If your only exposure to the Fantastic Four came from the movies, then you’d probably have no idea that Doctor Doom is one of the most fearsome and iconic villains in comic book history. There isn’t a lot that Tim Story’s duology or Josh Trank’s reboot managed to get right about the characters, and in both instances, Victor Von Doom was one of the biggest failures.
Julian McMahon was arguably the single most miscast actor in 2005’s Fantastic Four, which is a pretty unwanted distinction for a project that failed on almost every front when it came to choosing the right actors for the roles, with the exception of Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm. Meanwhile, Toby Kebbell played the character in Trank’s infamous disaster, and once again failed to make any sort of impression, although a lot of that blame should be shouldered by the tortured production.
Doctor Doom was set to headline his own solo movie at Fox with Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley on board to write and direct, but that project evaporated when Disney completed their takeover of the company. The Latverian dictator will inevitably surface in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point over the next few years, though, and new fan art from SPDRMNKYXXIII imagines how Bryan Cranston could look in the role, which you can check out below.
Cranston would be a solid choice to play Doctor Doom, but even though he’s been rumored as one of many candidates to be the MCU’s next big bad, the Fantastic Four aren’t expected to arrive until the tail end of Phase Five at the very earliest, meaning the studio might well be looking to skew much younger than the 64 year-old former Breaking Bad star.