Saikiran Uppuluri
Saikiran Uppuluri
With Kang the Conqueror having been defeated by the Avengers in their latest big screen adventure, Marvel’s cinematic universe is in need of a new overarching villain to pose a massive threat. While Kang was a formidable and time-traveling foe, the recent real-world legal troubles of the actor who portrays him make Doctor Doom the obvious choice for who should be the focus of the next Avengers film.
Jonathan Majors, who played Kang/He Who Remains in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, was arrested in March 2024 on assault charges stemming from an alleged domestic dispute. With Majors facing potential jail time and PR nightmare, it seems unlikely Marvel would want to heavily feature his character Kang again anytime soon as the central villain of their next Avengers epic.
This opens the door for Victor Von Doom, the brilliant but arrogant monarch of the fictional nation Latveria, to take over as the infamous Doctor Doom and menace the Marvel heroes as an adversary of the Avengers. With his mastery of both science and sorcery, Doctor Doom is essentially the perfect villain. His suit of armor gives him enhanced strength and durability, while his genius-level intellect makes him a match for the likes of Iron Man, Black Panther and the other big brains of the Avengers.
But it’s Doom’s arrogance, hubris and megalomaniacal desire for power that make him such a compelling villain. He sees himself as the rightful ruler of the world and has absolutely no compunctions about using his technological terrorizing any who stand in his way of total conquest. This portrayal of Doom as the ultimate evil dictator positions him as an ideological foe to the democratic ideals represented by the Avengers.
From a visual standpoint, few comic book characters are as iconically designed as Doctor Doom. His green hooded cloak and metal mask completely obscuring his face is one of the most badass and intimidating looks in all of comics. The live-action Avengers films have lacked a truly visually striking principal adversary and Doom’s armored visage could be just what the movies need.
Marvel has already established Latveria’s existence in their films, but waited too long to introduce the Fantastic Four’s nemesis before taking on Kang. Now is the perfect time to bring in the egotistical despot Doctor Doom as the Avengers’ biggest big bad yet in whatever “Avengers: Something Something” film is next on the docket. Doom’s appeal as an evil genius dictator looking to rule the entire world with an iron fist makes him the ideal larger-than-life villain to drive the next Avengers film cycle.
