EntertainmentMoviesAction MoviesMarvel MoviesFantastic FourRobert Downey Jr. could make a perfect Doctor Doom - if he nails these 5 things from comicsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentMoviesAction MoviesMarvel MoviesFantastic FourRobert Downey Jr. could make a perfect Doctor Doom - if he nails these 5 things from comicsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Marvel Entertainment)
Doctor Doom is one of Marvel’s most popular villains, and that popularity will be put to the test asMarvel Studiosis now anchoring the next two Avengers movies on the masked menace. And to bring Doom to life,Marvel has made the polarizing move of casting the actor perhaps most associated with the MCU, former Tony Stark/Iron Man Robert Downey, Jr.
As difficult as it may be given the vast, inscrutable layers of in-universe and behind-the-scenes finagling that could be at play in putting RDJ in the Doom mask, it’s time to set aside the ups-and-downs of the actor, and start looking ahead to the adaptation itself, which still has the potential to deliver a version of Doctor Doom that does the legendary comic character justice - without simply hollowing out his armor and putting a Stark inside.
If Marvel Studios is determined to make its Doctor Doom more than a publicity stunt, but a character who endures the same way RDJ’s Iron Man has, these are five things straight from comics that the actor and the adaptation need to nail to deliver a pitch-perfect big screen Doom.
Sorcery AND Super Science
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Doom has embraced his magical side before. In the Fantastic Four story ‘Under the Skin/Unthinkable’ (one of thebest Doctor Doom comicsof all time), Doom’s connection to magic is explored through a flashback to his childhood sweetheart, who eventually becomes a sacrifice to Doom’s magic in one of the most nightmarish schemes he’s ever pulled off - turning her skin into cursed, magical armor.
Diabolical Schemes
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Speaking of schemes, intricate plans that occur largely beyond the knowledge of the heroes until it’s far too late to stop him are Doctor Doom’s weapon of choice as a villain, with his home kingdom of Latveria acting as a staging ground for all manner of diabolical plans over the decades since Doom was introduced in Fantastic Four #5 in 1962.
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The Rivalry with Reed Richards
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Victor Von Doom DoomhatesReed Richards. Hates him more than he loves his own success. Hates him enough to give up a sure victory if it means he gets even a fraction of a chance to punish Reed Richards instead. Doom’s hatred of Reed Richards is pathological, eternal, and all-encompassing. In other words, it’s an absolutely essential part of who Doom is and why he’s such a thorn in the side of the entire Marvel Universe.
Doom’s hatred of Richards began all the way back in their college days, when they were both genius students studying the most bizarre and theoretical sciences. To wit, the young Doom builds a machine to contact the spirit of his dead mother - as one does. Noticing an error in Doom’s math (whatever kind of arithmetic allows you to contact the dead I guess), Richards warns him of his mistake.
Doom, believing Richards' intellect to be so inferior that he couldn’t possibly correct him on anything, goes ahead with his experiment and activates the machine. But Richards is right, and Doom’s machine explodes, leaving him with a massive wound to his ego, and a tiny scratch to his face. Even this tiny scar would prove too much for Doom’s ego, leading him to return to his native Latveria, and eventually take up the menacing iron mask that would come to define him as Doctor Doom. And through it all, he blames Reed Richards as a deterrent to his own folly.
The Mask
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
The mask is, admittedly, deceptively simple. The way the plates align and come together, especially in the jaw, is much easier to render in comics than as an actual three-dimensional object. But it’s the most simple, elemental part of Doom’s appearance next to his green cloak. If the mask is right and he’s got his trademark hood and cape, the rest of his appearance has lots of leeway in how it can be designed.
Gravitas
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Here it is. The most important quality Doctor Doom must have to come across as a true, fully-realized adaptation of Marvel’s most malevolent villain: gravitas. The air of menace and seriousness that Doctor Doom commands as both a villain and as the literally iron-fisted monarch of Latveria is second to none in the Marvel Universe. Doom possesses such arrogance and profound entitlement that he can look cosmic beings in the face and make them blink, like when he rescued the entire Multiverse from the enigmatic Beyonders who wished to wipe it out in the lead-up to 2015’s Secret Wars event
How did he do it? All he had to do was viciously but sternly point out to Strange that the job of the Sorcerer Supreme is to protect Earth from mystical threats like the vampire insurrection that was sweeping the Marvel Universe at the time - and that only he, Doom, was truly capable of doing so. He then immediately addressed the people of Earth, informing them of his new title and bringing fear to everyone who heard his message. That’s the kind of gravitas Doom requires.
2025 will bring the ‘One World Under Doom’ storyline to the Marvel Universe, with Doctor Doom once again serving as Marvel’s top villain.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1
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2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
1
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
2
Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
3
Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4
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5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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1
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2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
2
Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
3
Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
4
Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
5
Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”