The Fantastic Four has formed. It took over four and a half years, but Marvel’s First Family is finally unequivocally cast, with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach announced as our new Reed Richards, Sue and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. Of course, that’s just the beginning of the incoming MCU reboot’s roster, however, as now we know who’s playing the fab four we need to find out who’s on board as the team’s colorful supporting cast.
Silver Surfer, Galactus… (Even H.E.R.B.I.E. as it turns out) are bound to be reimagined in the MCU with the help of some A-list talent. But perhaps the one character Marvel Studios needs to nail most of all is Doctor Doom. With no offense intended to either Julian McMahon or Toby Kebbel, Fox never captured the brilliance of one of comic books’ finest felons. So whoever is hired for the gig has to be perfect. Names that have been floated around in the past include former supervillains Cillian Murphy and Mads Mikkelsen, but maybe what Marvel really needs to bring Doom back to life is to reflect how he believes he’s the hero of the story and cast a former superhero in the role.
Enter Henry Cavill? No, surely not… Right?
Henry Cavill’s rumored Marvel future, explained
Marvel fans could’ve flown up, up, and away with excitement when a rogue tweet went viral over the weekend, claiming that Henry Cavill had been cast as Doom in The Fantastic Four. With Variety cited as a source, the news seemed legit! However, many were quick to realize that it was all a big prank and X (formerly Twitter) ultimately added a context warning to the tweet informing users that it was “fake news.” Yes, sorry, folks, but Cavill hasn’t been announced as the MCU’s Victor Von Doom. Well, maybe there’s a good reason for that…
Here’s the thing, following the debunking of this totally bogus claim, self-styled scooper MyTimeToShineHello then piped up to allege that Cavill won’t be Doctor Doom… because he’s secretly signed on with Marvel to play another unknown role. “He was offered something else and he accepted.” The rumor-rouser didn’t offer any further specifics, but in the face of another user accusing them of “lying,” MTTSH replied, “You will find that I’m not, sooner than you think.”
The result is that, no sooner had one rumor that Cavill had joined the MCU been snuffed out than another one rose up in its place. The big hope now is that The Witcher actor has swapped Superman to play Captain Britain, a character folks have been hankering for him to embody on the big screen for years now (as the reams of fan art out there will tell you). So, yes, it isn’t Doom’s day just yet but it’s not the end of the world, Cavill collective, as there’s a (very) slim chance his time to team up with the Avengers will come. To misquote Russell Crowe in Man of Steel, in time he may join them in the sun.