Julian McMahon, who first brought Doctor Doom to life in 2005’sFantastic Four, has nothing but praise forRobert Downey Jr.stepping into the role for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. WithThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsset to debut in 2025 and Downey Jr.’s Doom expected to play a massive role inAvengers: DoomsdayandAvengers: Secret Wars, Marvel fans are preparing for a very different version of the iconic villain. Speaking toScreenRant’sGrant Hermannswhile promoting his latest filmThe Surferat SXSW,McMahon reflectedon his own time playing Victor von Doom and why he’s excited to see Downey Jr. take over.
“It’s Robert, you know what I mean? What are you going to say? His body of work speaks for itself. He’s a super talented guy. I love watching his work. When we did the movies years ago, we were at the [precipice] of all that stuff happening. So, we were finding our way a lot, and we were trying to figure out what space the movie itself lived in. Was it a kid’s movie? Was it a family movie? Was it more comedy-driven, or was it more trauma-driven? We were trying to find all that stuff as we were shooting.”
Julian McMahon Knows the Comic Book Movie Landscape Is Different Now
McMahon also acknowledged how much the comic book movie landscape has changed since the early 2000s, making a comparison betweenhis version of Doomand what Downey Jr. will have to work with in today’s industry.
“I think now that there’s so many different realms of establishment of the way that you look at those pieces, you can pretty much do so many different things now," he continued. “If you’ve got Robert Downey Jr., who’s one of the great creatives of the last however many years we’ve been watching him for, mixed with the elements of how we can make movies these days?I think it’s going to be pretty extraordinary.”
While McMahon’s portrayal of Doctor Doom inFantastic FourandFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surferwasn’t exactly a direct adaptation of the comics, it was still more faithful thanToby Kebbell’siteration in the 2015 reboot, which was widely panned by fans, critics, and anyone with functioning eyes. However, those performances were in Fox movies, which didn’t concern themselves with things like long-term storytelling, so hopefully this time, we get a Doom to remember.
The Surferopens in theaters on July 25, 2025.
Avengers: Doomsday
Source:ScreenRant
