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. However, Downey Jr. will pay Dr. Doom, a supergenius behind an iron mask — but this time make it evil! — in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday in 2026 and its sequel the following year Avengers: Secret Wars.

"New mask, same task," Downey said on stage at Comic Con while clad in Doomsday green. "What can I say, I like playing complicated characters."

Since the MCU loves a multiverse, it's quite possible that this Doomsy Tony Stark is another, parallel version of the tech billionaire.

So, now that RDJ is a go, will Paltrow also return? If there's anyone who can coax the Oscar-winner back to work, it would be the recent Oscar-winner, according to Paltrow herself.

"It would be very hard for me to do any acting right at the moment, just because of my job," Paltrow said back in November. "But, I guess Robert Downey Jr. could probably always get me back."