The MCU’s Magic Can Fix A Repeated Doctor Doom Mistake

Doctor Doom is one of those characters from Marvel Comics that haven’t been adapted to the big screen correctly, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe can fix that with its concept of magic. The rights to some of the most popular characters from Marvel Comics have been scattered for years, which has made way for many adaptations of different superheroes and villains but has also highlighted some big mistakes when making the transition from the comic book pages to the big screen. Among those are the Fantastic Four and its villains, most notably Doctor Doom.

Doctor Victor Von Doom’s first film adaptation happened in the 1994 movie The Fantastic Four, directed by Oley Sassone, and with Joseph Culp playing this peculiar villain – however, the movie was never released, though bootleg recordings have circulated for years. Doctor Doom’s proper big-screen debut, then, arrived in 2005 in Tim Story’s Fantastic Four, now with Julian McMahon playing the role. Doctor Doom served as the main villain in this movie and the sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), in which the title team finally defeated him. The Fantastic Four and Doom went through a new version in 2015 in Josh Trank’s infamous Fantastic Four movie, where Toby Kebbell brought Victor Von Doom to life.

But even with different styles, directors, and stories, Doctor Doom seems to be one of those Marvel characters that are too hard to adapt, as fans feel is also the case of the Hulk and the Fantastic Four, but now that a new Fantastic Four movie is in development as part of the MCU (all thanks to the Disney/Fox merge), there’s a new chance to make things right with Victor Von Doom. The character is a polymath, scientist, and one of the most intelligent humans in the Marvel Universe, who has used his genius-level intellect for evil and selfish reasons rather than honest ones, but there’s one side to him that has been left behind and that can make his MCU introduction a lot smoother and thus fix past mistakes: Doom as a practitioner of magic.

In the comic books, Doctor Doom is a powerful sorcerer taught by Tibetan monks. Thanks to this, he’s capable of energy absorption and projection, manipulating electricity, creating protective shields, traveling through dimensions, summoning hordes of demonic creatures, and more. Now, the MCU hasn’t been shy when it comes to magic, and has stayed true to the powers and abilities of magic users as are Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch, and has established that magic exists without being too concerned about giving it a scientific explanation. The previous cinematic versions of Doctor Doom have been too focused on making him “realistic”, but by bringing him to the MCU and giving him those magic skills he has in the comics, Marvel would be fixing a repeated Doctor Doom mistake.

Embracing Doctor Doom’s sorcerer side will also help the character blend in with the rest of the MCU a lot better, especially now that it has officially introduced the concept of the multiverse, making Doom’s introduction a lot easier. The MCU’s version of Doctor Doom and the Fantastic Four is still in development and with no projected release date, but hopefully, it will do justice to the character by learning from the mistakes of the previous adaptations.