'Legion' Showrunner Noah Hawley Is Directing A Doctor Doom Movie For Fox

The Fantastic Four have a troubled cinematic history, but it looks as though Fox isn't finished with them yet. Speaking at the Legion panel at San Diego Comic-Con, showrunner Noah Hawley revealed he's working on a surprising project.

"Two words," he said. "Doctor Doom."

Fox has always been reluctant to let go of the license to the #FantasticFour, and we'd recently had rumors that the studio was working on a younger reboot version. Instead, it seems we may well get a movie centered upon one of Marvel's all-time greatest villains.

What's Going On?

No doubt #Fox is emboldened by their recent successes. The X-Men franchise has been given a new lease of life by the success of Deadpool and Logan, and the studio is clearly willing to experiment with the superhero genre in a way we've never seen before. It takes a truly skilled writer to pull off a villain-centric superhero plot - that's why most comic books starring the bad guys have a short shelf life - but #NoahHawley has already proven himself one of the best in the business.

Fox has three X-Men centric movies due out next year, and recently booked a bevy of dates for future showings:

• June 7, 2019
• November 22, 2019
• March 13, 2020
• June 26, 2020
• October 2, 2020
• March 5, 2021

We can presume that Hawley's #DoctorDoom is hopefully assigned to one of these dates. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's developing the film with an eye to direct. That would give the movie a unique, distinctive style that fans are sure to love. Intriguingly, there are rumors that Hawley is bringing Legion star Dan Stevens with him, although we've had no indication as to whether or not he'll be playing the title character.

In the comics, Doctor Doom is one of the most complex antagonists in the #Marvel Universe. While the Fantastic Four movies have traditionally played him as an insane super-scientist, he's also a powerful sorcerer, and his deepest motivation was actually to rescue his mother's spirit from Hell. He became absolute monarch of the fictional Eastern European nation of Latveria, and his campaign to rule the world is driven both by egomania and a powerful, unflinching belief in the need for order in all aspects of life. Noah Hawley proved with Legion just how well he can handle complex characters, and he's sure to do it again.

This isn't the news any Marvel fan will have expected to hear coming out of #SDCC2017. It's sure to be controversial; some fans will be furious that Fox isn't simply allowing the Fantastic Four license to revert to Marvel. But the truth is that Noah Hawley is a gifted storyteller, and he's sure to create a unique movie that will shape the future of the superhero genre. As shocking as this news may be, it could be that we're in for a hit.

[Sources: Bleeding Cool, The Hollywood Reporter]