See Bryan Cranston As Fantastic Four’s Doctor Doom
With Fantastic Four casting rumors heating up recently, one artist has visualized his choice for Doctor Doom: Bryan Cranston.
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Bryan Cranston has somehow never appeared in a superhero film, unless you’re counting his version of Zordon in 2017’s Power Rangers, or his voice work as Jim Gordon in 2011’s Batman: Year One. Yet one artist has visualized Cranston as one of Marvel’s greatest villains, Doctor Doom, an interesting casting choice that would be an excellent addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Artist spdrmnkeyxxiii on Instagram has created his idea of what he thinks Bryan Cranston would look like as Victor Von Doom. Covered in metal and Doctor Doom’s signature green outfit, Cranston fits the part, even with glowing green eyes and a scarred face.
Despite how excellent Bryan Cranston would likely be as Doctor Doom, it doesn’t sound like the type of character Cranston would like to play if he were to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In an interview with Screen Geek in 2018, Cranston stated that he would like to play Minster Sinister.
Bryan Cranston said in that interview, “I want to play an antagonist a fraction smarter than the protagonist, never dumbed down to give the hero an easy win,” with Cranston continuing, “That’s frustrating and boring to watch.” While that description could work for Doctor Doom, his second stipulation does not. “I don’t want to do a character that has been done several times before. I don’t want to be compared like, ‘Well, his Commissioner Gordon was yada yada yada.’ I don’t want to do that. I want to take something that hasn’t been done.”
Since Doctor Doom has appeared in every Fantastic Four film so far, it seems unlikely Bryan Cranston would be interested in taking on this villainous role. Julian McMahon played Doctor Doom in both 2005’s Fantastic Four, as well as its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. In the 2015 reboot, Toby Kebbell took on the character, who was just known as “Doom”. Fargo and Legion creator Noah Hawley was working on a Doctor Doom film, yet the acquisition of Fox by Disney put this project in limbo.
There has been plenty of speculation about the Fantastic Four joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years, but recent casting choices have made their addition seem imminent. Last month, The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Lovecraft Country star Jonathan Majors was hired to appear in Ant-Man 3 as Kang the Conquerer. In the comics, Kang the Conquerer is sometimes seen as a possible descendant of Reed Richards, the head of the Fantastic Four. However, with Kang the Conquerer being introduced, Doctor Doom and Bryan Cranston might not be needed in the near future.
It’s also unclear how the Fantastic Four and theoretically the X-Men will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although, with the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch in Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it seems like their introduction might have something to do with alternate realities. Bryan Cranston might not want to play Doctor Doom, but maybe he’d enjoy being an alternate reality Doctor Doom, alongside both McMahon and Kebbell?
