Last year, Mads Mikkelsen left his mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Kaecilius in Doctor Strange, but that wasn't the Rogue One star's first chance to star in a superhero movie. A few years earlier, he'd shown up to audition for the Fantastic Four reboot, but soon realized that this wasn't the right project for him. Now with the news from San Diego Comic-Con that Legion showrunner Noah Hawley is developing a movie centered on Doctor Doom, Mikkelsen sounds willing to play the metal-masked villain should the opportunity arise. When asked if he had any interest in playing Victor von Doom, he said:
Yeah, it's always interesting. They are experimenting with doing some of the villain's stories as well. Let's see if they do that. I'm not familiar that they've done it with anyone yet. They haven't done it with The Joker [and] they haven't done it with The Penguin. So we'll see when that day comes.
After clarifying why he decided not to continue with his Fantastic Four audition, Mads Mikkelsen provided the above answer to Screen Geek about if he could be interested in taking over the Doctor Doom role. Given his experience playing villains, from Le Chiffre in Casino Royale to Hannibal's eponymous character, Mikkelsen certainly has the right kind of gravitas to play the egotistical mad scientist and dictator from Latveria. Mikkelsen added that one of the qualities he looks for when playing a villain is if said villain can be "rounded" and be liked by the audience to a certain degree. Doctor Doom not only fits under the "villain you love to hate" category, and depending on your opinion of the Fantastic Four, he's arguably more interesting than the team. So far Doom has been portrayed on the big screen by Julian McMahon and Toby Kebbell, but Mikkelsen has the potential to give the most compelling and doom-tastic performance of them all.
Since the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot failed to launch a new series for Marvel's First Family due to its critical thrashing and commercial bombing, 20th Century Fox appears to be taking a different tactic with its future movies about Marvel's First Family. Rather than join forces with Marvel Studios and bring the Fantastic Four into the MCU (like Sony did with Spider-Man), Fox has decided to focus on other characters from this corner of Marvel mythology. In addition to a Doctor Doom movie, it's also been rumored that Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman's children, Franklin and Valeria Richards, leading their own story. If the Doctor Doom movie moves forward, it's unclear whether he would be battling the Fantastic Four or deal with someone/something else that threatens his power.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on how the Doctor Doom movie and other Fantastic Four projects are coming along.
