Will Doctor Doom Be the Main Villain in Marvel’s ‘Fantastic Four’ Movie?
With a new Fantastic Four film in development by Marvel, many are wondering if Doctor Doom, the iconic villain of the superhero team, will make an appearance. A Fantastic Four reboot film was confirmed to be in development at Marvel in December 2020. The film became possible after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and its subsidiary 21st Century Fox, thus gaining the film rights to the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Deadpool. Meanwhile, the film is slowly starting to become a reality, but has suffered some setbacks.
It was initially set to be directed by Jon Watts, who directed the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man trilogy. However, Watts dropped out as director because he needed a break from the superhero genre. The film recently got a new director, Matt Shakman. It still lacks its lead cast, though, and many details are being kept under wraps. Also, its release date got pushed back to February 14, 2025, after it was initially set to release on November 8, 2024.
With a tentative director and release date now in place, fans are theorizing about the project’s details. Rumors have been abundant about whether John Krasinski will return to portray Reed Richards after he portrayed a variant of him in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, other rumors have claimed Penn Badgley is in talks for the role. Some fans also started picking their favorite actor to portray the villain, Doctor Doom. New rumors suggest that we might’ve been wrong to assume his prominence in Fantastic Four, though.
Is Doctor Doom the villain in Fantastic Four?
Doctor Doom is practically synonymous with the Fantastic Four. He has been the archenemy of Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four over a long comic book history. Plus, he has been very well-received as a comic book villain. Meanwhile, in both live-action adaptions—Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four (2015)—Doctor Doom was the big villain. He was portrayed by Julian McMahon in 2005 and by Toby Kebbell in 2015.
As a result, many thought it was a given that he would be the villain in Marvel’s new Fantastic Four film. According to Jeff Sneider on an episode of his podcast, The Hot Mic, this is not the case. Sneider stated, “I’m told that Doctor Doom is not the villain in Fantastic Four… that Doctor Doom will be introduced, basically, in, like, a mid-credit or post-credit scene.” For now, it is just a rumor and has not been officially confirmed. However, the idea certainly is interesting. Doctor Doom seemed to be the most obvious choice for the villain, but if he’s not in it, it leads to the question of who could take his place.
While some might be disappointed if Doctor Doom hardly appears in the film, it actually would open the door for exciting new villains to be introduced. Villains like Galactus, Molecule Man, or Silver Surfer could make their way into the film. It remains to be seen if Doctor Doom will have a large, minor, or nonexistent part in the Fantastic Four film. However, it can’t hurt to muse on what Marvel villain could potentially steal his spot in the film.
(featured image: Marvel comics)
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