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Not only was Doom’s personality incredibly disappointing in Fantastic Four, but his powers were egregiously different from the comics.
Though still incredibly beloved by comic book fans and moviegoers alike, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies were somewhat controversial for one element: organic webbing. In this incarnation, Spider-Man had the power to shoot webs from his hands instead of needing technological web-shooters like in the mainstream comics. While this was a change of pace for the hero’s canon, it was still a much better change than what happened in another 2000s superhero franchise.
The Tim Story-directed Fantastic Four movies had a fairly middling reception, with fans and critics agreeing that its take on Doctor Doom was less than adequate. Not only was Doom’s personality incredibly disappointing, but his powers were egregiously different from the comics. Here’s how the less than successful duology failed to do Doom justice.
Doctor Doom Gained Superpowers in 2005’s Fantastic Four
Played by Julian McMahon in both of the 2000s Fantastic Four movies, Doctor Doom was a far cry from the over-the-top tyrant of the comics. Instead, Victor Von Doom was a Lex Luthor-esque industrialist who funded the Fantastic Four’s journey to the stars. He goes along with and is seemingly unaffected by the changes brought to them by cosmic radiation. It’s later revealed, however, that a cosmic dust cloud has given him superpowers of his own.
These powers include electrical and magnetic abilities, super-strength and a durable layer of metal skin under his epidermis. This makes him into a sort of living metal man, not unlike X-Men’s Colossus. It also makes his usual suit of armor an organic part of his own body. Victor sees this turn of events as a reason to rule the world, hoping to kill the heroes and cement his godhood. When he returns in the Fantastic Four sequel, he not only boasts these same powers but later the cosmic abilities of the Silver Surfer, as well.
These abilities are nothing like what Doom has in the comics, in which he utilizes an advanced mechanical suit of armor along with other gadgets and ancient mysticism. To be fair, this amorphous power set may have been too much to explain in one film, and arguably makes defeating Doom unrealistic in even the comics. It’s no wonder that the comic’s Ultimate Universe also changed his powers quite a bit, but the changes in the films were incredibly upsetting to diehard fans.
Doom and Other Heavily Changed Characters
Doom was heavily changed once again in the much-maligned 2015 film Fantastic Four. Falling into mysterious lava while investigating Planet Zero, the movie’s version of the Negative Zone, Doom is revealed to have survived and become fused with his exploration suit. He also gained telekinetic powers, the ability to create force fields and control Planet Zero’s environment. This again made his powers part of his organic being, simplifying an amorphous power set while still making it kind of a catch-all array of abilities.
Whereas Spider-Man’s organic webbing was eventually accepted to the point of being deemed just as valid as web-shooters, the theatrical versions of Doctor Doom have all been heavily criticized. Many fans see his cinematic portrayals as proof that none of the movies have truly captured the spirit of the comics. But Doom wasn’t the only comic book character to be radically changed in the movies.
The X-Men Origins: Wolverine version of Deadpool was infamously nothing like the antihero of the comics, even turning the Merc With a Mouth into a mute character. The X3 version of Juggernaut was also different than the usual portrayal, though he was arguably based more on his incarnation in the Ultimate Universe. The cinematic Scarlet Witch, on the other hand, is similar to Doom’s changes, in that her powers were somewhat tamped down and their origins were changed completely. Unlike Doom, however, this change was relatively well-received, and since then, the character has even begun to evolve into a slightly more comic-accurate version.
Superhero movies in general have taken a turn for greater accuracy to the comic book source material, making heavily changed characters like the cinematic Dooms mostly a thing of the past. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe set to introduce its own Fantastic Four, hopefully, it will finally give fans the Doctor Doom that they deserve.
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