Sneider isn’t alone in saying that Marvel is setting Doom up for a different role than a hasty Kang stand-in. On X, formerly known as Twitter, industry insider account @MyTimeToShineH held similar views. “After looking into it I can confirm that NO, Doctor Doom is not replacing Kang,” they wrote.
Giving Doom a slow, multi-movie introduction before throwing him to the forefront does seem like a pretty logical thing to do, considering the way the MCU has handled its biggest overarching villains. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has been a nigh-constant presence since he debuted in “Thor.” Thanos (Josh Brolin) is introduced little by little before he steps up to the plate for “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” Likewise, Kang variants have crept into the MCU little by little, appearing in both seasons of “Loki” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” so far.
Since Victor Von Doom is arguably just as important a villain as those three — if not even more so — it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to assume that the MCU wishes to establish him in a similar way before letting him loose. As such, a stinger appearance in “Fantastic Four” and a supporting antagonist role in “Secret Wars” might be just the trick to establish the villain as a force to be reckoned with. Of course, all this is simply speculation and rumor at this stage, but right now, the buzz seems to indicate that Doom will follow his own arc instead of outright replacing Kang in the Multiverse Saga, regardless of how events unfold behind the scenes.
