Séamas O'Reilly: Is it Doomsday for the comic-book film genre?

Some strange sense of living death now reigns in a conglomerate that once felt like an irresistible, unstoppable force

Kevin Feige, from left, Joe Russo, Robert Downey Jr., and Anthony Russo attend a panel for "Marvel Studios" during Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in San Diego. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Last weekend, a masked man strode on stage at San Diego Comic Con to be announced as the latest iconic villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Dr Victor Von Doom. 

Dr Doom — as his name is near-ubiquitously abridged — is the primary antagonist of Marvel’s original superhero team, The Fantastic Four, a metal-masked megalomaniac and ruler of the conveniently vague Eastern European state of Latveria.