Marvel's Runaways: How New Villain Jonah Compares to Doctor Doom

Julian McMahon on how his Runaways baddie compares to his other Marvel character.

Warning: Spoilers for Marvel's Runaways up through Episode 5, "Kingdom."

On this week's episode of Marvel's Runaways (catch our review of "Kingdom" here), which airs exclusively on Hulu, Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon debuted as a mysterious man named Jonah - an imposing supernatural figure who's most likely the key to the entire mystery, and the reason Pride sacrifices one poor unfortunate soul per year.

This isn't the first time McMahon's played a nefarious Marvel character before, having portrayed Doctor Doom in both Fantastic Four movies. When I had the chance to speak to him about Runaways, I asked how Jonah stacked up against Doom, the character's new lease on life, and his worries about meeting Virginia Gardner's Karolina.

IGN: What's it like coming onto a series as a mystery man? We don't know a lot about Jonah, but he seems to be the start of everything.

Julian McMahon: You know, I've certainly done it before - come into a situation where the story's already sort of established. The saga is going. Everyone has their routine and everything's somewhat settled on the set, if that makes sense. There were already four episodes finished before I came on so everyone's worked together in scenes before and so then you come in with your own differences and dynamics and try to get accustomed to things. And I was pretty specific because Jonah's was a very definitive character who was going to affect a lot of things. So it's an interesting thing because you have your character and you have to be true to that, and to fulfill that in the best way possible, and so as an actor you have to preparer yourself but then also be aware that you're coming onto somebody else's set. You're going to have to recognize that dynamic. But everyone here was great. There wasn't one moment where I was uncomfortable in any way.

McMahon: And it was so great to work with Annie Wersching first, as Leslie, because she's so supportive and we meshed character-wise. And even though the first scene between us was brief, we got what we wanted to out of it. It's an important one. I wanted to get out, for example, the fact that he'd just been through this scary experience and that he almost died and I wanted to get out that he now wanted to achieve things that maybe he didn't before. His affection for her was also important to convey. We just enjoyed being creative together. It was really fun.

IGN: Okay, I know you've done film makeup before but...that wasn't you in the bed this whole time, was it?

McMahon: [laughs] Well, I always like to tell people that I do my own stunts. But yeah, that was not me. But you know they'd also created that character before I'd even landed the role. They already had a guy who was sort of filling in there, and laying in the bed. So I was certainly glad I didn't have to go through that because that was about five hours of makeup. [laughs]

IGN: Yeah, this seemed above and beyond.

McMahon: You know, Doctor Doom was so much makeup that I feel like I've already filled my quota, you know what I mean? [laughs] So every time someone asks me if I'm willing to do makeup I'm like "Ummmmm." Heh, so lucky for me that character was already established and somebody else was willing and able to take over that part of the job.

IGN: Speaking of Doom, how would you compare Jonah to him?

McMahon: The more I think about it the more I think they're reasonably quite similar. Certainly in the flashback scene to Jonah, I think we get to see a bit of Victor von Doom. The wealthy guy who's pretty ego-driven and mission-driven. A guy who's trying to accomplish certain things and if something were to get in his way he'd plow through it. I think they're similar in that sense. But also similar in the sense that they change. In the film, you see Victor transform. There's this destruction of the man, the human side of him, with the metallic guy coming through. The same could be said for Jonah's near-death experience. But I think they become two different people once they survive the ordeal. Victor died in a way and became Doctor Doom, the more evil character. He became bitter and twisted. Jonah's gone through a bad experience but he's now come through more elevated and more conscious. More thoughtful. More grounded, in a way. He's just more human too, I guess. The way people who come through close calls find a new joy for living. There are similarities, but also differences in the way they react to things.

IGN: How much does Jonah care about the Pride members and how much is he just using them as a means to an end?

McMahon: I think, as we saw in the flashback, we saw the guy who doesn't have the connection, who doesn't really care. But what we'll get in the current version of Jonah is the guy who's been through the bad experience, through the wringer, and it's made him realize that other things are more important. Ultimately I think, in the past he only cared about his goals but now, thanks to having almost died, he cares about other things. Even some of the Pride members. As much we're getting an evolution of the storyline and how Jonah affects the different characters on the show, we're also getting a personal journey for him.

IGN: What's he going to think about the Pride's inability to keep it together? Not only did they almost get him killed, but some are having affairs, others tried to escape...there's a lot going on.

McMahon: [laughs] There's a scene that comes up later where I just remember thinking how Jonah must think they're all a bit crazy. I hope it comes across in the scene, because the director and I worked to put it out there in the right sort of way, keeping the balance, but he's just looking at them all like "Are you freaking guys kidding me?" He's obviously set them all up on their individual paths and missions, but he hasn't really taken responsibility for them. And like I said there are a couple of scenes I wanted to get across just how freakin' crazy the whole thing was. He's not that type of character but part of me just wanted to scream "What the hell is going on here?"

IGN: Is Jonah nervous to meet Karolina or is he overeager, in a way?

McMahon: I think he's both. I think he's overeager and I think the fact that he's overeager has made him nervous. He's never been overeager before. He's always been calm and collected and ahead of the game and for the first time he's finding himself completely challenged and in an emotional place that he doesn't understand. So you'll get both of those elements.

IGN: Now, I know you can't say much, but on the same episode you debuted there was a time travel screen showing a destroy Los Angeles. Are your character and this future connected?

McMahon: They're connected. [laughs]

IGN: How much about the character did you know when you took the role? Was it all laid out for you?

McMahon: I had no idea. I mean, we talked about it to a certain extent but Marvel plays things very close to the chest when it comes to stories and characters. So all I really knew came from my conversations with Josh [Schwartz, EP] and Steph [Savage, EP] to see if we kind of connected and what work we'd like to do together. And that's what kind of got us together. And then each episode involved something new I was discovering.

IGN: So it was a script by script situation?

McMahon: Absolutely. But once you get into TV and do enough TV, that kind of happens anyway because television's one of those mediums where you can't keep up with the writing in a way where everything's all done and completed ahead of time. You know what I mean? So you get used to that in television anyway, but this one was interesting because I really didn't know much about him at all. He just kept evolving to me. And I found out a lot about him as I played him and as I worked with the other actors in the scenes.


Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

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Marvel's Runaways

Dec. 26, 2017
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