For Simu Liu, joining Avengers: Doomsday didn’t just mean stepping into Marvel’s next massive crossover — it meant finally sharing space with one of the people who made the MCU feel possible in the first place. In a new profile interview with Collider’s Therese Lacson, Liu reflected on what it was like working alongside Robert Downey Jr., who returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Doomsday as Doctor Doom. And while Liu has spent years navigating Hollywood at this point, he admits there were still more than a few “pinch-me” moments along the way.
“I had many of those moments. I remember meeting Downey for the first time. That is such a pinch-me moment in and of itself, because I’d almost met everyone else around him at some juncture or other, but I had never actually met him, and it’s very fitting. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m actually very glad that this is the first time that we’re meeting,’ because otherwise it would have felt anticlimactic if I met him at, like, the Golden Globes, and then I’m like, ‘Okay, well, I’ll see you at work.’ This was a very momentous meeting where we met, and then we were like, ‘We’re about to work together. That’s fantastic.’ I got to say how much his work has meant to me, and shared some really kind words, and he was really sweet. That was the first one.”
It’s the kind of story that feels uniquely MCU — actors who grew up watching these movies now finding themselves inside them, shoulder to shoulder with the people who built the franchise. But Liu was also very aware of the mental shift required to actually do the job.
“Those pinch-me moments happened in the moments in between, because I feel like when we’re on set, and we’re in character and ready to go, everyone’s generally pretty focused,” he explained. “For me, it was very imperative that I put that fan side away. I compartmentalized that side of me because I was like, ‘I have a job to do. I have a job to do, and the worst thing that I can do right now is be a fan. I’m not a fan. I’m a coworker.’ As ridiculous as that sounds, or as ridiculous as it sounded to me at the time, I was like, ‘No. I have to treat these people as my equals, even though I’m literally like a little boy right now.’”
Robert Downey Jr. Has His Own Area on Set
Still, when the cameras stopped rolling, the surreal nature of the experience had a way of sneaking back in — especially when Liu found himself invited into Downey’s inner orbit on set. “But the moments between, Downey famously has this convoy of trailers and this whole area in base camp that we affectionately called Downey Land,” Liu said. “And I remember getting invited to Downey Land for the first time and just showing up in this tent, and it’s all this beautiful Andy Warhol-esque artwork, except all the characters are Downey. I mean, he’s so self-aware.”
That was only the beginning, though. Liu would soon discover that Downey Land came with its own perks, and special guests, too.
“So, he greeted me, and then I didn’t realize that Downey Land has its own chefs, but I had brought my set lunch, and he was like, ‘Oh, no, no, no. We don’t do that here.’ The chefs had come and laid out this full buffet, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll put this away.’ And then just the people walking through, I was like, ‘I cannot believe I’m having lunch with these people.’”
What stood out most to Liu wasn’t the spectacle, but the normalcy underneath it all — even when that “normal” involved superheroes half in costume. “People with their costumes in these various states, some people in full costumes, still,” he said. “Some people have really uncomfortable costumes, so they like to strip down, or it’s three pieces, and they strip out of two. It’s all of us just kind of sitting around and talking about our lives and our careers. Those are priceless, irreplaceable memories that I’ll have for the rest of my life.”
As Avengers: Doomsday gears up to reset the MCU’s hierarchy and usher in its next era, Liu’s reflections capture something fans don’t often get to see — the quiet, human moments behind the spectacle. As for the spectacle? That arrives when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters in December 2026.
