Los Angeles, March 24 : The concept of Robert Downey Jr. as the baddie Victor Von Doom goes way back to before the star was ever cast as the superhero Iron Man's alter ego.

Joe Russo, who is directing the next two Avengers movies with his brother Anthony, recently revealed who had the genius idea to bring Downey back as the Fantastic Four villain. It was

none other than Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige.

'That was Kevin,' the younger Russo recently told the online outlet Omelete, reports deadline.com.

'Interestingly enough about that, that conversation was had a while ago.'

Victor Von Doom was ultimately portrayed in the 2005 film by actor Julian McMahon and Downey went on to debut as Stark in 2008's Iron Man, but Feige held onto the idea of casting Downey as Doom.

This time around, once Downey agreed, the actor tried to talk his Avengers: Endgame directors into getting the band back together for the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: Doomsday. The duo demurred at first, according to Joe.

'Robert tried to talk us into doing it and we said 'no.' We just didn't have a story. We didn't have a way in. We were resistant for a while.'

The brothers did eventually spark to a concept.

'One day Steve McFeely, one of our chief collaborators, said, 'I have an idea.' We went, 'That's the story!' That story has to be told. It's a really powerful story.'

The directors would divulge much until Joe offered: 'The only thing I will say about the movie is this: We love villains who think they're the hero of their own stories. That's when they become three dimensional and they become more interesting.'

'And when you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a well shaped, three-dimensional character for the audience.'

/IANS