Doom is coming to the MCU! No, we don’t mean the box office projections for the rest of Marvel’s Phase 5 (Editor: sorry Kevin, low blow, we know), we’re talking about arguably the greatest comicbook villain of all time, Doctor Doom, and the rumors are Marvel is lining up a mega-star to play the not-so-good doctor.
Yes, the recent MCU scuttlebutt is that Disney is keen to line up some A-list talent for the upcoming Fantastic Four MCU reboot, and the company wants Oppenheimer superstar Cillian Murphy to play the infamous Marvel villain Victor von Doom.
Now, as with all rumors you should take this with a pinch of salt. But this does come from MyTimeToShine who’s about as reliable a ‘scooper’ as you can get (they previously confirmed the What If season 2 episode list and claim to be the one who leaked Krasinski’s Doctor Strange cameo) so there may be something to this particular rumor.
We totally understand why Disney would want someone of Murphy’s caliber to play Doctor Doom. The studio needs to undo the damage done to the Marvel character‘s reputation by the previous Fantastic Four movies (none of which are likely to feature on a list of the best superhero movies).
We’re not trying to be rude, but so far, we’ve had two incarnations of Marvel’s first family (three movies in total), and none of them got Doom right. In the first films, Julian McMahon nailed the character’s narcissism, but he lacked Doom’s genius. As a result, he came across as an incompetent ass.
Then, in Fant4stic, we got Toby Kebbell’s take on the character, which was basically Doctor Doom in name only, seriously. We’re not blaming Kebbell for his version of Doom, but his desire to destroy the Earth (rather than rule it) made him more like the villain Annihilus than the Four’s armored nemesis.
Cillian would certainly bring the charisma and gravitas we expect from Doom. The question is, would he be up for it? Well, he’s no stranger to playing comicbook baddies, previously playing the Batman villain Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, but that was a long time ago.
Since then, Murphy’s led one of the best TV series ever made, Peaky Blinders, to greatness, and he’s tipped for some Oscar attention after playing the title character in Nolan’s latest masterpiece Oppenheimer (read our Oppenheimer review for more on that). Could Murphy be too serious an actor to play around with the capes and cowls crowd?
Honestly, probably not. Marvel got Robert Redford to appear in Captain America and Avenengers Endgame, so we’ve no doubt Feige and co could land Murphy. And if they don’t, they could just ask Kebbell again. He told The Digital Fix he’d be delighted to return but that he wasn’t expecting the call anytime soon.
“Listen, I’d be honored. Marvel has turned a huge corner in how they’ve made things work. I know some fans may not always feel this way,” he explained. “But in the privacy of Newark, in England, where I used to read comics with my older brothers, Guardians of the Galaxy was not like the movie they gave us. No one was like, ‘Damn, gotta get the new Guardians of the Galaxy and see what that squirrel is doing.’ But they turned it into a fantastic film, and I hope they do the same with Fantastic Four.”
If you love the world Marvel Studios has built, check out our guide explaining how to watch all the Marvel movies in order. We’ve also taken a glimpse into the future to bring you everything you need to know about all the upcoming Marvel movies as we move from Marvel’s Phase 5 and Phase 6.
Finally if you want a break from the MCU, we have a list of all the new movies and best movies for you to enjoy.