One of the most surprising bits of news to come out of San Diego Comic-Con 2017 was the reveal that Fox is developing a Dr Doom movie. The news came during the panel for FX's Marvel series Legion, when showrunner Noah Hawley announced that he was working on a film for the studio, and described it in two words: Doctor. Doom.
This confirms that Fox is not yet done with their Fantastic Four characters, but that the studio also isn't about to launch a direct sequel to 2015's disastrous reboot. Instead, they'll be hanging on to those character rights with a villain-centric film. This was sad news for fans hoping that Fox would let their rights lapse and return to Marvel, but it's not necessarily bad news for the franchise itself. In fact, with Hawley at the helm, Dr Doom could be the perfect movie to make the Fantastic Four, well, fantastic again.
Who Is Noah Hawley?
Noah Hawley's involvement is easily the most exciting thing about this announcement. As every fan knows, a director can make or break a movie, and Fox had some issues in that department with their last Fantastic Four offering. For the 2015 reboot, Josh Trank was brought on board in the wake of his success with lo-fi superhero movie Chronicle, but had major issues on set and with the studio, leading to a very different version of the film hitting theaters... and a very public falling out between Trank and Fox.
Hawley, however, already has a fantastic working relationship with the studio, having created their recent smash hit series Legion. The series, based in the X-Men universe, is a phenomenally trippy journey into the mind and personalities of David Haller (Dan Stevens), the son of Charles Xavier and an incredible powerful telepath with multiple personalities. The show has been a huge critical success, and proves that Hawley is more than capable of taking on a superhero project, and working well with Fox.
In addition, Legion shows that this is someone who can build a whole new world around a somewhat difficult and lesser-known comic character. When the project was first announced, fans were skeptical - but Hawley pulled it off, and launched Fox's TV X-Universe with real style. Also an acclaimed author, who is also known for his work on Fargo, this will be Hawley's first big-screen project, and fans are thrilled to see where he goes with it.
A New Direction For Super-Movies
This announcement also comes at a time when multiple studios are looking to expand their superhero movies beyond the simple hero-origin tales that we have seen before. While Marvel/Disney and WB are still doing well with their huge names, Sony has announced that their next two projects will be villain-centric, with a Venom solo followed by Black and Silver, a film about Black Cat and Silver Sable. Fox themselves has been finding success in recent years with more violent, anti-hero offerings like the massively successful Deadpool and the R-rated Logan, proving that fans are looking for something different from their superheroes, and that sympathetic anti-heroes are big business.
There is no news yet on what the Dr Doom movie will focus on, whether it could be the origin of the villain or simply a new story told from his perspective, but either way, it's not going to put the heroes of this franchise front and center. Even Disney has been finding success with sympathetic villains in recent years, ever since Maleficent became a huge hit by retelling the story to make the evil fairy the 'good guy'. Doing the same for Doctor Doom will presumably hope to find the same kind of success with a more mature audience.
Next Page: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Not%20Another%20Fantastic%20Flop']
Not Another Fantastic Flop
This project will also allow Fox to keep using the Fantastic Four characters, without having to create another straight-up reboot. The studio has long had issues with this particular corner of the comic universe, with a relatively warm reception for their first film in 2005, and increasingly poor fan response to everything that came after. The 2015 film was intended to reboot the franchise, with a sequel to follow once the new versions of the characters were established. However, when Fantastic Four was both a critical and commercial failure, Fox cancelled the sequel and went back to the drawing board.
They have the option of rebooting the franchise again, but with two Fantastic Four origin stories already out there, it's likely that fans would be bored with yet another 'new' FF film. Spider-Man: Homecoming proved that fans don't always need another origin story for a well-known superhero, so the studio could have simply re-cast and jumped in at the deep end, but with the team's waning popularity, this would still be a big gamble. Making the decision to flip the script and tell Doom's story (with the potential for the Fantastic Four to make an appearance along the way) is still a gamble, but it's one that is far more likely to spark interest among fans and get this franchise back on track. And of course, if Doctor Doom does well, more Fantastic Four-centric films could follow.
The Start Of A Connected Universe?
There's also the possibility that this film could see the start of a completely connected Fox universe - or at least, as connected as the X-Men universe is itself. Fox is know for having a particularly convoluted cinematic universe, with multiple timelines and now tv series that are officially connected - but not obviously so. A fresh attempt at a Doctor Doom story could be folded into this complex world, and play with crossover characters to get fans even more excited. Who wouldn't want to see Doctor Doom squaring up against the X-Men, or getting a visit from Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool? In the comics themselves, of course, all of these characters interact, and Fox is the only studio that keeps their super-teams entirely separate.
Hawley is already involved in the existing X-Men universe thanks to Legion, so he would be the perfect person to start building a bridge between the worlds of X-Men and Fantastic Four. Of course, if this is the plan for Fox, that might put paid to rumors that Dan Stevens will also be starring in Doctor Doom, as he couldn't play two characters within the same universe. Then again, perhaps the rumors mean that Stevens will be appearing in the film as David Haller, which would certainly be an interesting choice, but not necessarily a terrible one.
A Doomed Future
All in all, the upcoming Doctor Doom could well be the best thing to happen to the Fantastic Four in the modern superhero renaissance. The project brings together a fantastic director who has already delivered on a difficult superhero project for Fox, with the potential to even include cast members who have worked with Hawley in the past. It plays into the recent successes of villain-centric and anti-hero films and the expansion of the superhero genre to more mature audiences, and it has the potential to link the Fantastic Four to the X-Men universe.
And if all that isn't enough, let's not forget that Doom himself is a compelling villain, with a long history, a detailed backstory, and elements of both magic and genius-level-tech-creation in his powers. Previous Fantastic Four films have reduced this villain significantly in order to focus on the heroes, but all that is about to change - and while there's no guarantee that this will work, it could well be exactly what this super-team needs.