After Fox botched two attempts at a big-screen Fantastic Four franchise, Marvel’s first family is set to finally get the movie they deserve as Kevin Feige spearheads a reboot set in the MCU. At Disney’s recent Investor Day, it was announced that the film will be directed by Jon Watts, the filmmaker behind the MCU’s two solo Spider-Man movies.
The subject of countless rumors since Disney acquired 21st Century Fox last year, the MCU’s Fantastic Four movie is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality. Doctor Doom would be the most obvious choice for the film’s main antagonist, but it might be time to finally bring some of the Fantastic Four’s other foes to the screen.
Should Be Doom: He’s The Fantastic Four’s Ultimate Villain
The MCU is often criticized for having a “villain problem.” This can be applied to many middle-of-the-road Marvel entries like Ant-Man and the Wasp and Thor: The Dark World, but when the franchise’s villains are great, it’s because they’re the perfect counterpart to the hero they’re fighting, like Killmonger or the Winter Soldier.
Doctor Doom is the ultimate enemy of the Fantastic Four. He’s the Joker to their Batman, the Loki to their Thor, and the Lex Luthor to their Superman. He’s the Moriarty to all four characters’ Sherlocks: he has the intellect to rival Reed Richards and Sue Storm, the self-confidence to rival Johnny Storm, and the brute force to rival Ben Grimm.
Someone Else: Doom Has Been The Villain Of Every Previous Fantastic Four Movie
Every previous attempt to turn the groundbreaking history of Fantastic Four comics into the next big superhero movie franchise has used Doctor Doom as the villain. He was even used as a villain in the sequel to the movie that already used him as a villain. It has been done to death.
At this point, if passive audiences see that yet another Fantastic Four reboot is coming out and Doctor Doom is the villain yet again, they might pass on it.
Should Be Doom: None Of The Previous Movies Got Doom Right
The characters called Victor Von Doom in Fox’s Fantastic Four movies are Victor Von Doom in name only. In the comics, Doctor Doom is one of the most powerful, terrifying, and complex villains in the universe, but the movies all twisted him beyond recognition. For starters, both versions forced a weird love triangle between Reed, Sue, and Doom, which isn’t present in any of the characters’ history on the page and has never worked in the slightest capacity on the screen. Also, in Fox’s movie-mangling Fant4stic reshoots, Toby Kebbell was replaced with a hideous CG crash test dummy.
The previous Fantastic Four movies may have heavily featured Doctor Doom as the villain, but since the character wasn’t really Doctor Doom, the MCU’s reboot can still feel fresh if it finally does the character justice and depicts him as a ruthless Latverian diplomat and not the obnoxious money man behind Reed’s research.
Someone Else: There Are Plenty Of Great Un-Adapted Villains To Choose From
While Doctor Doom is undoubtedly the most interesting villain regularly faced by the Fantastic Four, there are plenty of other great villains in the team’s rogues’ gallery.
From Namor to Mole Man to the quartet’s evil counterparts, the Frightful Four, the Fantastic Four have a ton of iconic villains that would translate beautifully to the screen and have yet to appear in a movie.
Should Be Doom: Fans Will Expect It
It seems like a given to use Doctor Doom as the villain when creating a Fantastic Four movie. Marvel fans have wanted Doom to be the MCU’s next big bad after Thanos since before the Fantastic Four reboot was even confirmed to be a reality.
If there’s one thing the MCU does exceptionally, it’s fan service. Moments like Steve Rogers wielding Mjolnir have been handled beautifully. Fans can’t wait to see the MCU’s incarnation of Doom, so why deprive them?
Someone Else: Some Of The Fantastic Four’s Enemies Are Already In The MCU
Instead of burdening the Fantastic Four reboot with introducing Doctor Doom in addition to the titular quartet, it could use one of the Fantastic Four villains who are already in the MCU.
Characters like Ego, Ronan the Accuser, and the Grandmaster each exist somewhere along the MCU’s timeline, while Kang the Conqueror has been confirmed to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, played by Jonathan Majors.
Should Be Doom: He’ll Be The Most Interesting Fantastic Four Villain To Cast
Since Marvel dominated the moviegoing landscape, bigger and bigger stars have been attracted to play the villains in their movies. Josh Brolin’s Thanos and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio stand out as a pair of great recent examples.
Out of the many villains in the Fantastic Four’s rogues’ gallery, Doctor Doom will be the most interesting one to cast. From Cillian Murphy to Christoph Waltz, some promising casting choices have been suggested by the fan base.
Someone Else: The MCU Shouldn’t Rush Doom’s Introduction
A rookie mistake made by many would-be superhero movie franchises is pulling the biggest villain out of the bag in the first movie. Jon Favreau wanted to include the Mandarin in the first Iron Man movie but resisted because he recognized that the Mandarin is Iron Man’s Emperor Palpatine, and Palpatine didn’t make a physical appearance until the third movie.
Doctor Doom shouldn’t be rushed into the MCU. He has the potential to pose an even bigger threat to the Avengers than Thanos, and as they did with the Mad Titan, Marvel should take their time building to his introduction.
Should Be Doom: Galactus Can Be The Bigger Villain Teased As The Next Thanos
Doctor Doom doesn’t have to be the next Thanos. Instead of starting the Fantastic Four solo series with a B-villain and saving Doom for an Avengers movie, Marvel can feature Doom right out of the gate and use him to build to the only Fantastic Four villain who poses an even bigger threat: Galactus.
As a gigantic cosmic being who wanders the universe eating planets to sate his appetite, Galactus is about as big as villains come. He can be the Thanos-sized big bad who’s teased in the post-credits scene. He would ape the threat of Doom without overshadowing him.
Someone Else: Other Villains Can Tie The Fantastic Four Into The Wider MCU
One of the main problems faced by the MCU’s Fantastic Four reboot is that it has to explain how the characters fit into the well-established world of the Avengers movies. Making Doctor Doom the villain would make this even more difficult, as the movie would also be burdened with setting up Latveria, which would add to the complicated exposition required to explain universe-building.
Some of the Fantastic Four’s other villains, on the other hand, are perfectly set up to tie into the wider MCU. Namor and his homeworld of Atlantis have been teased to be near Wakanda for over a decade, while Super-Skrull could easily tie in with Nick Fury’s Secret Invasion storyline on Disney+.
