To close out the Legion panel at San Diego Comic-Con, series showrunner Noah Hawley left fans with one last tease, unrelated to the FX series but still in the Marvel realm, saying:
“Because I’m at Comic-Con,” the Fargo creator said. “I wanted to let you know about a movie I’m developing for Fox. The first word is ‘Doctor.’ And the second is ‘Doom.’”
Little else is known about the film, but a solo feature for the Fantastic Four villain is a new development for the studio. The Hollywood Reporter adds that Hawley is developing the feature with an eye toward directing. Hawley has no feature film directing credits on his resume but has previously directed an episode of Legion and two episodes of Fargo.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Doctor Doom first appeared in The Fantastic Four #5 back in 1962. Victor Von Doom is the tyrannical dictator of Latveria and frequent foil to the Fantastic Four. Doom’s face was scarred in an experiment, though he blames Reed Richards for his face, which has forced him to wear his trademark metal mask.
Doom’s chief ability is his intellect, which is on par with Reed Richards, but he has previously dabbled in magic and has enhanced strength and durability due to his armor. He also employs the use of Doombots, fully functional robots that look just like him and which he controls.
Doctor Doom was previously portrayed by Julian McMahon in the 2005 Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, with Toby Kebbell taking on the role in the 2015 reboot and Joseph Culp in the infamous Roger Corman-produced Fantastic Four film.