It's not easy to see something you've created turned into a major motion picture, which may or may not be faithful to how you laid things out in the source material. Yet for as hard as it may seem to some, to Marvel Comic legend Stan Lee it almost seems like second nature. The man behind countless comic hits of our childhoods seems pretty happy-go-lucky with how his work's been adapted for the big screen, though there have been some aspects that even he considers misfires. For example, Lee has gone on record once again stating that Doctor Doom in 2005's Fantastic 4 really missed the mark.
During an appearance at Fan Expo Canada, Lee spoke with CBR as part of the festivities, as he's currently on a farewell tour of the con circuit. This seems to have brought a healthy dose of candor out of the comic book creator, as he's repeated his displeasure about the Julian McMahon variant of his Fantastic 4 super-villain. To be fair, Stan Lee lays the blame out very specifically in the following remarks:
I was a little disappointed in the very first 'Fantastic Four,' because I didn't care for how Doctor Doom was portrayed. But other than that, I thought the movie was great. And the actors were terrific.
What's interesting about Lee's pin-pointed grievance with Tim Story's version of the first family of Marvel is that it sounds like he doesn't have a problem with Julian McMahon playing the role at all. Instead, Stan Lee seems to have a grievance with the writing given to the character, which may have seemed tailored to McMahon's then popular Nip/Tuck persona, rather than the ruthless baddie from Latveria who was more focused on world domination than proposing to Sue Storm. Of course, another, greater beef Lee may have had with Fantastic Four is the fact that Doom's character defining facial features weren't very defined at all.
The character of Doctor Doom wears his iconic armor due to insecurity stemming from his extremely disfigured body, especially his mangled face. While said insecurity was still present with Julian McMahon's portrayal, his "disfigurement" is limited only to his face, and isn't all that ugly. As you'll see in the photo above, a simple scar is what triggers Doom's meltdown, and even in his roughest state in the film, he still doesn't look so far gone that he needs a mask. If anything, he needs a visit to McMahon's Dr. Christian Troy, so as to fix the scar and engage in a half hour monologue about how he's the perfect specimen.
When you screw up a fundamental characteristic for a villain, their motivations, threats, and everything that come after their origin is undermined. Stan Lee understands this, and while he may not have mentioned it in so many words, this is more than likely his biggest problem with the portrayal of his legendary villain. We hope this attitude of candor and truth pervades the rest of Lee's farewell tour, as we're just itching for someone to ask him for some further thoughts about how Fox's 2015 Fantastic Four reboot failed.
