Josh Trank's Fantastic Four movie was a disaster, and none of the actors involved managed to walk away from the project looking good. Extensive reshoots, reportedly helmed by Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg, changed the second half of the reboot, and somehow made Doctor Doom even worse.
Fox had already dropped the ball with Victor Von Doom in 2005's Fantastic Four and its sequel The Rise of the Silver Surfer, and did so again in this movie despite casting a great actor in Toby Kebbell.
During a recent interview with ComicBook.com about his standout role in Apple TV+'s Servant, the actor was asked about the weirdest stuff his character has eaten in the show. Singling out Sean Turner's placenta, he was then asked what he'd prefer: eating that for real or being asked about returning as Doom...again.
"Definitely the placenta puff," he said. "I'd eat a whole croque en bouche of placenta puffs rather than be asked if I would go back and be terrible as Doctor Doom again. 'Hey, you were terrible as Doctor Doom. Would you go back and do it again?' Eh, no."
When the interviewer told Kebbell he shouldn't be so hard on himself, he responded, "You're absolutely right; it was not my fault."
Was that a shot at Trank? Kinberg? Both?! Who knows, but so much went wrong with Fantastic Four, the cast really doesn't deserve the blame. Looking back at the experience of making the movie, Kebbell even joked, "I didn't realize I made it a goal of mine to ruin cinema, but I did it. I fully accomplished it."
While a number of Variants are rumoured to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars, we're guessing this Doctor Doom won't be among them. With any luck, Kebbell will get another shot at comic book movies as there are plenty of other roles we're sure he could redeem himself with after this disastrous take on Marvel's First Family and their greatest foe.
What do you guys think?