He’s undoubtedly one of the greatest comic book villains ever, but the adaptations of Doctor Doom we’ve seen on the big screen so far have unfailingly dropped the ball. 2005’s Fantastic Four and its sequel, 2007’s Rise of the Silver Surfer, featured a miscast Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom while Toby Kebbell’s interpretation in 2015’s FF reboot was just one of many things that was terrible about that particular movie.
Hopefully, we’ll get a much more faithful and successful version of the sorcerer/scientist king of Latveria in the not too distant future, as it’s been announced that Doom will be featuring in his own standalone outing pretty soon. And while no casting has been revealed just yet, one actor has made clear how much he would love to play the part.
Ben Mendelsohn – perhaps best known for portraying Director Krennic in last year’s Rogue One – was talking on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast when he opened up about his dream role. On why he loves the character so much, he explained:
“[He] is the greatest comic character of all time. The thing that’s really appealing about Victor is the damage and trauma, the loss of the family, the wrong done to him, then the revenge and the takeover. Then it’s the protectiveness of Latveria wrapped in that Cold War vibe. What actually makes him great is his caring bit. That’s what’s great about Doctor Doom, and I just like him!”
Host Josh Horowitz was on hand to remind Mendelsohn that, as we mentioned above, there’s a Doctor Doom solo movie on the way from Fox, with Legion showrunner Noah Hawley attached to bring the villain to life for the third time on the silver screen. Mendelsohn made it clear that he was up to date with the development, though, saying “Oh yeah, I’m aware of all this.”
While he awaits his preferred comic book villain role, Ben Mendelsohn is rumoured to be playing another Marvel antagonist. Word has it that he’s set to star opposite Brie Larson and Jude Law in Captain Marvel, likely as the head Skrull. We’d bet money on this happening, too, as the actor previously worked with directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck on 2015’s Mississippi Grind.
As for Doctor Doom, we’d love to see him in the role, but if he is indeed in Captain Marvel, it’s unfortunately unlikely that he’d be able to take the job. Still, it could happen and if it does, you certainly wouldn’t hear any complaints from us.