There were a slew of interviews coming out of this weekend’s Marvel Studios presentation at Hall H, since the press rounds take place after the big reveals. Kevin Feige, the studio head, tends to do the bulk of the interviews, and a new one sees him talking up the latest Multiverse threat: Robert Downey Jr.‘s Victor Von Doom, aka Doctor Doom, who is going to be the next MCU-wide bad guy featured in their big holiday release, “Avengers: Doomsday.”
Speaking with TheMovieReporter, Feige shared what Doom’s worldview is and how being created in the 1960s establishes him as one of the first big supervillains in this sort of fiction, pre-dating Darth Vader from “Star Wars” in 1977, and might have influenced George Lucas‘ other masked antagonist. Adding that Doom believes he’s the hero of the story, a common trope of more fleshed-out threats, as the Multiverse is undergoing an incursion event.
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“I mean, Doctor Doom, for people that read comics, is the proto-villain for all supervillains. Was Darth Vader inspired by Doctor Doom? Maybe. And he’s just a great character. It’s not just the great iconic look and the iconic mask, which 6,000 people in Hall H were wearing today, but it is who he is inside. It’s who Victor is, and his flaws and his hubris and his genius and his warmth and his true belief that he is the hero and he will save us all. That’s what is fascinating about him, and that’s what I’m excited about having Robert Downey play him and bring him into ‘Doomsday.’”
When it comes to the story of “Avengers: Doomsday,” according to Feige, “The storyline, as comic fans know, of ‘Doomsday’ and leading to our next film, ‘Secret Wars,’ is literally about universes colliding. So we have these people who have previously been in their own cinematic universes who now collide together into ours and into one. And it is maybe the most ambitious and exciting film that we’ve ever done.”
He also briefly teased what audiences can expect from the event pic’s ending, “I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think they will be incredibly satisfied and yet incredibly surprised of where it’s headed, and then we’ll have a hard time waiting a year for the next one.”
“Doomsday” heads to theaters on December 18, and we’ll have to wait a little bit longer to learn if Doctor Doom is going to be a major part of “Avengers: Secret Wars” (expected to shoot in the United Kingdom in the very near future) or will be thwarted before all that (there is an expectation The Beyonder could be involved, although, unconfirmed officially). Feel free to view that exchange with Feige and various cast members.
