Marvel Comics Exec Editor Says ‘Big Bads’ Like Doctor Doom, Magneto Never Stay Reformed Because Fans Want A “Classic Villain To Be A Villain”
From Doctor Doom, to Magneto, to Lex Luthor, to Catwoman, one would be hard pressed to find a Western comic book supervillain that hasn’t experienced their own ‘temporary redemption arc’ – and though their eventual returns to evil form have long ceased to be anything but eye-rolling, Marvel Comics Executive Editor Tom Brevoort says that such resets are the norm because a good chunk of fans will inevitably want to see any given iconic bad guy facing off against their respective heroes.
Brevoort spoke to this publishing reality in response to a fan question, as submitted and answered for the August 3rd entry of his personal Man With A Hat Substack blog, regarding the aforementioned Laterverian dictator’s brief stint as the Infamous Iron Man.
Penned by Brian Michael Bendis, said story arc found Doom choosing to dedicate himself to “a life of protecting instead of conquering”, as he believed that if he was unable to find self-satisfaction even after remaking the Marvel Universe in his image during Secret Wars, destiny was meant to have him fight on the side of angels.
Choosing to assume the Armored Avenger in service of both his own admiration of Tony Stark and the role being made vacant thanks to his being left near-dead by Carol Danvers’ hand at the climax of Civil War II, Doom would spend the next two years actually making good on his attempt at penance, helping the Avengers on numerous occasions and even managing to win the begrudging respect of such heroes as the Thing and even a Sorcerer Supreme-serving version of Tony from the far future.
However, this turning over of a new leaf would eventually turn out to be nothing more than a phase for the Fantastic Four’s greatest rival, as due to little more reason than Bendis’ exit (and Tony Stark’s eventual return) in Invincible Iron Man Vol. 1 #600 and the need to give an ounce of familiarity to the launch of Fantastic Four Vol. 6, he would ultimately find himself inspired by a band of pro-Doom rebels to return to his former ways.
Asked by a fan as to whether there was “any discussion about keeping Doctor Doom as the Infamous Iron Man after Bendis finished his run on Iron Man Vol. 1 or was that idea always doomed?”, Brevoort began his answer with the assertion, “That’s the thing about villains.”
“Several of them have become so popular that they’ve switched over to becoming headliners on their own to one degree of success or another,” he explained. “So it’s not impossible that we might have gone further with a reformed Doom. By that same token, especially with the Fantastic Four coming back [following a two-year, post-Secret Wars break], you kind of want their most classic villain to be a villain once they’re back in play.”
But far from just Doctor Doom, Brevoort then pointed to Marvel’s Merry Band of Mutants as an example of how this sentiment was pretty much the standard for any and all such ‘headliner villains’.
“This is also sort of the situation the X-Men faces right now, after half a decade in which their most well-known and popular foes were essentially their next door neighbors. At a certain point, you want to see them fight Magneto, or Apocalypse, or Mister Sinister or whomever again, you know?”
