‘Fantastic Four’ Reboot Star Toby Kebbell Reveals Dr. Doom, Angry Internet Commenter
We haven't known much at all about Fox's 'Fantastic Four' reboot: the studio opted not to bring the film to Comic-Con this year, so we've really only been able to speculate based on the casting, which has skewed young and a little subversive. But Toby Kebbell, who plays villain Dr. Doom in the upcoming film, has just revealed some details about his role in the film, revealing a pretty major change from the character fans are familiar with.
In an interview with Collider to promote the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray release of 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,' Kebbell (who plays Koba in that film), talked about his part in 'Fantastic Four.' Surprisingly, he offered up more details than you might expect, given the hush-hush nature of comic book movies. We already knew that the film was going to be taking some liberties with the characters and story, skewing a bit younger in casting, and changing Johnny Storm from white to black with the casting of Michael B. Jordan -- these are all interesting and exciting changes that could potentially revive the franchise.
When asked about the experience of playing the villainous Dr. Doom in the film, Kebbell gave a relatively simple answer, only hinting at a change in the origin:
I’m excited to see it too, and my nerves really…The only thing I can tease you about is what I worked on most was the voice because nobody—even in the cartoons, when I was watching them I was like, “So where’s he from?” There’s a mild change and I’ll tell you because of our history.
Then, he just full-on comes out with the reveal of the character's origins in the film:
He’s Victor Domashev, not Victor Von Doom in our story. And I’m sure I’ll be sent to jail for telling you that. The Doom in ours—I’m a programmer. Very anti-social programmer. And on blogging sites I’m “Doom”.
So he's a Russian computer programmer and a bit of an introvert, and he has a shady online persona -- your knee-jerk reaction mileage may vary, but this sort of villain seems socially relevant. Having known so little about the film up to this point, we'd love to know even more now.
'Fantastic Four' hits theaters on June 19, 2015.