Though the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Victor Von Doom has been met with heavy skepticism, the villain’s arrival in the MCU is certainly overdue. Downey’s Doom, rumored to debut in a post-credit scene in The Fantastic Four: First Steps ahead of his first major role in Avengers: Doomsday, will be the third live-action iteration of the character, following the late Julian McMahon‘s vain and menacing Victor and Toby Kebbell‘s hacker Doom. While it’s unclear what Marvel Studios has planned for Doom, it seems likely Downey’s version will have little in common with the previous versions and likely be a bit more comic accurate in terms of his roots as a mystic. What the studio plans to do with Doom beyond the Multiverse Saga isn’t clear but a new rumor claims that Marvel has plans to introduce its own version of another villain who, like Doom, has previously been portrayed by a pair of actors.
According to Marvel insider Daniel Richtman, Kevin Feige and crew are “planning to introduce the MCU version of Norman Osborn” in an unnamed project.
Played first, most famously and most recently by Willem Dafoe in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man and Spider-Man: No Way Home and briefly by Chris Cooper in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Osborn is considered not only Spider-Man’s greatest villain but one of the House of Ideas most menacing baddies. Though he’s recently been an ally of the Web-Slinger in the comics, including in Joe Kelly’s ongoing series, he’s the type of villain who, when utilized properly, can threaten the entire Marvel Universe. Though Richtman’s report doesn’t give any details on the studio’s plans for Osborn–nor indicate when to expect him–it may be versatility and potential to serve as a large-scale villain that the studio values most.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which begins filming soon, could provide an opportunity to introduce the MCU’s own Osborn, though it sounds as though it may be a bit too busy to allow much room for Norman to stir the pot. Whatever the case, it’ll interesting to see how the studio folds the character, who according to Dafoe’s deranged version does not exist on Earth-616, into its future plans.
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