Doctor Doom will undoubtedly prove to be the MCU’s deadliest threat in Avengers: Doomsday, which is why it’s so surprising how the MCU has handled the character’s introduction to the franchise. Despite being one of the most iconic and historied Marvel Comics characters, Doom has only made one minor appearance in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, ahead of his proper debut in Doomsday. While this is mostly due to the last-minute pivot from Kang being the Multiverse Saga’s main villain, it still reveals some interesting truths about the MCU.
Thanos was the main villain of the Infinity Saga of the MCU, and the way that the character was handled has made him one of the most iconic antagonists in the franchise. Marvel is undoubtedly hoping to recreate this legendary status with the introduction of Doom, who will be the main villain of Doomsday and presumably Secret Wars. However, the character won’t have the detailed history with Reed Richards that he does in the comics, something that has become a major point of criticism from MCU fans.
Doctor Doom is obviously comparable to Thanos in many ways, but one of the most interesting ways is how different they are. Thanos first appeared in a post-credits scene for 2012’s The Avengers, setting him up as a major overarching antagonist. Thanos was then further developed in films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Guardians of the Galaxy, with him being mentioned in other MCU projects beyond these. Thanos was constantly being brought up as a major threat, with the years-long buildup finally paying off in Avengers: Infinity War.
Doom, on the other hand, isn’t getting this build up. Doom’s only appearance so far was in Fantastic Four‘s post-credits scene, and even in this moment, he doesn’t say anything. His villainous plan isn’t set up, outside of him briefly interacting with Franklin Richards, which can be juxtaposed with Loki’s entire plan in The Avengers being in service of Thanos. Doom is being put on equal footing with Thanos based on him being an Avengers-level threat, yet he isn’t being set up nearly as much.
This different handling of Doom is likely due to the MCU wanting him to be a surprise threat to the main cast of Doomsday. Doom’s multiversal plan couldn’t have been predicted by the Avengers due to it most likely using time travel, something that the heroes can’t see. Even if the Fantastic Four warn the main MCU’s heroes, Doom will most likely catch the characters completely off guard, setting up an incredibly exciting story in Avengers: Doomsday.
If the MCU truly wants to make Doom a surprise threat, there is one iconic Marvel Comics moment that can be adapted in order to do this. In the 2015 Secret Wars event, Thanos leads the Cabal to take on God Emperor Doom. After failing to take him down in several ways, a confident Thanos faces Doom himself, prepared to battle him one-on-one. However, Doom quickly grabs Thanos’ spine and pulls it out of his body, killing Thanos without breaking a sweat.
We don’t know what Doom’s power level will be in Doomsday just yet, but even if he isn’t God Emperor Doom, his multiversal travel means that he will probably be pretty capable of facing some major threats. The MCU has already established that it is willing to feature variants of Thanos from different timelines, so Doom could easily encounter one early in Doomsday. Having Doom kill a Thanos variant will instantly raise the stakes for the film, proving that Doom is a much greater threat than Thanos ever was.
Doom killing Thanos is one of the most iconic moments from Secret Wars, so many Marvel fans are obviously hoping to see these panels make it to the big screen. Even if killing Thanos doesn’t affect the story of Doomsday all that much, it would be an instantly memorable moment that establishes why the Avengers (and the audience) should be so terrified of Doom. After all, if Doom can kill Thanos that easily, he could kill any one of the Avengers even easier.
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