Noah Hawley Shares 'Doctor Doom' Movie Plot Details Even As Film Stays In Limbo

Two years after Noah Hawley dropped the bomb that he was developing a Doctor Doom movie for 20th Century Fox, the comic book movie remains in limbo.

The ever-busy Legion showrunner has only accumulated more projects in the interim, while a big question mark remains around Fox's superhero properties in the face of the impending Disney-Fox deal. But while the film stalls indefinitely, despite a constructive meeting with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Hawley dropped a few more Doctor Doom movie plot details to keep us sated.

During a panel at SXSW, Hawley gave an update on Doctor Doom: basically, it's still stalled. The Fargo and Legion creator revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he had even met with the Marvel Studios chief himself, Kevin Feige, who inquired whether Hawley was still working on the script. When Hawley glibly replied, "Should I still be working on it?" no concrete answer was given.

However, Hawley teased some plot details should the Doctor Doom movie ever come to fruition. He reiterated his intention to structure the film as a geopolitical thriller, focusing on the ins and outs of Victor von Doom's pressures as the king of the fictional Eastern European country. But then he shared his general idea for the plot, which would follow a female journalist invited to Latveria. Per THR:

It begins with Doom putting a dome over Latveria, the fictional European country he rules. He later invites a female journalist to be his voice to the world, meaning its protagonist would be someone without superpowers.

It's unclear whether the female journalist would act as the protagonist or Doom himself, but this seems like a solid start for a Doctor Doom movie. And to potentially borrow a page from the comics, the current iteration of Doom in Marvel Comics has plenty of potential to be the sympathetic protagonist of the movie. While still a dictator and an egomaniac, Doom has had a massive change of heart, and uses his powers to protect his nation and defeat other Big Bads just to prove to the superheroes how much more of an effective force he is. While he remains an antagonist, he has an oddly heroic streak that could be used in Hawley's film. Add in international tensions and political intrigue to fit into Hawley's vision of a geopolitical thriller, and this could end up being one of the most ambitious comic book films this side of Black Panther — if it ever gets made.

Hawley added that he's still not sure when, or if, the project could move forward. He joked that Feige wouldn't reveal the "thousand-year plan" for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to him — though he's as in the dark as the rest of us. But based on Feige's non-committal answer to him, it may not be any time soon.