Marvel fans regularly tend to jump the gun with a variety of fan theories even before the projects are released. With the overall franchise now set to see a variety of new narratives and characters, this is effectively prime time for insane theories to crop out, albeit prematurely, considering not a lot of details about the upcoming movies have been released thus far.
Ranging from Avengers 5 and 6 to the Fantastic Four project, to all the other movies that may or may not prove important to the upcoming saga, fans are bound to theorize until the actual movies arrive. That has resulted in a rather elaborate, and detailed fan theory about the yet-to-be-confirmed character of John Malkovich, set to be introduced in Fantastic Four: First Steps.
One fan has jumped the gun, and believes that Malkovich will end up playing a variant of Victor Von Doom, which will eventually tie in with RDJ’s version of the character via future projects.
Elaborate fan theory attempts to figure out everything Marvel will do in upcoming movies
With fans like these, the MCU bosses need not even spend time or money thinking or conceptualizing about which direction they should take with respect to the upcoming Avengers saga. According to the Reddit user, the unconfirmed role set to be played by John Malkovich is going to be that of a Victor Von Doom variant.
With Avengers 5 and 6 set to have Robert Downey Jr.s Dr. Doom as the big bad baddie, the theory speculates that Malkovich will play a variant of Doctor Doom from the FF’s universe. He will aid the Fantastic Four in defeating Galactus, but secretly siphon off cosmic energy, leaving the team to die. Further, Malkovich’s Doom will be seen in contact with another Doom variant, played by Robert Downey Jr., sharing secrets of the multiverse.
Further, while Malkovich’s Doom will wear the classic Doom armor, RDJ’s Doom will don a suit resembling Doom’s Infamous Iron Man armor. The siphoned cosmic energy powers a machine that allows Malkovich’s Doom to travel the multiverse. Both Dooms are members of the “Council of Doom,” a group of multiversal Doom variants planning to overthrow the Council of Kangs and become sole rulers of their respective universes.
However, each Doom secretly plans to eliminate the others to become the ruler of the entire multiverse. The ensuing war between Doom and Kang, followed by a civil war among the Dooms, destabilizes the multiverse, causing incursions that destroy timelines. In a twist, Malkovich’s Doom emerges victorious, usurping Loki to become God Emperor Doom and collapsing all timelines into Battleworld.
This will then set up a redemption arc for RDJ’s Doom, who will ultimate assist the heroes in defeating Malkovich’s Doom during the events of Secret Wars.
This elaborate fan theory has some obvious problems
There are simply multiple issues that will arise with such a story. Firstly, the war between the Council of Kangs and the Council of Dooms will have to take place off-screen. This is simply because Jonathan Majors is no longer expected to be a part of the MCU, which presents obvious challenges.
Hence, either the war takes place off-screen, or Kang is recast if this theory ends up being true. Furthermore, it also makes RDJ’s Doctor Doom at best an anti-hero, instead of the major villain that he has thus far been marketed as. This is bound to irk fans, and the decision to bring Robert Downey Jr. back to the franchise will also lose its purpose.
After all, if his character is to eventually become a good guy, the MCU could easily just have stuck to a multiversal approach and simply brought back the actor as an Iron Man variant. Hence, following this path effectively does away with everything Doctor Doom is supposed to stand for, and will be at best an anti-climactic return for the most iconic actor that has till date been part of the MCU.
The Avengers saga until now, is available to be streamed on Disney+.
