7 Reasons The MCU Needs Dr. Doom More Than The Fantastic Four
So it’s been a few years since the last god-awful rendition of a live-action Fantastic Four film and you know what that means Kiddos! Fantastic Four Reboot 3: The Reckoning.Yep. Yet another reboot for the first family of Marvel comics is sure to be on its way now that the rights are back with Marvel.
I’m just as excited as anyone to see what the MCU’s interpretation of the Fantastic Four could look like, but something I’m much more excited about is the opportunity for a film to FINALLY get the man, the legend, Victor Von Doom, captured correctly and for the first time honestly portraying one of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful, complex, and frightening Villains.
A Victor Von Doom who is played and written correctly could be just as big if not, bigger than the big purple baddie we all know and love. In the comics Doom is a name that sends shrill quakes of fear through the spines of anyone unlucky enough to come across him and he’s got a truly fantastic (hah) and tragic backstory filled with magic, demons, long-lost mothers, magical guerilla warfare and all that’s before Victor ever hears the name Reed Richards. So I’ve decided to take some time to discuss a few of the key reasons why the MCU desperately needs a Dr. Doom film far more than it needs his fantastic counterparts.
1) Tony Strange? Doctor Stark?
Dr. Doom is the perfect amalgamation of the technological prowess of Tony Stark and the mystical powers of someone like Dr. Strange. Victor Von Doom is basically a smarter Tony Stark that does magic (He’s even taken up the mantle of Ironman in Tony’s absence) and his crazy origin story contains aspects of both the scrappy engineer in dire straits and the mystical spiritualism that influence the first Ironman and Doctor Strange movies. The thing that the movies have simply refused to acknowledge is the fact that Dr. Doom is much more than just the rival of Reed Richards.
The list of Dr. Doom’s enemies is a long one and while Reed may be his greatest rival intellectually, I’m not convinced he’s at the top of that list. Doom is routinely ranked within the top 2 most intelligent people in the marvel universe (trading spots with Reed and Valeria Richards frequently) and although he’s definitely no Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Strange has served as Doom’s right-hand man because as Dr. Strange himself puts it “He is very, very good at playing God”. Beyond that Doom has been practicing the mystical arts since his youth, something he inherited from his mother.
It seems fitting to kick off the dark side of the MCU with a villain whose origins so closely mirror that of their greatest heroes. It’s easy to see how with just a few different choices, just a couple adjustments to his outlook, and maybe a reconciliation with that damned ego of his, he could’ve been right up there with the heroes that oppose him so fiercely.
2) Dark Side Of The Moon
Marvel has spent the last decade building up their heroes and if Infinity War has shown us anything it’s that it is definitely time to put the spotlight some villains. As the promotional material for Venom so aptly stated: “There are enough heroes”. One of the only correct moves the DCEU made, besides having the courage to produce Wonder Woman as a standalone film, was shedding a spotlight on the other side of the coin, the dark side of the moon as it were, the villains. One of the biggest problems with the MCU since its inception has been the lackluster villains. It’s a problem that has a simple enough solution: EXPLORE THE VILLAINS.
Take a second and think of your favorite movie in the MCU, chances are that if it’s not Black Panther, Spider-man: Homecoming or Infinity War, then your least favorite part of that same film is the weak antagonist. I think a few of the gleaming examples are found in the Iron Man sequels where Tony Stark faces off against the lackluster Whiplash and good Ole Justin Hammer featuring the fake Mandarin (probably still one of greatest travesties to take place where a Marvel villain is concerned). The problem with most of these movies is they spend so much time focusing on the growth of the protagonist that the antagonist barely makes any sense and when they do manage to make sense it’s just like, who cares? Who are you and what’s your name mysterious antagonist from Thor 2? I still have no idea what your goal was.
With proper treatment and consideration Dr. Doom could kick off an entirely different direction for the MCU to grow and it’s definitely a gap that needs to be filled.
3) Doom Is Not A Villain. He’s THE Villain.
Assuming the Avengers manage to somehow take the universe back from the clenched gauntlet of Thanos’ meaty fist there will definitely be a large void to fill. I can think of no one better to fill that over-sized void than the human that has possessed the infinity gauntlet multiple and raised himself to a God at least twice. Doom is probably most famous through his association to the Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four, but Doom has played antagonist to nearly all the major players in the Marvel universe on both ends of the spectrum at one point or another, several times taking them all on by himself. He has often been written as a counterpoint to Tony Stark’s heroism and ideals as well.
Marvel has spoken on the more cosmic places it plans on taking the MCU and if Guardians Of The Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok are any hint at where the MCU is heading I can think of no better twist than to have the next big bad be a homegrown villain and a universal threat. Doom, for better or worse, shows humanity what it’s capable of. He is a human being born into most dire straits and from these humble beginnings Doom builds himself up.
First Doom takes it upon himself to build his people up through the use of technology and magic, then after a brief stint in college and an explosive attempt to save his mother from the literal devil (more on that later) and some time spent abroad, he comes home, builds his country up with that same brilliant use of magic and technology building his home the envy of the developed world. Doom may be the big bad, he may play antagonist to the heroes of the Marvel universe, but he is also a single human who has routinely stepped up to the godlike powers of Galactus, the Beyonder, plus the big purple baddie himself and come out on top.
If you skew your perspective just a bit, just a smidge, you may find yourself agreeing with Doom and maybe even aspiring to have his courage and the strength he carries to make tough decisions whenever necessary to keep humanity safe. Doom’s more than capable of being the big bad but more than that he’s the kind of morally ambiguous antagonist that is capable of getting the audience to truly question what they believe in.
4) Doom May Be THE Villain, But He’s Not The Villain You Think He Is.
Doom has no doubt done some truly terrible things, like the time that he caused the collapse of the multiverse or the time that he sacrificed the love of his life in a black magic ritual so that he’d gain neigh unlimited power he then uses to torture the Fantastic Four and send Sue and Reed’s 7-Year-old son Franklin for a little playdate with a few thousand demons in hell. But hey, when you’re trying to make the world a place without worry, want, and war you gotta take the time to indulge your guilty pleasures; some pleasures are just guiltier than others. The truly surprising thing about most of Doom’s atrocious acts is that most of them are backed by an intense desire to save others.
When a magical deal made to save her people from turmoil goes wrong, Cynthia Von Doom, Victor’s mother, has her soul stolen by Mephesto (basically Marvel’s version of the devil) Doom does everything in his power to get her back and I mean everything. Eventually, a deal is brokered between Doom and Mephesto, giving Doom the opportunity to fight for his mother’s freedom once a year.
Can you even imagine how hard it must’ve been to create armor that would manage to fit around Doom’s gigantic balls? Dueling the devil in his home territory every year and when it’s all said done Doom’s just like “Alright, man. I’ll see you next year.” Doom is fearless and he pursues his ideals relentlessly for the good of the people in his life and the people under his rule in Latveria.
5) Supreme Leader Doom
Did I mention that the dude’s a freaking king? “Enforced Monarch” whatever you want to call it. Doom runs an entire country. And he does a pretty good job of it too. If you’re not too familiar with Doom and the role he plays in his home nation of Latveria you probably hear Supreme Leader and immediately think “great, another dictator destroying his country and people for profit” and you’d be absolutely right. Just kidding. The people of Latveria love and idolize Doom almost as much as Doom loves and idolizes himself referring to him as “The Good Doctor”.
Doom single-handedly lifted Latveria out of squalor when he dethroned the previous monarch. He elevated his motherland from being a third world country to such a high degree that it’s unrivaled by nearly every other country in the world besides one, Wakanda, and even that’s debatable after Doom successfully invades Wakanda on his own and captures its massive storage of Vibranium. Vibranium that was guarded by the Panther God Bast himself. And just what do you imagine to have happened during this meeting of Wakanda’s guardian deity and the invading leader of another country? Not only was Doom judged by Bast and found worthy, but it’s also revealed that in every possible version of the future there is only one where humanity lives without evil, want or hurt and that my friends, is a world ruled by Doom (as paradoxical as that may sound).
Bast sees in Doom exactly what the people of Latveria see, A true leader with the courage and power to create a peaceful existence for his subjects if you don’t believe me just ask the Panther God him(her)self.
“I, too, have looked into the million pathways of the future. I, too, have seen the one path that leads to a world without evil, without hurt, without want. And though my own soul cries out in denial, I MUST act according to the truth.” -Bast
Immediately following this statement Bast allows Doom to take the ENTIRE storage of Wakanda’s vibranium (which is capable of greatly improving magical prowess) in order to enhance his powers to a level which he can successfully impose his will on the world.
When the panther God trusts you more than his own anointed king and herald, then you know you’re on the right track. See, with all the talk about keeping Doom out of power, all of the Fantastic 4’s efforts to dethrone Doom, when given ultimate power, which he has achieved several times through sheer strength of will, Doom simply does whatever is within his power to give his subjects their best possible future no matter how far the scope of his power reaches be it Latveria, Earth or even the universe as a whole. But hey, with great power comes great responsibility, right? Uncle Ben would be proud.
6) Fantastic Flops
The major issue that I have with every incarnation of the Fantastic Four films (and there are many) is that they are too busy. For some reason the writers’ and studios behind these films have always tasked themselves with making the first film in the series an origin for five people. In my opinion, this is completely unnecessary and it doesn’t even make that much sense. Doom’s origin and the origin of his powers is in no way linked to the Fantastic Four. They’ve taken it on themselves to create an origin movie for five key characters that we’re meant to care about and understand and eventually, at least in Doom’s case, come to fear and dislike. Usually what this looks like is making Doom a rich asshole with very little people skills, an intense unwarranted (and usually unexplained) hatred of Reed Richards, and a love of only two things, chaos and Sue Storm. This completely betrays everything that Doom is and it completely disregards his character and pushes him as some whiny rich guy that just can’t stop throwing petty tantrums because Reed is “better” than him.
Victor’s actions and anger at Reed Richards and Ben Grimm makes a lot more sense when you realize how he had been betrayed by them both, like when Ben Grimm sabotaged the machine Doom had built to transport himself to hell to save his mother while attending Empire State. The exact same machine that later blows up in Victor’s face, disfiguring him sending him down the path that would lead him to Doom. Or how after his expulsion from Empire State because of that explosion Victor travels the globe in search of himself and in his absence Reed piggybacks off of some of Victor’s inventions and uses them to amass wealth and scientific acclaim. All things you’d never get a chance to see in a movie designed to build these men into heroes while discarding their shortcomings and highlighting Doom’s villainy in the worst ways.
It seems to me that the fix for these issues is simple. Give Doom the respect he deserves. Give him the spotlight and let him romp around in his own movie, so that he can become the fear-inducing Monarch that Latveria and the Fantastic Four know him to be. And for Doom’s sake stop trying to stuff his origin story into the initial Fantastic Four film. Just stop. It doesn’t belong there and it never works. Give the audience, the Fantastic Four, and the MCU the antagonist they deserve because Doom’s last incarnation was simply an abomination.
7) Best Dialogue In The Business
Under the correct team of writer’s Doom is a majestic, eloquent marvel to behold. Sophisticated and intelligent, cold and calculating, “Doom is no man’s second choice.”
as well he should be. Dr. Doom has some of the greatest dialogue in all of Marvel comics and it’s such a shame that it’s failed to have been brought out by his writing team. There’s definitely a way to bring one of Doom’s best characteristics out without turning him into the stereotypical chatty villain he’s been displayed as previously. Take this speech from Ultimate Fantastic Four for example:
“I was perfect. I have always been perfect. You were never perfect. Scrawny little effort of a man. I can recite my family tree through six hundred years and I can recite the correct superpositioning code.
Even Now. Even Now. You never understood that science is an art, not a system. Modern science comes from Descartes who said that the conquest of nature is achieved through measurement and number. Do you know how he came to that realization? He had a psychedelic experience with mushrooms in which an angel told him this was so.
Your precious reason is all based on a hallucination. And you pit your “Phase-space theory” against my infallible instinctual knowledge of what is right? Your system was so utterly wrong that not even I could fix it.” -Dr. Doom
Damn. Definitely, need to save him a seat at the roast of Reed Richards. All this muttered before he goes on to sacrifice himself in order to save the six billion people populating the earth of the ultimate universe. It shows what complex and extraordinary character Doom is that he can go from verbally dominate Reed Richards like a Latverian Slim Shady and then go on to save his life along with everyone else on earth by sacrificing himself. This is the type of villainous dialogue the MCU and it’s audience is in desperate need of. We may have had some of that craving satisfied with Thanos finally making an appearance in Infinity War after 3 phases, but it’s something that was severely lacking in a lot of the movies leading up to it.
Doom is a highly intelligent and highly capable human being that has spent his life in pursuit of great knowledge and power he’s not simply a villain, a monarch, a genius or a sorcerer. Doom simply is.
The good news is that Noah Hawley ( you may know him from his work creating the Legion series on FX) has already completed his script for the Doom solo film, but with the rights changing hands who knows when or even if we’ll see anything come from that work.
How do you feel about Dr. Doom entering the MCU? Do you think they’ll finally get Victor right or do you think he’ll be stuffed into another Fantastic Four origin movie?
Feel free to reach out on twitter if you wanna connect.