Marvel's Fantastic Four art imagines Giancarlo Esposito as a disfigured Doctor Doom. The Fantastic Four were originally introduced by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee back in 1961. Dubbed “Marvel’s First Family,” they were the inaugural superhero team created by the duo for Marvel, even predating The Avengers. Consisting of Reed Richards aka Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm aka the Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch, and Ben Grimm as the Thing, the Fantastic Four would engage in universe spanning conflicts with the planet munching Galactus, alien shape-shifting Skrulls, and their most legendary foe, Dr. Doom.
Debuting in the pages of The Fantastic Four #5 in 1962, the genius Doctor Doom, aka Victor Von Doom, would wage his war against the cosmic quartet across a multitude of media. In addition to various animated appearances, Doom would serve as antagonist in each of the Fantastic Four live-action film adaptations — the low budget 1992 Roger Corman picture, The Fantastic Four, the Fox produced Fantastic Four in 2005 and its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and the 2015 reboot, FANT4STIC. Reception to these previous big-screen renditions has been divisive, at best, but news from the recent Disney Investors Day 2020 showcased a new, Marvel Studios helmed Fantastic Four that would be joining the MCU . While details have been limited, it hasn’t stopped fans from weighing in on who could be cast as the title heroes or their armored nemesis.
At the top of the fan-casting wishlist to play Doctor Doom is Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian), depicted in an amazing new image from artist BossLogic. In it, his face is charred from the science project explosion his character suffered in his university days, and he holds his signature mask in hand, amongst a haunting all-black backdrop with glowing green lighted accents. Take a look below:
BossLogic captions the image: “Breaking bad did already set up [Esposito's] face.” Esposito is probably best known for his role as drug lord Gus Fring in AMC’s Breaking Bad, who, in the season 4 episode titled “Face Off,” got half his face blown off. This happens to be an integral and pivotal aspect to the character of Doctor Doom and ironically fitting that Esposito has walked this road before. Although some disfigurement occurred later on in the films, the facial scarring as a prelude to his villainous turn wasn’t featured in Julian McMahon’s (Nip/Tuck) portrayal of Doom in 2005, nor Toby Kebbell’s (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) in 2015.
Although Esposito’s amazing run as Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian has certainly boosted the fan fervor for his feature in Fantastic Four, he wouldn’t be the first star to travel from a galaxy far far away to the MCU. Natalie Portman went from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace’s Queen Amidala to Jane Foster in Thor and will be reprising that role in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder. Ben Mendelsohn served as the evil Director Orson Krennic in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before he was featured as the Skrull Talos in Captain Marvel. And perhaps most notable has been Samuel L. Jackson’s Mace Windu who has been featured as Nick Fury throughout the entire MCU. Many Star Wars fans were hoping that Windu would have been the Jedi to answer the call to rescue Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian season 2 finale which saw Gideon's defeat, but even though things didn’t turn out that way, Jackson and Esposito may yet still cross paths, should Esposito wind up cast in the new Fantastic Four.
Source: BossLogic
