We're only a few weeks away from The Fantastic Four: First Steps hitting theaters. The hope among fans is that the reboot will introduce them to Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom before he takes centre stage in Avengers: Doomsday. He won't be the first actor to play the iconic villain, of course, and many of you reading this will fondly remember Julian McMahon's take on the character in 2005's Fantastic Four and 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Unfortunately, we've just learned that Julian has passed away aged 56, following a private battle with cancer. The actor died on July 2 in Clearwater, Florida, and his wife shared a statement announcing his passing with Deadline.
"With an open heart, I wish to share with the world that my beloved husband, Julian McMahon, died peacefully this week after a valiant effort to overcome cancer," Kelly McMahon wrote. "Julian loved life. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his work, and he loved his fans. His deepest wish was to bring joy into as many lives as possible."
"We ask for support during this time to allow our family to grieve in privacy. And we wish for all of those to whom Julian brought joy, to continue to find joy in life. We are grateful for the memories," she added.
Julian left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. Born in Sydney to Sir William McMahon, former Australian Prime Minister, and Lady Sonia, he initially pursued modeling, and his acting career began with Australian soap operas, with Home and Away the most notable.
In Hollywood, he gained recognition as Ian Rain in Another World and Agent John Grant in Profiler. His defining role came as the morally complex Dr. Christian Troy in Nip/Tuck, earning him a Golden Globe nomination. Julian also portrayed Cole Turner in Charmed and later returned to the Marvel Universe as the villainous Jonah in Runaways. He most recently appeared alongside Nicolas Cage in The Surfer.
Earlier this year, Julian had nothing but good things to say about Downey taking over as Doom in the MCU, and reflected on the challenges he faced while playing Victor.
"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," the actor enthused. "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."
"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."
Our thoughts go out to Julian's family at this difficult time. Hollywood has lost a great, arguably very underrated, star, and his impact on the Marvel Universe will be long remembered by his fans.