Welcome To My Ego

Meet the new Doom, not the same as the old Doom!

Doctor Victor von Doom is one of the most iconic of all Marvel Comics characters. First introduced in the FANTASTIC FOUR comics in the early 60s, he went on to fight against or with pretty much every major (and minor) character in the Marvel pantheon. He is the leader of a country, with a brilliant scientific mind, who has also mastered the powers of sorcery, but lives his life encased in a mask, full body armor, and flowing robs. Basically, Darth Vader before Darth Vader.

And, weirdly enough, he has never made an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That is, until now.

After Comic-Con a year ago, when RDJ was announced as the actor playing Doctor Doom in the MCU, the interwebs were all afluster.

“Great!” “Terrible!” “Damage control!” “Finally!”

After Comic-Con this year, with the reveal of what that actually means, the interwebs are twittering away again.

“Eh, huh?“

And while the trailers and posters were a little vague on details, one source showed the new Doctor Doom in all his glory … the Hot Toys pre-sale drop!

Now, the beauty of using Hot Toys is that they also released a Marvel Comics version of Doctor Doom a short while back, so we can do a compare and contrast between what comics Doom should look like and what MCU Doom does look like.

Huzzah!

Comics Doom

Sweet! Fully encased in armor and flowing robes, this Victor von Doom stands before us radiating power, fully capable of pummeling you even before he starts zapping you with magic. His metal mask bears the expression of the pain he bears over losing everyone he has ever loved. The figure has the regal bearing of the (benevolent, always benevolent) dictator of Latveria, a commander of both people and unnatural forces.

And Reed Richards, he’s coming for you!

Rating: 10 out of 10

MCU Doom

Umm … almost? I get that Marvel needs to meddle in the character designs because …. new toys? But some redesigns over the years have been better than others. And this one is decidedly … ok. He’s got armor. His robes are green. He’s got the scowlly-faced mask.

But why is the armor only his mask, his gauntlets, and his boots? Why is he wearing slacks? (Was RDJ like, “No more full body armor. I had enough of that as Iron Man!”?) His stature seems more like angry theater patron you just dissed instead of the ruler of a country. And why is his chin tucked down into his cape? What’s that about? Where did his neck go?

I will admit that this is miles better than anything presented in the previous FANTASTIC FOUR films (the less said about those, the better … especially you, FANT4STIC!). But still …

Rating: 6 out of 10

Verdict

Can we redo this with some CGI or something? Tweek the details a little. I mean, Iron Man hasn’t been an actual costume in the MCU for years. If they could fix Sonic in post, maybe they can clean up Doom a bit, too.

But then, maybe you feel I’m being a little too harsh …