In an ideal world, where different studios didn’t retain the rights to different Marvel characters, there would be no Thanos. There would be Doom. Marvel’s first and second phases likely wouldn’t be building up to a confrontation between The Avengers and the Mad Titan. They’d be laying the foundation for several squabbles between Earth’s mightiest heroes and the power-hungry Victor von Doom.
Except Doctor Doom belongs to 20th Century Fox. So that is where the leader of Latveria will remain, showing up next in the rebooted The Fantastic Four and looking like the figure in the leaked images below.
Which is sad, because Doctor Doom deserves so much more. He ranks as one of Marvel’s most complicated, powerful, menacing, egomaniacal and dangerous supervillains – a genius inventor, scientist and sorcerer who has created massive problems for so many Marvel superheroes ever since he was first introduced in 1962. Iron Man. The Hulk. Spider-Man. The Fantastic Four. They all have stared down Doom and foiled his global plans of anarchy. And in the top pic, Doctor Doom actually went toe-to-toe with a cosmic entity known as the Beyonder, assuming powers equivalent to God’s when he triumphs in battle.
So yeah, Doctor Doom really would be outstanding as the ultimate Big Bad in the Marvel Cinematic Universe… if only Marvel Studios owned the rights to him.
They don’t, so Fox will continue to cram Victor von Doom into Fantastic Four movies until they figure out how best to maximize his villainous potential. In the latest iteration of the Fantastic Four mythology, Doom will be played by Toby Kebbell (of RocknRolla and War Horse), and will look like this according to Geek Pride. Click the big Doctor Doom image below to head to their site and see the images:
How will Doom factor in to this new take on The Fantastic Four, which is supposed to be more grounded and realistic than previous versions? We really have no idea. Josh Trank and his crew decided to avoid San Diego Comic-Con this last July, so no footage was shown and no explanation was given as to what fans can expect next June when the movie opens. There’s something to be said about keeping all of your secrets under your hat until the big reveal. But when Doom has been botched in the past, you’d think you’d want to set fans’ minds at ease just a little so that they can start getting excited about your reboot. Because right now, we all mainly remember this, and it gives us chills (in the worst way possible).
Get a good look at the suit in the images. It looks like it has been scorched. The eyes look hollowed out. The cape and hood look menacing, but until we see what kind of powers Doom has in Trank’s movie, it’s all just one long guessing game. Maybe a trailer will show up soon? The Fantastic Four will try to make true believers out of all of us on June 19, 2015.
