The introduction of Latverian supervillain Victor von Doom does actually make a lot of sense at this point. Despite being a beloved and often despicable character in Marvel Comics, Doom hasn’t quite hit right in previous Fantastic Four films, having been played by Nip/Tuck’s Julian McMahon in both the 2005 FF movie film and its sequel, and later by Toby Kebbell in Josh Trank’s unfortunate reboot. With yet another reboot on the way under the watchful eye of Marvel maestro Kevin Feige and Spider-Man: Far From Home director Jon Watts, it feels like a solid choice to skip the now-pretty damn redundant Doom origin story and have him just appear as an established menace. Enter: Loki. The unifying principle of Loki’s narrative so far is that the God of Mischief has been captured by the Time Variance Authority, who are making him run missions for them. And Doctor Doom is definitely no stranger to time travel. In his very first appearance in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby‘s Fantastic Four #5 in 1962, he sent the heroes back to the age of Blackbeard the Pirate to retrieve treasure for him, while The Time Variance Authority have also previously appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four in the 1980s, notably during Walt Simonson’s time-hopping FF run. Just look at that silhouette. Who else could it be except your pal and ours, everyone’s favorite dictator, Victor von Doom! Doom is always hooded and cloaked, and despite his armored form often looks like he’s a little out of step with the times, as if he should be the Burgermeister of some town at the turn of the 20th century rather than the era he actually operates in. Plus, holding an old-timey lantern like this gives this mysterious figure a sorcerous, magical air. And as we all know, Doom loves him some magic. Hmm, is it really a coincidence that Loki writer Michael Waldron was quickly put on the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness script when original director Scott Derrickson first left the project over “creative differences”? Hey, we’re just asking questions – as we know, it’s all connected. The blue-green color scheme of this shot kind of evokes Doom’s fashion choices too, doesn’t it? After Loki was announced, we weren’t really focused on who the villain of the series might be, because Loki is the villain, right? But someone has to be worse than Loki to make all this work and keep us on the character’s side. A bigger threat, with an equally iconic image. Sure, there’s a chance that the hooded villain here could be someone more traditionally associated with time travel, like fellow Fantastic Four foe Kang the Conqueror (coming soon to an MCU movie near you!). But Kang doesn’t slouch and skulk around like this, nor does he spend all his time in a cozy lookin’ cloak and hood combo. Again, the shape of that hood is classic Doom. Look closely at his hands and he appears to be wearing gloves with a little armor on the back. What’s under that cloak? He appears to be about to remove said hood in a dramatic reveal. Why would you be making a dramatic reveal unless the face is gonna mean something? And what face means more to Marvel fans than the horrific metal visage of Doctor Doom? Unless they’re doing a “the hooded figure is just a Loki from another timeline” thing, but you can miss us with that noise. Those flames are also evocative of Hell, a realm that Doom is pretty familiar with. His mother, a powerful sorceress in her own right, has been condemned there, and Doom ruined his life and reputation trying to rescue her from the clutches of Mephisto. He’s really obsessed with getting his mother out of Hell. So much so, that he condemned his lover there in an attempt to swap out his mom. Look, Doom’s got some issues. Anyway, speaking of hell… Even if this is all just a red herring or a coincidence, we love love LOVE that we could have already had our first encounter with Marvel Studios’ new Victor von Doom – Doctor if you’re nasty. Loki arrives on Disney+ in May of 2021. Hopefully he’s bringing Victor von Doom with him.
