A crossover event that's all about Doctor Doom
Marvel's turned out yet another line-wide crossover tale that, if they wanted to, I'm sure they could very easily have published as a stand-alone story, called One World Under Doom. Polygon spoke with writer Ryan North about where they're going with this latest farce in marketing:
ComicBook also interviewed North, and a form of political reference that's probably not surprising at this point comes up:
Also note how he talks about "cool villains", but not about cool heroes and even co-stars (Willie Lumpkin, anyone?). That's pretty all one needs to know North doesn't have his standards down straight. And doesn't this new FF movie co-star a certain Pedro Pascal, whose political bent is alienating? Some "relevant" cast there alright.
Fantastic Four writer (and Squirrel Girl writer, and Dinosaur Comics writer) Ryan North knows why Doctor Doom is the Cadillac of supervillains.Comparing a villain to a fine car brand like Cadillac is bad enough. But what's really angering is how a villain once again is spoken about in loving terms, even though there were times Doom was depicted in past years killing people, and I even recall a Fantastic Four issue from the early 90s where he warned one of his military officials that if he failed to retrieve an energy source that landed around Latveria, "death is not a luxury my torturers are known to provide!" Fates worse than death are just as chilling, and this was all but part of Doom's character too. He may have been written as honorable up to a point, but there were writers who could still portray the Latverian despot as potentially lethal. By the way, if memory serves, Doom's practice of magic came during the time Mark Waid was writing FF in 2003, so wouldn't the premise have come awfully late? When North's asked about how to portray Doom in film, he said:
“He’s got all the powers of science, he’s got all the powers of magic. And he dresses like a robot in a cape,” he told Polygon via video chat. “Everything is ‘peak.’ [laughs] And, most impressively of all, he can speak in the third person and have it read as cool, and not ridiculous.”
“I’m not an actor,” North answered, “but it seems to me that Doom is probably the hardest character to play in all of the Marvel universe. Because he does have this depth, but also this breadth to him. He can send you back in time for Blackbeard’s gold” — the very outlandish scheme in which Doom entrapped the Fantastic Four in his first appearance — “and he can also trade someone’s soul in Hell and do horrible, horrible things.”Umm, a fictional character, both the good and the bad, can only go as far as the writer does. Including in terms of personality, and that's something North didn't address here, apparently because when it comes to villains, only a corrupt personality matters, not whether family relations do. So, what "depth" are we talking about? And say, does the page count indicate they've reduced it by at least two pages? There was a time when there could be more than 20 during the 80s, but it's no surprise that, in an era where superhero comics have turned into a farce, they could reduce the page count because not enough people are reading, and ads clearly take up more importance now. And if memory serves, that part about souls in Hell came up in Waid's decidedly overrated take on the FF from 2003, which may have had questionable political metaphors too.
“That’s a huge range for a character,” North continued, “especially for an actor in an hour- or two-hour movie to hit [...] I mean, I’ve spent the past couple of years thinking about Doom, writing speeches for Doom, capturing that voice. And I had the advantage that my output was 20 pages a month, and that gives me time to go for long walks and try to nail down what Doom says on this one page in a few words. I can’t imagine the challenge of trying to do that full time for the year, or whatever it takes, to make a movie.”
But if he had to sum it all up? “I guess it boils down, don’t forget his depth,” North concluded. “He can do anything.”
ComicBook also interviewed North, and a form of political reference that's probably not surprising at this point comes up:
On the surface it appears that Doom means well. He’s in favor of universal healthcare and things of that nature. But there’s always a catch with Doom, and we see that come into play with Baron Zemo and Hydra. How will this game of chess between Doom and our heroes escalate as the series continues?I wouldn't be surprised if Doom's the latest comics villain to serve as a metaphor for Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians, and if the following article is correct, Trump might support "universal" health care. Also note the part in the interview about Doom winning over a woman he rescues. One can wonder if the green cape Doom wears is serving here as a variation on the description of Trump as "orange", and the villain himself as a variation on how Trump's been winning over people in the USA and elsewhere. And if that speculation's correct, it's only all the more insulting to the intellect how a classic character's being exploited for more political metaphors. Besides, it's not the first time Doom was ever depicted expressing bizarre "love" and "friendship" for his foes. I recall he tried doing that in the FF during the early 90s too when he captured the Thing at one point (at the time Ben Grimm's face was damaged).
That’s a great question. Doom is someone who is not just smart but knows he’s smart, and likes to outsmart people. In the first issue, he outmaneuvers the heroes from the moment go by just thinking ahead and being smarter. The story of “One World Under Doom,” for the most part, is seeing these heroes react to Doom being in charge and trying to figure out “How do we stop him? How do we fix this? How do we go against someone who is doing his best to try and get people to like him?”
He’s Doctor Doom, he dresses like a scary robot but he’s trying to get people to like him. If you’ve seen the first issue, that woman he saves at the end repeats his slogan back to him. She’s on board.
This is your first big Marvel event as the head writer, so what’s it been like collaborating with the different editorial teams, and writers and artists on all the tie-ins and one-shots?Look how he takes such a casual perspective of universe-wide crossovers, as though there's nothing damaging in the long run about them, artistically or otherwise. Chuck Dixon once pointed out how this has only turned mainstream superhero fare into a joke with less sales, and North's just the latest to normalize crossovers despite the high cost in dollars it now takes up even with just a handful of issues from different series.
It’s been really fun. I’ve never been in this position before. I’m usually the guy doing the tie-ins, which is also fun. One of the things I wanted to do was have the full event written well in advance so that when people do a tie-in it’s not me saying, “Oh, I think this is what’s going to be happening.” Instead it’s, “Here’s the script, here’s what’s going on this month, you can play with that.”
There’s stuff coming up in Avengers and Iron Man that I’m so excited and honestly impressed, like, “Man, I wish I came up with that. That’s a really cool thing [laughs].” I’m very excited for how this is going to go across. It should feel tied together and organic and really, really cool.
Looking at the bigger picture, how has it been to work on the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom when all eyeballs will be on them later in the year with The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Doom joining the MCU?This is where anybody who's a realist can only laugh. For years now, many moviegoers have shown little interest in the comics, and a crossover hardly makes a good jumping-on point, though what's really irritating is how even modern writers won't recommend beginning with the Silver Age FF adventures, even though they've long been available in reprint archives, and could make an excellent pastime for many. The part about some people viewing the FF as the heroes of their grandparents is interesting though, because if this were so, it would confirm the huge problem comicdom has with people disinterested in merit-based entertainment. I wouldn't be shocked if Doctor Strange were viewed the same way, if only because he too can be considered one of the "older" characters in the MCU. If all a certain audience cares about is whether the heroes are young enough, that's ludicrous and makes clear what's wrong with how modern generations are brought up.
It’s been fun and gratifiying. I feel like there are people that think of the Fantastic Four as your grandparents’ superheroes. Like they’re old, they’re not that interesting. But they’re great. They’re really great characters and there’s a reason they’ve stuck around for so long.
I think the fact we’re getting this movie with an exciting, relevant cast will help people realize these are some cool people, with a cool world and cool villains and everything. And bring more eyes to the comics, which is always great.
Also note how he talks about "cool villains", but not about cool heroes and even co-stars (Willie Lumpkin, anyone?). That's pretty all one needs to know North doesn't have his standards down straight. And doesn't this new FF movie co-star a certain Pedro Pascal, whose political bent is alienating? Some "relevant" cast there alright.
To wrap up, what will be the state of the Marvel Universe once “One World Under Doom” concludes?Oh, does this mean it's not going to be self-contained? Actually, that this is a universe-spanning crossover already makes that part clear enough. If serious writers really wanted to tell a good tale with almost all possible members of a shared universe, they'd do it in a single, stand-alone miniseries, not something where only so many individual series are connected to a wheel hub like spokes on a bicycle. Crossovers today have almost nothing to pick up on that's creative or inspiring, and when it's only written for the sake of serving as a basis for yet another crossover, that makes clear they don't understand why in the long run, crossovers can hurt creativity along with self-contained storytelling. Boy, Jim Shooter sure left quite a mess after he left Marvel that none of his successors want to clean up. And it's to be hoped he'll address it honestly, if ever asked if he believes it crossovers did any good for mainstream superhero stories. Because where everything's led now, even for DC, has become nothing short of a disaster in many ways.
How can I answer this one without spoiling? I guess I can say that where this story ends is not where it begins. There are things that come out of this story that are going to have to be dealt with by everyone else.
Everyone always says, “This story is going to have consequences.” There’s stuff beyond this story that I think, “Wow, I’m glad I don’t have to write the next event because this is a big thing to pick up on.”
Labels: bad editors, crossoverloading, dreadful writers, Fantastic Four, golden calf of villainy, marvel comics, msm propaganda
