Avengers: Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo face the daunting task of bringing one of the greatest supervillains ever to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Doctor Doom is set to be the big bad of the MCU's Multiverse Saga as he rears his head in the next Avengers movies, and much of the film's success will depend on the filmmakers doing his character justice.
Even after making cinema history with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the Russos still risked mishandling one of Marvel's most beloved and impactful villains. Casting Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. as Doom raised concerns that they were relying too much on nostalgia to win over fans. However, the Russos recently showed their deep understanding of Doom's character, giving fans a reason to be optimistic about the villain's prospects in the MCU.
The Russos share their thoughts on Doctor Doom ahead of Doomsday
According to Comic Book Movie, the Russo Brothers shared their thoughts on Doctor Doom's character in the Marvel Premier Collection edition of "Time Runs Out," a storyline that Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige said will be adapted in Avengers: Doomsday. In the foreword, the Russos explained that Doom is more than just a typical supervillain, all while praising writer Jonathan Hickman's portrayal of the character in the follow-up comic, 2015's Secret Wars.
"Doom is not just an adversary. He is ambition and fear woven together. In Secret Wars, he tries to hold reality in place through sheer will. He believes he can save everything if he controls enough of it," the Russo Brothers stated. "Hickman reveals the strain behind that effort and the human fragility beneath the armor. Even someone who can reshape existence cannot escape the emotions that define him."
"We have always been drawn to characters who walk that line. People who reach for something noble and lose themselves along the way," the Russos added. "Sometimes, destruction does not arrive as a single blow. It arrives through decisions made in uncertainty and through fractures between people who want the same thing but cannot find their way to each other. That is its own kind of ending. It is quiet, painful, and incredibly human."
The way the Russos described Doom in "Time Runs Out" hints at where they will take the character and the MCU. This comic storyline shows Doom and Earth's Mightiest Heroes trying to stop a series of incursions from destroying the Multiverse. Despite Doom's best efforts, he couldn't delay the Multiverse's end, so he tried to save as much of reality as possible and create the Battleworld seen in 2015's Secret Wars.
Since multiple universes seem to collide in Avengers: Doomsday, it appears that the Russos will also depict Doom as an indomitable force trying to impose his will on a dying Multiverse to save it, leading into Avengers: Secret Wars. This makes the MCU's Doom similar to the Russos' take on Thanos: a callous figure who unleashes death and destruction because he feels it's necessary to save existence. How much of the "Time Runs Out" storyline the Russos adapted for the big screen remains to be seen.
The Russos continue to bring depth to Marvel's characters
The Russo Brothers are no strangers to presenting morally complex heroes and villains on film. In Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the Russos showed the heroes and Thanos himself making some incredible sacrifices that challenged their beliefs about what's right, all in the name of defending the universe.
It seems like the Russos will tell this type of story again in Avengers: Doomsday, as Earth's Mightiest Heroes do whatever they can to stop the apocalypse. Doom says in one of the trailers that the heroes will face an "unthinkable" decision to stop what's coming, suggesting that they will all have to make hard choices to "save" the Multiverse.
Ultimately, it seems like the Russos plan to make Doom the hero of his own story in Avengers: Doomsday. Rather than a simple superpowered tyrant, the filmmakers seem ready to bring Doom to the MCU with all the flaws and moral complexities that have made him such a compelling supervillain.
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