Doctor Doom's journey into the MCU before Robert Downey Jr. casting curveball
Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. will portray the metal-masked supervillain.
Marvel Studios sent shockwaves around Comic-Con International: San Diego's prestigious Hall H (and the rest of the planet) this weekend by unveiling Robert Downey Jr. as the face of Doctor Doom, yet the comic book supervillain has dominated casting chatter for ages.
A triangle of stars in Joseph Culp, Julian McMahon and Toby Kebbell are the only live-action portrayers of Victor von Doom up to this point, although Culp's adversarial efforts were condemned to the Hollywood graveyard 30 years ago in director Roger Corman's unreleased The Fantastic Four. Across the next three years, Oscar-winner Downey Jr. will turn up in the iconic metal mask for both Avengers: Doomsday and its sequel Avengers: Secret Wars.
But what of Noah Hawley's script or recent public outcries from the very talented Jon Hamm and Ben Mendelsohn? The character's situation could've looked wildly different on the big screen. With a divided MCU fanbase now preparing for Downey Jr's unforeseen return, there's never been a better time to dip into Doom's complicated journey to the Hall H limelight.
Fargo creator wrote a movie before the Disney-Fox merger
Rewind to the year 2017 and Fargo mastermind Noah Hawley was announced to be penning a Doctor Doom solo movie for 20th Century Fox. When Disney merged with the studio though - allowing groups like the X-Men and Fantastic Four to flow into the MCU - everything went pear-shaped.
Deadline reported in 2019 that the screenwriter "would love to make it" still, but Marvel's "25,000-year plan" might not go hand-in-hand with his vision. He sent in an early draft of the script, but Kevin Feige never made the next move.
"The phone hasn't rung," Hawley told the same publication in 2020. "I love the script and what I did with it. Marvel seems to have a plan for everything, it would be great if I fell into that plan."
Although there's been radio silence ever since, we do know that this binned project was set to take place in Doom's homeland of Latveria as a "kind of Cold War, geopolitical movie". Having spent a decade in self-isolation, the Big Bad would've invited a journalist to share his message to the world. "Is he a good person or bad person? We don't know anything about him," said Hawley.
Jon Hamm and Ben Mendelsohn expressed a desire to play supervillain
Best recognised as the advertising extraordinaire Don Draper in the series Mad Men, award-winning actor Jon Hamm voiced his interest in playing the super-strong, dark magician during an interview with Screen Rant.
On the subject of potentially joining the MCU, he revealed: "I've been a fan of Marvel Comics and comics in general since I was probably single digits. I think there are tons of stories that I'm familiar with, at least, that are still out there to be told. Hopefully, whatever their plans are, they include me. There are certainly a lot of stories in the X-Men world to be told. Fantastic Four as well, [like] Doctor Doom. There are so many great things out there. But yeah, I hope I get a chance. Who knows?"
We do live in the Age of the Multiverse after all, so that Doom dream could yet materialise.
Another A-lister to find the role appealing is none other than Ben Mendelsohn, whose CV boasts Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ready Player One, and The Place Beyond the Pines. What may have ultimately scuppered this idea is the fact he already plays Skrull agent Talos in the MCU - although Downey Jr's Iron Man connection didn't stand in the way.
In conversation with GQ earlier this year, the Australian suggested he'd "almost give my eyes and teeth to play Doctor Doom", the "great unread Marvel character that could and should be done".
Mendelsohn remains grateful for what's landed on his desk at least, adding: "I got to work with [Steven] Spielberg, and I got to work with Terrence Malick, and I got to work with Ridley Scott. It's been incredible. I didn't think this ship was coming."
Julian McMahon was keen to reprise Doom in the MCU
Thanks to the Fantastic Four duology released between 2005 and 2007, Julian McMahon was a whole generation's Doom, but the two blockbusters (concluding with Rise of the Silver Surfer) are incredibly low-scoring when it comes to legacy.
The same year that 20th Century Fox rebooted the franchise with Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell taking over as Marvel's first family, McMahon recounted never being able "to express Doctor Doom the way that I saw Doctor Doom" up on screen.
He told ComicBook.com: "If Marvel Studios got Doctor Doom back, and I could play him the way I always wanted to, as a snivelling, conniving, freaky guy, I would do that for sure. There's so much there!"
Toby Kebbell lamented "goofy" version from 2015 reboot
The 2015 version also saw RocknRolla's Tony Kebbell stepping behind the evil mask for director Josh Trank. A colossal flop at the box office, which resulted in a planned sequel being cancelled, talk of this Fantastic Four spread across a Forbes interview with the actor two years ago.
"There was a lot more that could have been done to make that a better thing," argued Kebbell. "There's fans for it. I truly believe Doom is an awesome villain, he's an excellent villain and they kind of always just do something goofy with it. It's a shame. I honestly feel that way.
"At that time Marvel was already the Apex predator, it was already the one to beat," he continued. "Why that effort wasn't put in, I don't know. I truly hope that someone does create a great version because I truly believe... I'm a big fan of Doom as a character. He's awesome. So, yeah. I hope they do it just right."
Do it for Kebbell, RDJ!
Unwrapping Downey Jr's curveball casting
Which brings us to the shocking news of Downey Jr's future incarnation; just how will this work after his 11-year stretch as Tony Stark? Granted, he sacrificed himself in 2019 epic Avengers: Endgame, but does Marvel's casting curveball simply stink of desperation considering its output has been on the decline since he bowed out in such seismic fashion?
Throw in the reality that the next two Avengers movies were originally built around the multiversal conqueror Kang - to be reprised by Jonathan Majors after setup appearances in the series Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. In December 2023, Majors's double conviction for assault and harassment saw him fired by Marvel, thus causing one hell of a headache for Phase 6 and the apparent search for a saviour.
"I like playing complicated characters," Oppenheimer star Downey Jr told the Hall H crowd, while also cryptically writing "New mask, same task" on Instagram. His MCU co-stars Jeremy Renner and Gwyneth Paltrow weren't exactly singing from the same song sheet with their responses though, commenting: "Bringing the DOOM!!!" and "I don't get it, are you a baddie now?".
Downey Jr recently confessed to Variety that he'd grown "surprisingly open-minded" to returning as Iron Man, so the question is: with the multiverse blown wide open, is his Doom some sort of Tony variant gone wrong?
