John Malkovich Playing Fan-Favorite Hulk Villain In Fantastic Four?
With the revelation that John Malkovich has joined the cast of Marvel’s Fantastic Four, the theories about who the Oscar-nominated actor is playing must commence. Doctor Doom? Puppet Master? Molecule Man? Allow me to offer an unconventional but absolutely perfect option–rather than a classic FF villain, John Malkovich could be playing the classic Hulk villain Vector, leader of The U-Foes.
Who Are The U-Foes?
No, John Malkovich is not playing Vector from Despicable Me, but possibly The U-Foes leader with the same villain name (and his creation predates Despicable Me by 30 years in case anyone thinks Stan Lee was stealing ideas from Illumination Entertainment).
If John Malkovich is playing the leader of The U-Foes, then his character’s real name will be Simon Utrecht, former CEO of Utrecht Industries. In 1980’s Incredible Hulk #254, Utrecht and his buddies venture into space with the express hope of recreating the accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. The launch works better than they could’ve hoped, transforming them all into monsters.
Unlike most of the members of the Fantastic Four (except Ben Grimm, aka The Thing), all of The U-Foes are stuck in their “super” forms, making it impossible for them to live normal lives.
They Are The Dark Version Of The Fantastic Four
Vector, the villain John Malkovich could be playing, is the leader of the U-Foes and has a much more aggressive power than his FF counterpart, Reed Richards. Vector wields a form of powerful telekinesis allowing him to propel objects away from him and unbelievable speeds–including literally ripping the skin of his victims from their bodies. Inexplicably, his body is covered with a trippy red, yellow, and orange design, and he seems to have lost both his hair and his nose.
Instead of Invisible Woman there is Vapor, whose body is made of gas, and can turn her form into any kind of gas she wishes. Her brother, instead of Human Torch, is X-Ray, whose body was transformed into radiation and wields any form of radiation he can think of. Finally there is the strongman Ironclad, whose body is made of metal, and can increase his mass at will.
But Why The U-Foes?
So we know who I think John Malkovich could be playing in Fantastic Four, but that doesn’t answer why The U-Foes specifically would tussle with the FF in their first MCU film. Fair enough.
The first thing that got me thinking that Malkovich could be playing Vector was remembering that Paul Walter Hauser had joined the film in an undisclosed role. Hauser could make for a wonderful Ironclad. Sure, that leaves X-Ray and Vapor, but who said the movie was done casting?
Hulk-Poaching
Largely because there is no Incredible Hulk 2 in the cards, the MCU has fostered a long tradition of poaching characters and even storylines from the Hulk for movies and TV series that have little, if anything, to do with the Hulk, and that certainly could include John Malkovich as the leader of The U-Foes.
No, really, there’s Hulk stuff all over the MCU. Obviously there was all the Planet Hulk stuff used in Thor: Ragnarok, the woman we first find Peter Quill with in Guardians of the Galaxy (whose name he forgets) is the Hulk character Bereet, the Hulk villain Thaddeus Ross has become a general foil for all the MCU heroes, Bill Murray’s character in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania was originally a Hulk villain, Betty Ross and The Leader will both be returning for Captain America: Brave New World, and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos was originally a Hulk villain. Even Adrian Pasdar’s Glenn Talbot in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. dies fighting the Hulk in the source material (as well as in Ang Lee’s Hulk).
So why not have John Malkovich play the leader of the U-Foes? There’s no law that says only Hulk can fight Hulk villains.
It Would Be A First Because Of A Surprising Irony
As an old Marvel Comics nerd, I don’t so much think John Malkovich will play The U-Foes leader as much as I hope he does because of a slightly unbelievable irony–in spite of The U-Foes being conceived as a dark version of the Fantastic Four, and in spite of the villains existing in the Marvel Universe for the past 44 years and regularly showing up, they have never fought or even met the Fantastic Four.
How does that happen? Not only do they seem specifically designed to clash with the Fantastic Four, but once you’ve been a character in the Marvel Universe for a certain amount of time–I mean, it’s like being at a swingers’ party. You get around.
Did Daredevil fight Freedom Force, aka the former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants? And Ultron? And the Thor villain The Wrecker? Yes. Does that make any sense? Of course not. But it’s Marvel. You get around.
