Ever since the acquisition of 20th Century Fox meant we’d get X-Men and Fantastic Four characters in the MCU one day, the fandom has excitedly theorized one question in particular: Who will play Doctor Doom?
The answer was finally given at the weekend when Robert Downey Jr. was revealed to be the next actor to don the metal mask of Latveria’s favorite dictator. There’s since been plenty of divisive feelings about the casting for a variety of reasons. But the part that irked me most was this represented another big-screen outing for Doctor Doom that may not actually give us Doctor Doom as he should be. Given how poorly that went the last two times, it doesn’t fill me with the greatest confidence that the big-screen Doom curse is getting broken just yet.
Before we look back at the character’s poor past in cinema, it should be said that if Downey Jr. is being cast as Doctor Doom via the Tony Stark variant then it is frustrating. However, the MCU’s story has been going into the multiverse post-Endgame. Before Kang was culled from the upcoming saga, the idea of multiple variations of the Big Bad was the point of a future Avengers movie. So it wouldn’t be surprising if this is merely a (very expensive) bums-in-seats stunt to draw up hype before we get a Victor von Doom version (or versions) of the character.
Before Avengers: Doomsday, it’s been Doom & gloom
But whatever this turns out to be for the character, the torrid cinematic past is still there as a reminder. There are many things to dislike about Tim Story’s Fantastic Four movies, but its handling of Doom was especially poor. Nip/Tuck star Julian McMahon wasn’t necessarily a bad choice, given his narcissistic role in that series. But his prissy pretty boy act made his eventual rebirth feel far less grandiose than the character deserved. It’s not like all that much changes in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. In fact, McMahon feels even less suited to Doom and feels secondary to the actual story of Galactus and Silver Surfer.
Josh Trank’s 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four shows early promise, but by the director’s own admission, it’s two different movies. Unfortunately, the point at which it really dips in quality coincides with the origin of Doctor Doom (this time played by Toby Kebbell). It’s poor casting more than anything. Kebbell has nothing about him that screams Victor von Doom, and the garbled mess spilling out behind Doom’s rise only hurts it more. It probably doesn’t help that the Doom design is terrible, either.
So it’s admittedly a low bar to get over for Robert Downey Jr. in Avengers: Doomsday. But it’s hard to shake the gloom from Doom on the big screen until we truly see him in the green and silver of the villain.
To date, neither previous depiction has come close to nailing the rivalry between Reed Richards and Victor von Doom. His hatred of Reed drives so much of the character’s ego and aggressive pettiness, and we only ever got surface-level versions of that on the big screen.
At least there are intriguing aspects that mirror Tony and Victor’s respective origins and life paths. So, hopefully, Downey Jr. channels this, and it means Avengers: Doomsday is finally where Doctor Doom gets the big-screen treatment the character deserves.
