Ever since the 20th Century Fox acquisition meant that we would one day get X-Men and Fantastic Four characters in the MCU, the fandom has been eagerly speculating about one particular question: Who will play Doctor Doom?

The answer was finally given over the weekend when Robert Downey Jr. was revealed as the next actor to don the metal mask of Latveria’s favored dictator. Since then, there’s been a lot of mixed feelings about the casting for a variety of reasons. But the part that annoyed me the most was that this was another big screen movie for Doctor Doom that perhaps didn’t give us as much of a Doctor Doom as he should have been. Considering how poorly that went the last two times, it doesn’t fill me with the greatest confidence that Doom’s curse hasn’t been broken on the big screen just yet.

Before we revisit the character’s bad past in cinema, it should be said that it’s frustrating to see Downey Jr. cast as Doctor Doom via the Tony Stark variant. However, the MCU’s narrative has been busy with the post-Endgame multiverse for a while now. Before Kang was removed from the upcoming saga, the idea of multiple variations of the Big Bad was the point of a future Avengers film. So it wouldn’t be surprising if this is just a (very expensive) attention-grabbing stunt before we get a Victor von Doom version (or versions) of the character.

But whatever this means for the character, the character's torrid cinematic past looms large as a reminder. There's a lot to dislike about Tim Story's Fantastic Four films, but the handling of Doom was particularly poor. Nip/Tuck star Julian McMahon wasn't necessarily a bad choice, given his narcissistic turn in that series. But his prissy pretty-boy act made his eventual rebirth feel far less grand than the character deserved. It's not like much changes in 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. In fact, McMahon feels even less suited to Doom, and secondary to the actual story of Galactus and the Silver Surfer.