Fargo/Legion creator Noah Hawley has just revealed he’s working on a Doctor Doom movie at Fox. Hawley’s been a rising talent in the TV world with his remake of the Coen brothers’ classic and X-Men comic both earning rave reviews and being praised as some of the best Peak TV has to offer, but his movie involvement has been minimal, with just a few spec scripts and vague involvement with Universal’s Dark Universe.
Clearly his work on Legion has impressed Fox because he’s going to be stepping over to the superhero movie division. The Fantastic Four have been DOA since their 2015 disaster known colloquially as Fant4stic bombed at the box office under a wave of behind-the-scenes turmoil. Due to the nature of the movie rights, Fox has still been keen to get another take off the ground. It was recently rumored they were going for a child-friendly take, but new developments suggest something different.
At the end of Legion’s SDCC panel, Noah Hawley said he was developing a movie for Fox that involves two words: “Doctor. Doom.” That seems to be a pretty candid confirmation that a movie based around the Latverian supervillain is on the way. THR are reporting that he’s in line to direct the film.
Doctor Doom is the primary antagonist of the Fantastic Four, threatening them since their fifth issue and being the main villain of all three movie iterations. In the comics the ruler of fictitious country Latveria, he’s a scientist who harbors a deep rivalry with Reed Richards aka Mister Fantastic.
Given the desire to hold onto the property (if Fox doesn’t make a Fantastic Four movie after a certain number of years the rights revert back to Marvel), some movement on a project shouldn’t be surprising, but for it to come in such a casual way and be such a step away from the FF we know most certainly is. Hawley’s limited movie involvement and jam-packed schedule - he’s currently working on Legion Season 2 - also make his involvement a shock, although this would explain why he’s been cautious about discussing Fargo Season 4. He’s definitely a strong get after proving himself with those two series and has the right balance of unique style and source understanding to make a good movie out of Victor von Doom.
Of course, the question then becomes what form will this movie take? The assumption would be an anti-hero piece following Victor from his humble beginnings to full-on dictator, a journey that will surely see him interact with some version of the Fantastic Four, although how exactly they’d factor in and how much is unclear. The idea is surely to do a strong reboot of the series after Fant4stic that serves as a springboard to more adventures; a spinoff following Franklin Richards, Reed and Sue’s son, has already been mooted.
One thing worth ruling out, at least at this time, is any MCU crossover. Kevin Feige has been open about not having any Fantastic Four plans, nor wanting to enter into another sharing deal like the current Spider-Man one with Sony. This is certainly a shame - over the years Doom has evolved beyond the Richards’ into a full-on Marvel Universe villain - but Hawley hopefully has something suitable epic up his sleeve.
Fox’s only major movie presence at SDCC is Kingsman: The Golden Circle, with no official X-Men presence, but between this and confirmation the Gambit movie is still in development, mutant fans have plenty to discuss.
Next: 15 Ways To Make A Great Fantastic Four Movie
Source: THR
