Marvel Theories
Is Doctor Doom inching his way into the MCU? That would be great considering the way he’s treated in the past three Fantastic Four Films. In the first two, Doctor Doom was a scientist, but he didn’t seem as brilliant as Reed Richards. If anything, he’s been milking Reed’s intelligence through his company. They took certain liberties on his origin and instead of armor, they gave him metallic skin, electric powers and worse, a petty personality. He’s unlike the brilliant multi-leveled Doctor Doom in the comics. In the third movie, he’s just plain messed up. Flint Marko of Spider-Man 3 had more personality than the Doctor Doom in FANT4STIC. And so, Fox’s insistence on keeping the Fantastic Four movie franchise led to Marvel Comics giving the FF a big send-off through the comic event known as Secret Wars 2015. There won’t be any Fantastic Four afterward. Ben and Johnny remain in the Marvel universe while Reed, Sue and Franklin with the help of Molecule Man are out creating new universes restoring a semblance of cosmic balance (read up. It’s a good story).
Iron Man Shake Up
Doctor Doom comes back from the event though, without the facial scars that were part of his comic book origin leading him to wear a metallic mask, and looking a bit like James Franco. Not only that, he’s slated to become The Infamous Iron Man. You see, Tony Stark is slated to retire as Iron Man following another comic book event called Civil War II. He’s going to be replaced by a teenage black woman named Riri Williams who for some reason managed to create her own suit of Iron Man armor. Plus, in case the result isn’t fantastic, Victor Von Doom is also becoming Iron Man in his quest for redemption after the Secret Wars II event. These two events are just some of many occurring in what the comic book giant calls, All New All Different Marvel which include:
- Peter Parker becoming a big-time entrepreneur like Tony Stark
- Mary Jane becomes Stark’s girlfriend
- Doctor Octopus now works for Peter Parker
- Bruce Banner gets killed, and the Hulk powers are transferred to Amadeus Cho (presumably the genius son of AOU’s Helen Cho)
- Captain America, Steve Rogers actually works for HYDRA
Two theories could come out of this Iron Man shake up.
Doctor Doom in the MCU
So why was Doctor Doom left to continue plaguing or helping the Marvel Universe with the Fantastic Four disbanded and out of the limelight? Doom even becomes a version of Iron Man. Perhaps there’s hope that Victor Von Doom could become a character in the MCU after being bastardized several times by Fox. Has Marvel finally brokered a deal? If so, there are several approaches for him to be in the MCU as a major villain after Phase 3 without him interacting with the Fantastic Four (yet). Marvel could have totally disintegrated him in Secret Wars instead of bringing him back. After playing God for a while, finally getting killed by Reed Richards would have been a great sendoff. Fox could let Disney borrow Doom for a while and see what happens. If the results are good, we’ll probably see a Fox/Marvel deal similar to the Sony/Marvel deal. But by then we’ll have to bear another FF movie in the reboot universe, probably against the Mole Man.
The New Iron Man?
Another theory here is that after Iron Man 4 and Infinity War, we’ll probably see less of Robert Downey Jr. in his Iron Man suit or none at all. But Marvel needs its Iron Man, and another actor or actress has to pick up the role. The casting of a black (probably transgender) woman as the new Iron Man is probably more than a part of Marvel’s continuing over-practice of diversity. Hey, the title should be Iron Woman, Iron Girl or Iron Maiden. If Tony Stark does come back, we’ll probably be calling her Steela. Anyway, if RDJ does hang up the suit, someone younger and preferably a woman of color could carry the mantle in the MCU. What’s strange though is that Hollywood may already be whitewashing her as you read this.
Doctor Doom in the MCU would be great. It would be difficult to tell a comic-faithful origin without mention of Reed or Sue Richards, but it’s possible. But it would be difficult to have someone other than RDJ be Iron Man. Rhodey could be Iron Man for a while, but we’ll miss the Stark snark.
Ghost Rider Finally in the MCU?
In an unrelated but still-juicy topic, Ghost Rider may be coming to the MCU by way of ABC’s Agents of SHIELD Season 4. What? No Netflix? According to ScreenRant, there’s strong evidence that the Ghost Rider in question would be the All-New Ghost Rider named Robbie Reyes.
First, the Agents of SHIELD trolley features the AOS logo with a fiery chain at the bottom. Second, as per ScreenRant, two Latino brothers will be in the series, and one of them will be in a wheelchair. That strongly points to Robbie Reyes and his disabled younger brother Gabe. Third, the film Dr. Strange will open the MCU to the mystical so we can expect some of that in AOS.
Who are Robbie Reyes and the All-New Ghost Rider again? Robbie and Gabe are both orphans based in LA. Robbie supports his brother Gabe by working as a mechanic in an auto shop and moonlighting as a competitive street racer. Robbie, comes across a drug car, gets killed but gets revived by an angry spirit of a Satanic serial killer and becomes a Ghost Rider. He has most of the powers of the other Ghost Riders, flaming skull-like head, flaming chain, super strength and increased durability but he drives a flaming Dodge Charger instead of a motorcycle. A bit different than what many are used to due to the past two Ghost Rider films. It makes sense, in case he gets his own series because this Ghost Rider won’t carry the convoluted comic book history baggage of the John Blaze version. Netflix can have Blaze or Johnny Ketch in a separate series. Imagine, Ghost Rider (ABC) and The Real Ghost Rider (Netflix).
But what about AOS and Daisy Johnson? No real news yet about Daisy but the show might gradually detail her going rogue and her new gothic look. Hopefully, they bring back Bobbie Morse, aka Avenger Mockingbird as she’s one of the show’s greatest assets and biggest fan link to the Avengers aside from Phil Coulson. The next few months should be interesting.