The MCU needs Doctor Doom. Not to take anything away from the MCU’s next big bad, the super villain known as Kang (Jonathan Majors), who is set to take center stage with the release ofAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: Kang’s fine, with his MCU arc beginning with the final episode ofLoki’s first season. It’s where we meet theKang variant He Who Remains, whose death makes the Sacred Timeline split into the multiverse, where the once defeated multiple Kang variants rise again, which includes the Kang the Conqueror variant set to cause grief for the MCU going forward.
It’s just that… well, the previous big bad, Thanos (Josh Brolin), was a genocidal, alien warlord from Titan, one that could only be taken down by the combined might of the MCU’s heroes and the sacrifice of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Prior to that, Ultron (James Spader), the big bad robot, and prior tothat, Norse god Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and the alien threat of the Chitauri. That means so far there’s been aliens, gods, robots, and now a powerful human that flits in and out of time, existing across multiple timelines (it’s a long story). In other words, why can’t we just have a normal villain, one that the public recognizes? There has yet to be a grounded threat in the MCU, one that is capable of great upheaval in the world, but one without alien powers or Infinity Stones, and one that unites and brings the MCU home to face a real-world threat. The MCU has already used villains that require people to Google who the hell they even are. The MCU needs Doctor Doom, and needs him soon.
Who Is Doctor Doom?
Doctor Doom is one of Marvel’s earliest, and arguably greatest, comic book villains. Created byJack KirbyandStan Lee, who came up with the name as one that was “eloquent in its simplicity — magnificent in its implied menace.” He was born Victor von Doom in a Romani camp under the rule of the Baron, just outside Haasenstadt, Latveria. His witch mother had died when he was young, and his father, unfairly accused of murdering the Baron’s wife, would die after fleeing into the mountains with Victor. Victor returned to the camp, and the brilliant young man coupled his skill with technology with his knowledge of his mother’s witchcraft to create fantastic instruments to protect the Roma people and gain revenge on the Baron. The dean of Empire State University in the U.S. caught wind of the wunderkind and invited him to study at the university.
It was at the university Doom would meet Reed Richards, who would become his rival. After a machine Doom created exploded, it damaged his face and led to his expulsion from the university, which he would blame Richards for. Doom traveled the world, eventually ending up in Tibet where he would forge his iconic armor and an iron mask, which would become permanently bonded to his face when Doom placed it on before it had cooled. Now calling himself Doctor Doom, he would go on to lead a revolution that would overthrow the Baron and lead to Doom becoming king of Latveria, and from this position of power and the resources of the country, Doom would repeatedly seek world domination. And would come close on many occasions.
Doctor Doom Is Ingrained in Marvel… and That’s a Good Thing for the MCU
Although primarily depicted as The Fantastic Four’s archenemy, the truth is that Doom’s longtime presence in Marvel has seen him cross paths with, well, almost everyone: Daredevil, Ant-Man, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, and more. His mastery of sorcery rivals that of the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange (even being considered for Sorcerer Supreme at one time). His intellect has not only fostered technological marvels but masterfully manipulated others into affording Doom political strengths and lordship over lands. In reality, if it wasn’t for his arrogance, Doctor Doom would likely not only succeed in world domination, but be able to keep it for ages. Doom has also been present in most, if not all, of the big Marvel events likeSecret WarsandCivil War II(and even featured in the 1981 DC and Marvel crossoverSuperman and Spider-Man).
Why does this matter? Because Doom is the one single commonality across the MCU as it stands now, and the open door for The Fantastic Four to come in. His history in the comics has seen him propose an alliance between Latveria and Wakanda (which Black Panther and his wife Storm turned down). Doom did make an alliance with Atlantis, aka Talokan, and turned Latveria into an Atlantean refugee camp when Atlantis was destroyed (another truth about Doom: he’s not always such a bad guy). One of his earliest battles with The Fantastic Four saw him trick Namor into teaming up to take on the heroic team, during which he ended up in the world of Sub-Atomica, a planet in the Quantum Realm. His use of magic links him with the other magic users in the Marvel universe, and it was Doom that led the villains during the events of the firstSecret Wars, eventually draining the Beyonder’s power for his own use. Doctor Doom’s association with The Fantastic Four makes him the most logical entry point for Reed Richards and the gang. What the MCU has in Doctor Doom is a sandbox, for lack of a better comparison, a character that can be used in almost every story line going forward; as a politician, a dictator, a savior, a powerful and driven super-villain.
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The MCU Can Save Doctor Doom
The MCU may need Doctor Doom, but the reverse is also true: Doctor Doom needs the MCU. His film portrayals to date are laughable, at best. InRoger Corman’s unreleased 1994The Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom (Joseph Culp) looks like the Terminator in a green dress. The 2000sFantastic FourandFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surferdepiction, while better than 1994 Doom, is still not quite right, with Doom (Julian McMahon) a dead ringer for Destro from theG.I. Joecartoons. The worst, however, is also the most recent, with Doctor Doom (Troy Kebbell) some weird hybrid of Mr. Freeze, Gorr, and Doctor Manhattan in 2015’sFantastic Four. That film would be the lastFFproject distributed by 20th Century Fox before the studio was picked up by Disney, so Marvel doesn’t need to try and negotiate appearances in the MCU, like they have had to with the Spider-Man rights that Sony owns. The MCU can salvage the character from his lowest point on film, and Doctor Doom can save the MCU from getting there.
