With Marvel’s Phase Four coming to a close, and a fresh slate of upcoming Marvel movies ready to arrive in 2023, we know that the projected “Big Bad” for this new period of storytelling – dubbed the Multiverse Saga – will be Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors. A variant of the character was introduced in the first season of Loki, but actions taken by Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and more importantly, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), will trigger the arrival of the Kang we saw in the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania trailer… and he looks far more badass. That being said, with the knowledge that Marvel also plans to bring The Fantastic Four into the fold in 2025, fans are assuming their legendary antagonist Doctor Doom will follow – and one fan went ahead and imagined him played by Adam Driver.
Even casual Marvel fans should be familiar with Doctor Doom, as the character has been the main villain in both previous iterations of the Fantastic Four on screen. Victor Von Doom, in versions of the story told on screen, accompanies Reed Richards and the rest of the Four on their manned space mission that encounters cosmic rays. The rays have different effects on each member of the team, turning them into Mister Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and The Thing. Doom, meanwhile, is horribly disfigured by the accident, and vows revenge on his one-time friend turned rival, Reed.
The previous movies have struggled to get Doctor Doom right. Toby Kebbell, who played Doom in the ill-fated Josh Trank movie, has plenty of opinions as to why his version of the character didn’t work. But casting hasn’t really been the issue, as both Kebbell and Julian McMahon (from the Tim Story movies) are decent actors. Heck, McMahon says he wants to play the character again.
Adding a talent like Adam Driver could take things to the next level, however, and we totally can understand why Marvel Studios might consider Driver for the role. For one thing, he’s already very much in the Disney family, having played Kylo Ren in the three Skywalker legacy sequels the studio released. Maybe some folks would find it lazy casting Driver as another high-profile villain. But Doctor Doom wouldn’t have the same kind of redemption arc that was written for Kylo Ren, so Driver would have plenty more (and different) material to work with. And similar to Star Wars, he’d likely have excellent actors to play off of, because Marvel has to cast SOMEONE as the Fantastic Four, finally putting all of the incessant casting rumors to bed.
The Instagram photo above is cool, and basically uses Kylo Ren as its inspiration. Could Marvel Studios stay on this path, and bring Adam Driver into the MCU as a future villain ready to make life terrible for the Marvel heroes? Time, and Kevin Feige, will tell.
