But they weren’t part of the same movie franchise/continuity, like you’re suggesting for Ultron & Dr. Doom. I think it would be pretty confusing for moviegoers if James Spader showed up again as another robotic enemy.
Annihilus would be a good addition and I think introducing the Negative Zone wouldn’t bee too hard. He’s an alien from an extra dimensional prison. Different realms are already introduced from Thor and the Microverse is coming from Ant-Man so adding the Negative Zone would be cool.
They should do this, stat. Not all villains should be in the “I want to destroy the whole world/realm/universe” mold. There should be room for a guy who has a glue gun and wants to rob banks. The MCU doesn’t have many of these lower tier villains and they tend to kill them off - Crossbones is a fine example of that. Instead of a nice reoccurring antagonist to Captain America, they have a dude who got launched into the air and exploded.
My first introduction to Doom was through Spider-Man so I originally associated those two together. Interesting only because Doom and Richards are so tied together – they were college roomies fer cryin’ out loud.
Anyway, a couple that would make interesting villains, I think:
Molecule Man – this could make an interesting reluctant villain. He’s not really a bad guy, at least he’s come a long way since he was introduced as one. Volcana can be added in as well, though her introduction would need to be changed up a bit, I would think.
Kang the Conqueror – this. There is so much potential for this guy. Is he a villain out to subjugate the past? Did he come into the past to save the future? Is it something in between? I thought the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon did a pretty good job with him.
I do think a proper, faithful Doctor Doom would be cool villain. He’s had a history with almost all these MCU guys so it wouldn’t be out of place even if FF wasn’t around. Be pretty cool to see him go up against Tony, even though I think Tony’s gonna bite it in the next movie.
While Ronan first appeared in an issue of FF, I don’t think he fought the FF since that issue.
The Skrulls were recurring FF antagonists, so I’d classify them as genuine “FF Villans”, not so much Ronan.
When they make these deals with various studios for the rights to “the Fantastic Four and associated characters”, or whatever, is there any clear standard for who counts as an “associated character”? Do they list them all out explicitly at the time of the deal? Is it based on first appearance, or what book the character has appeared in most?
Well, the FF pretty much thought he was dead after that first encounter, so they didn’t go looking for him.
He apparently showed up again in FF Vol. 3 issues 13 and 14, though, and in Ultimate Fantastic Four #35, if you want to count that.
Bit of a hijack, but when did Doom become a sorcerer? Early on, he was just a really smart, rich guy who was disfigured in an experiment and became angry and evil. Reed’s roommate or something. When did the magic come in?
Pretty early on. I think it was first mentioned in his origin story in Fantastic Four Annual # 2 (1964).
Spader has excellent voice control. Fans want to see the real Doctor Doom and I think Spader is a good choice for the role.
As long as Ultron and Doom do not appear in the same screen, things should be fine.
A fantasy pick to play Doom would be Daniel Day Lewis. He’s retired, so I heard.
Thanks. I didn’t remember that. I think I’ve read that origin story (Bring on the Bad Guys) – I’ll read it again.
They did pretty well with the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, though I have a feeling he’s going to stay in prison and not show up again.
Interesting question. For instance, Black Panther first showed up in Fantastic Four (#52–53, 7-8/1966), but Marvel rather than Fox evidently had the movie rights.
I’m guessing that at least the major characters were explicitly listed in the deals.
Yet another reason to mourn the death of Alan Rickman. Now, he would have been an awesome Doom.
Maybe they learned from the non-MCU Spider-Man franchises…
I thought so too. But didn’t we just have “ambiguous villain/hero from the future” in Deadpool 2?
cmkeller is right. I remember reading one comic – I think it may have been that short-lived series where he shared the book with Ka-Zar – and he used magic to battle a pawn of some archdevil like Mephisto for the soul of his mother.
Doom always had a sorceric streak to him, along with the super-scientific side. In his very first appearance in FF #5 he used his Time Machine to send three of the FF back in time to steal the pirate Blackbeard’s jewels because of their magical properties (really!). In FF Annual #2, which told of Doom’s origin, he discovers that his mother had been a sorceress, and thus he learns magic alongside his science. It’s implied that the experiment that resulted in an explosion that caused his disfigurement was the result of trying to use his science and occultism to contact his dead mother.
So later stories about him using sorcery are just him getting back to his roots.
No, his rights are held (still, for unknown reasons) by Universal, same as the Hulk.
I believe Mark Waid leaned HEAVY into Doom as sorcerer in the “Doomed” storyline which had Doom decide he couldn’t best Richards on science…but he could on magic.
Some people hate the storyline but I liked it (but I also wasn’t reading FF at the time so I don’t know if in larger context it was bad). Waid wanted to make Doom a real villain again (wore a magic suit made of the magic infused skin of his first love)and that rubbed people the wrong way. Fanboys like the “noble villain.”
There’s a DC cartoon movie named “Doom”. Wonder if they’d sue? Also there was a movie based on the video game, so maybe they couldn’t sue.
Batman had a foe named “Doctor Doom” way back in 1950. He got himself smuggled into the Batcave, something tey referenced for years afterwards (which is how I first learned about it):
Heck, there was a Doctor Doome who squared off against the Seven Soldiers of Victory (published by a company that would eventually be merged into the nascent DC) back in 1942.