Marvel Studios recently made headlines at San Diego Comic-Con with an absolutely massive reveal —Fantastic Fourwill be the first film in Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will end withAvengers: Kang Dynastyand its sequelAvengers: Secret Wars, the final film in the newly branded Multiverse Saga.
In the wake of this news, many fans expect that one of Marvel Comics’ greatest villains, Doctor Doom, will be making his MCU debut sooner rather than later. Not only is he the arch-nemesis of the Fantastic Four and a longtime rival of Kang the Conqueror, he also served as the main antagonistof theSecret Warscomics.In fact, it’s quite possible that Doom could prove to be the true villain of the entire Multiverse Saga.
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Victor of the Secret Wars
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962 forFantastic Four#5, Doctor Doom is one of the most enduring, iconic villains of the Marvel Universe. BecauseFFwas essentially Marvel’s flagship title in those days, Doom quickly made a name for himself as Marvel’s greatest supervillain of all. As such, he soon became a nemesis not just to the Fantastic Four, but to all of Marvel’s heroes as well, clashing with Spider-Man, the Avengers, and more. And while the FF have become less popular in real life over the years, Doctor Doom’s status asEarth-616’s biggest bad guyhas never gone away.
For a perfect example of this, just look at the original 1984Secret Warsminiseries, written by Jim Shooter. In this famous storyline, a cosmic being called the Beyonder transports Earth’s greatest heroes and villains to a patchwork planet called Battleworld. The Beyonder declares that whichever side wins will be rewarded with their hearts’ desires. But while the other villains are content to play the Beyonder’s game, Doctor Doom refuses to be treated like a pawn. And so, he enacts his boldest scheme yet: to steal the Beyonder’s power for himself. Through cunning, technological genius, and sheer force of will, Doom’s plan succeeds, and the heroes are soon horrified to see that Doctor Doomhas achieved absolute power.
This wasn’t the first time Doom had stolen cosmic power from another being, either. Lee and Kirby famously had him do the same to the Silver Surfer in 1966’sFantastic Four#57. However, the sheer scale and ambition of Doom’s plan inSecret Wars— not to mention the fact that he actually succeeded — were so spectacular that they set the standard for Doom’s exploits in the decades to come.
Yet despite his newfound omnipotence, Doctor Doom lacked the ability to fully control the Beyonder’s power. After all, despite his megalomaniacal ego, Doom is still only human. And deep down, Doom knows this — it’s his own self-doubt that ends up causing his downfall. In the end, Doom loses control of his power, andthe heroes are victorious.Despite his attempt to become a god, it’s his own humanity that defeats him.
God-Emperor of Battleworld
Doctor Doom would achieve an even greater victory in the 2015Secret Warsminiseries by writer Jonathan Hickman. During the Incursion crisis in Hickman’sAvengersrun, Doom discovers that the collapse of the multiverse has been engineered by the Beyonders — the same species as the original Beyonder, who was merely a child by his kind’s standards. As Earth-616 is destroyed, Doom turns the Beyonders’ plan against them, killing them and stealing their power once again. Now able to control his vast cosmic power with the help of Molecule Man, Doom merges the shattered remnants of the multiverse into a new Battleworld.
Hickman’sSecret Warspresents Doctor Doom athis most complex and humanized,yet also his most tyrannical. On the one hand, he’s responsible for saving reality from total destruction, and he genuinely wants to create peace for the people of Battleworld. However, Doom’s idea of protecting his subjects means ruling them with an iron fist as God-Emperor, setting himself up as an omnipotent deity to be worshiped by all. Even at his most benevolent, Doom is still a control-obsessed megalomaniac.
Yet even after becoming ruler of all reality, Doctor Doom can’t get rid of his suppressed insecurity. The reason he wanted absolute power to begin with is because he believes it’s his responsibility to create a perfect world through his rule. So when his Battleworld is still plagued with conflict and discontentment, Doom secretlyfears that he’s to blame.As always, Doom’s fatal flaw is his inability to accept his own imperfection — to recognize that while a better world is possible, his control isn’t the way to get there. With Hickman’s cruel yet tragic characterization of Doom, it’s easy to see why he’s such a perfect fit for the MCU’s next big bad. He’s cut from the same cloth as Josh Brolin’s Thanos, sympathetic and ruthless in equal measure.
Doctor Doom in the MCU
Both the 1984 and 2015Secret Warsstories are crossovers that involve the entire Marvel Universe, but they’re Doctor Doom stories more than anything else. So withAvengers: Secret Warscoming in Fall 2025,it probably won’t be longbefore fans finally see Doom enter the MCU. In fact, it’s been commonly theorized that he’ll have some role to play in this November’sBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever, possibly as a post-credits reveal. After all, Doom has a long history with both Black Panther and new antagonist Namor in the comics.
It’s unclear how much of a role Doom will play in Phase Five. He could plausibly appear in everything fromLokitoIronhearttoCaptain America: New World OrdertoThunderbolts. However, he’s almost certain to play a major role inFantastic Four. While past adaptations have struggled to give Doom the spotlight he deserves, featuring himin MCU projectswill likely rectify this issue. And of course, with the Multiverse Saga set to culminate inAvengers: Secret Wars, it’d be a surprise if Doom wasn’t the ultimate villain of Phase Six.
Of course, this notion may seem strange considering Kang already seems well-established as the big bad of the Multiverse Saga, especially considering the title ofAvengers: The Kang Dynasty. And while that may seem like the case here in Phase Four, remember that Thanos wasn’t revealed until the very end of Phase One. It’s possible that Kang will end up being the Loki to Doom’s Thanos — the Avengers’ initial antagonist who ends up being upstaged by a greater foe. After all, as bothSecret Warscomics show, Doctor Doom has a tendency tosteal the role of main villainfrom seemingly stronger threats.
Between his crucial part in theSecret Warscomics, his close ties to Kang and the Fantastic Four, his role as a general nemesis to the entire Marvel Universe, and his potential appearance inWakanda Forever, it’s starting to look like Doctor Doom might be the true villain of the Multiverse Saga. This is all speculation for now, of course — there hasn’t even been any news on who’ll be playing the lord of Latveria on the big screen. But either way, one thing is certain: it won’t be long untilthe Marvel Cinematic Universe meets its Doom.
