Marvel Making Doctor Doom The Next Big Bad Guy In The MCU Instead Of Kang Would Be A GREAT Idea
The MCU is very much at a crossroads. The movies have not been doing as well, critically or financially. Fans are a little bit fed up, and the studio as a whole is panicking. Jerry already wrote a blog about how they’re considering bringing back all the original Avengers. To that idea, I say YUCK. Don’t fuck with what was essentially perfect. But the new report coming out is that Kang The Conqueror, as played by Jonathan Majors, may no longer be set up to be the next great villain in the Marvel universe. The possibility is that Marvel may pivot to Dr. Doom. While I have little faith in the MCU, I feel this would be a step in the right direction.
I don't want to get into the whole Jonathan Majors legal mumbo-jumbo that's happening right now. I'm just going to look at this from a story perspective and just say that I never really understood why Marvel thought it was a smart idea to make Kang the next elite bad guy in the Marvel universe. Furthermore, I don't understand why they've been so hesitant to avoid any mention of the Fantastic Four. I guess you could make the argument that the Fantastic Four brand is a little bit tarnished after multiple failed attempts to get the series off the ground, but outside of Jim from "The Office" cosplaying in the recent sequel to Doctor Strange, we haven't gotten anything from Marvel's first family.
Dr. Doom is widely known to be one of the most layered and best bad guys in all comic book lore. What I'm about to say sounds silly, but he's also a human being. He's not a giant alien-like Thanos. There's a lot of humanity that you can add to that character that wouldn't exist with a character that comes from a different universe. He's on the sidelines. Put him in the game.
If there's any good that comes from this, I appreciate that Marvel is willing to listen to their own criticisms. There have been some properties in the past that just failed to address what everyone is complaining about. Kevin Feige is aware that the MCU has lost its fastball. They might be too far gone at this point, but until they start losing money, there's no way they'll stop. They will have to make changes, and making Dr. Doom a key piece of the MCU may be one of those positive changes.