The approach may have worked wonders for the Infinity Saga, but the argument could be made that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become so popular and so deeply embedded into the fabric of popular culture that any new entry in the franchise is guaranteed to be a major box office success regardless of the connective tissue, making the idea of a Thanos-level threat pulling the strings across the next several Phases somewhere between redundant and unnecessary.
However, that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from going into overdrive about who the MCU’s next big bad may potentially be, especially when Jonathan Majors is expected to suit up as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man 3. At various points, Norman Osborn, Doctor Doom, Magneto and Galactus have all been mooted as potential candidates, but we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones that told us Taskmaster would be Black Widow‘s villain long before it was confirmed – that another contender could debut as soon as the Fantastic Four reboot.
According to our intel, the studio are keen for Annihulus to appear in the aforementioned team’s latest relaunch as a supporting villain in order to set him up for a bigger role in the future, which makes sense given his long association and rivalry with Marvel’s First Family dating back over 50 years. The 2006 comic book storyline Annihilation has also found itself named as a possible source for the MCU’s next major crossover event, one that would reach almost every corner of the mythology.
While Doctor Doom is most closely associated with being the Fantastic Four‘s archenemy, we’ve already seen the iconic villain botched twice in the form of Julian McMahon and Toby Kebbell, and if Kevin Feige is planning to omit him from the reboot, or simply have him share antagonist duties with someone else, in order to avoid returning to a familiar well, then Annihilus would be a more than adequate choice when it comes to presenting a fresh threat for the team to tackle.