Fantastic Four: Why Doctor Doom Needs to Be The Team’s First MCU Villain

Marvel Studios has tasked Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts with the reboot of The Fantastic Four franchise, within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We don’t really know anything about what Kevin Feige and Jon Watts have planned for Fantastic Four, which has led to some serious fan debate about which villain Marvel’s First Family should face in the Marvel Studios reboot. There is an impressive list of villains the F4 have taken down that could make their MCU debut a true “event” film. However, for a lot of die-hard Marvel fans, the MCU Fantastic Four movie will need to re-tread similar ground at the 2000s version: by introducing Doctor Doom to the MCU.

Doctor Doom is one of the biggest villains in Marvel Comics lore – and someone that a lot of fans have long felt is sorely missing from the MCU. While most people know of Doom as the brash and authoritarian arch-villain from classic comics, but 21st century Marvel Comics storylines have seen Doom go through the evolution of becoming a much bigger staple of the Marvel Universe, one that could tie into any number of new storylines and franchises coming in MCU Phase 4 and beyond – most notably the MCU Secret Wars event film rumored to be in the works. That story literally made Doom “God Emperor” of the remnants of the Marvel Multiverse – something that fans definitely want to see echoed in the MCU version of the crossover.

On a more intimate level, Doom is the key figure in the foundational lore of the Fantastic Four. Victor Von Doom and Reed Richards’ friendship (and romantic triangle with Sue Storm) are Shakespearean-level character arcs that have always delivered the best F4 stories. Beyond grounding the first Marvel Fantastic Four movie with some strong lore, Doom’s presence is needed to (as stated) help set up so many other things in the MCU.

Beyond Secret Wars, Doom has ties to the current big threat to the MCU: Kang The Conqueror. In the comics, the 31st-century scientist who becomes Kang/Immortus (or “He Who Remains”) is allegedly a descendant of Reed Richards, who discovers time travel and the multiverse using technology developed by Doom. Doom is also a master of sorcery as well as technology, and is responsible for messing with the mystical side of things, as well. His position as a monarch of the European country Latveria often brings Doom into political conflict with nations like Wakanda or Atlantis, and/or their monarchs Black Panther and Namor (respectively).

In the end, Doctor Doom is in some ways a much more pivotal big bad villain than Kang the Conqueror is. If he doesn’t get introduced in Fantastic Four, what other place would even make sense?

Marvel’s Fantastic Four is now in development.