For many fans, the less said about the cinematic interpretation of "Doom" in the two Fantastic Four films the better. Dropping the "Doctor" title altogether this Doom was a kinda-sorta-monarch-we-think with metal skin and the ability to shoot electrical bolts from his hands rather than anything resembling the character from the comics. In the first movie, Doom is slowly morphing into the metal-skinned villain when he confronts one of the board members of his company that has just asked for his resignation (Doom must have studied the same Business for Dummies book as Norman Osborn). Angered by the disgrace of losing his company, he fires an electrical blast straight through the board member leaving a hole in his torso big enough to bowl through. With an ability like that how can the Fantastic Four hope to defeat him? One blast and whomever it hits is toast, right? Except he does. He blasts the Human Torch right in the shoulder and knocks him down. That's it. And this is even after Doom raises his hands and draws strength from the city's electricity or some such thing which one would think would make him a heck lot more powerful than when he fried a hole in a guy earlier in the film. Doom even gets in a few jolts at Mr. Fantastic as he is draped over him like the world's largest Snuggie without leaving so much as a scorch mark. Is it because the FF also got their powers from cosmic rays like Vic did or because the filmmakers were really beyond caring at this point? Considering the audience was beyond caring by this time too, the safe bet would be the latter.
Daniel is a writer/artist/filmmaker currently overseeing post-production on his film Avenging Disco Vampires. He is also the co-creator of the all-ages comic book series The Adventures of Nightclaw & Prowler published by Old World Comics.
