Was Doctor Doom ever considered as The Fantastic Four: First Steps' main villain? The Marvel movie's director has his say

• Matt Shakman has said whether Doctor Doom was ever going to be The Fantastic Four: First Steps' main villain
• Robert Downey Jr will play the group's iconic adversary in 2026's Avengers: Doomsday film
• Galactus was ultimately chosen to be First Steps' primary antagonist

The Fantastic Four: First Steps director has explained why Galactus and not Doctor Doom is the film's Big Bad – and it's got nothing to do with Avengers: Doomsday.

Chatting to TechRadar, Matt Shakman outlined two major reasons for picking the immortal, planet-devouring space-god over The Fantastic Four's most notorious villain for their latest big-screen reboot. Interestingly, Marvel's revised plan for The Multiverse Saga, which belatedly saw Robert Downey Jr return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to portray Victor von Doom in the next two Avengers movies, wasn't one of them.

"We didn't consider making Doom the villain," the Marvel movie's filmmaker told me. "Mostly, because he's been the villain of every other Fantastic Four film. He takes up a lot of space and he's a wonderful character, but I wanted to be able to focus on this family [and] these four characters [over him].

"Obviously, I picked a very big villain, literally," Shakman continued. "But, Galactus is also The Fantastic Four's second most famous villain, so it made sense to to bring him in. We considered a lot of other potential villains along the way, but eventually settled on Galactus and and I'm glad that we did."

It's fascinating to learn that Doom was never discussed as the Marvel Phase 6 film's primary foe.

Initially announced in July 2019, First Steps predates Marvel's pivot away from Kang the Conqueror – The Multiverse Saga's first overarching bad guy – to Doctor Doom by five years. Indeed, Downey Jr wasn't announced as Latveria's most famous son until 2024's San Diego Comic-Con, with Doom confirmed to be replacing Kang following Jonathan Majors' firing by Marvel in the wake of numerous assault allegations made against him.

Of equal intrigue is Shakman wasn't Marvel's first choice to be the director of one of the most anticipated new movies of 2025.

Originally, Jon Watts, who helmed Tom Holland's first Spider-Man film trilogy in the MCU, was tapped to direct in December 2020. However, Watts dropped out in April 2022 and, despite a bizarre rumor that legendary filmmaker Stephen Spielberg had been asked to replace Watts, it was Shakman who boarded the project in August of that year. It's possible, then, that Doom could've been discussed as the primary antagonist of The Fantastic Four's latest cinematic adventure prior to Shakman's hiring.

Regardless, as he has throughout First Steps' press tour, Shakman declined to comment on the prospect of Downey Jr's Doom appearing in 2025's final MCU. With Marvel's First Family taking their, well, first steps into the MCU this Friday (July 25), we don't have long to wait until we have a definitive answer.

In the meantime, get the lowdown on the movie via my ultimate guide on The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Additionally, check out my Avengers: Doomsday hub for the latest and biggest news about that film. Then, read on for more exclusive coverage of First Steps.

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