Overlord Pitch: Marvel Studio's Doctor Doom

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So it's 0600, and I am completely and utterly exhausted.  I didn't sleep well yesterday and I spent most of my evening before work playing Cards Against Humanity with my friends.  Rest assured, I'd be going to Hell if Hell was real.  Some truly offensive plays were made in that game.  So I'm sitting here with another six hours of work left, I forgot my laptop so I can't do much work, and I ran out of caffeine.

Gotta preoccupy myself somehow, and Fantastic Four was a topic of discussion.  Specifically what Marvel Studios should do with the franchise should they get their hands back on it.  What would my first move be out of the gate?


MARVEL STUDIOS'

DOCTOR DOOM

Doom

Boogitah-wha?!  Give Doctor Doom his own movie?!  What madness is this?!

Yes, give Doctor fuckin' Doom his own movie.  There's a ton of reasons to give Victor von Doom the spotlight independent of the Fantastic Four.

Reason One

The Villain Movie


At this point, most of us can agree that Marvel Studio's MCU is a well-oiled machine.  They know how to adapt superheroes to the big screen.  However, they are often looking for the next big thing.  Guardians of the Galaxy was a gamble that paid off.  What we have not seen from Marvel is a villain when the protagonist is a villain. 

However, if there's one thing that could be considered a weakness of the MCU it's their selection of villains.  Now I'm not of the mind that the villain should be more interesting than the hero.  That's actually been a criticism I've leveled at Batman movies over the years.  Bruce Wayne regularly gets overshadowed by his rogues gallery in both films and comics.  This same criticism can be leveled at some of Spider-Man's films, as well.  The villain should be there to complement the hero's development and journey rather than overshadow it.

The MCU, however, hasn't always been great with either model.  It's had some truly great villains (Loki, Ultron, Kingpin, Killian) but those are few and far in between.  Some do a good job of complementing the hero (Red Skull, Ronin, Yellowjacket) while not overstepping their bounds in the narrative.  But for the most part, a lot of villains rise up then get disposed of unceremoniously.  It's very rare for an MCU villain to survive past their debut.  And then we have our weaker MCU villains.  Malekith the Accursed and Whiplash rank highest in this regard.

But Doom?  Doom's a goddamn rock star.  I will argue day and night that Doctor Doom is the greatest comic book villain of all time.  His history is complex, rich, and he is not defined by his nemesis like many comic book villains.  Doom remains his own man; a man who threatens the entire Marvel universe on a regular basis.  If there's one villain who can carry his own film, it's Victor von Doom.

Reason Two

No Sharing Screen Time


Perhaps one of the biggest errors I've regularly seen Fox do was tie Doom's origin directly to the Fantastic Four's.  This is a mistake.  Every time they've forced Doom and the FF to share an origin narrative, it's Doom that gets boned for screen time.  Instead, by giving Doom and the FF separate movies it allows you to flesh out the Four and Doom separately, giving everyone the care they deserve.  Victor needs room to breathe while being established, and the FF need time to develop their family dynamics.  If you need an antagonist for the FF to go against in their debut movie, toss a lesser villain under the underdeveloped bus.  Molecule Man or Puppet Master are great Fantastic Four villains that could be used for just such a purpose.  Stop giving Doctor Doom the short end of the stick.

Reason Three

Not Defined By One Hero


By developing Doom on his own, you can also establish him as an MCU wide threat rather than have him hamstrung just to the Fantastic Four.  Victor has been an enemy of just about everyone in the Marvel Universe at some point.  He's thrown down with Iron Man, Black Panther, Spider-Man (one time hilariously), Captain America, Silver Surfer, Nick Fury, Thor, Doctor Strange, and even Magneto.  He has complex relationships with everyone, perhaps most of all with Stephen Strange.

Doomquest

There are so many opportunities for stories between Doom and various heroes, he could easily be the next big string puller in a post-Thanos MCU.  Hell, we could even see a Doc Strange and Doom team up movie against Mephisto.  The seeds for that movie could be planted right here, in the Doctor Doom movie.

Reason Four

Pre-Assembled


The Doctor Doom movie blueprint is practically pre-written already, as well.  Let me tell you about The Books of Doom...

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The Books of Doom was a six issue series published in 2006 telling the history of Victor von Doom.  It began with his days as a gypsy, constantly harassed by the King of Latveria's troops.  It covers his mother's deal with the devil, his father's death, and eventually his acceptance into an American university where he meets Reed Richards.  There, he conducts the fateful experiment to retrieve his mother from hell that left him scarred.

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His scars and what he sees leaves him haunted, so he travels the world looking for the means to fight his nightmares.  He hikes all the way tot he Himalayas where he finds a group of monks.  Combining science with mysticism once again, he constructs the armor that will shield him from the harms of his nightmares.  With this new technology at his fingertips, he goes back to Latveria to liberate it from its horrific tyrant.

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Until finally, he does it and takes the throne of Latveria for himself:

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The Books of Doom covers this all in a very concise yet complex light, and if anyone were to finally go for the comic accurate Doom I and many crave, this is the surest bet towards success.

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A Doctor Doom movie just makes a ton of sense.  I'm certainly crossing my fingers that Marvel Studios agrees and that Fox buckles and trades them the FF for the X-Men TV rights.  Doctor Doom deserves better.

HAIL GOD DOOM!


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Desgar's avatar
This needs to happen. :thumbsup: I haven't watched much of the FF movies, but heard more than enough online to know that Doom clearly deserves a better setup than what's he been given.