Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom(Victor Von Doom) is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962) wearing his trademark metal mask and green cloak.
He was ranked as the 4th Greatest Villain by Wizard on its 100 Greatest Villains of All Time list. IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked Doctor Doom as #3.
Publication History(1)
Like many of Marvel's Silver Age characters, Doctor Doom was conceived by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. With the Fantastic Four title performing well, Lee and Kirby were trying to dream up a "soul-stirring…super sensational new villain." Looking for a name, Lee latched onto "Doctor Doom" as "eloquent in its simplicity — magnificent in its implied menace."
Due to the rush to publish, the character was not given a full origin story until Fantastic Four Annual #2, two years after his debut.
Jack Kirby modeled Doctor Doom after Death, with the armor standing in for that character's skeleton; "It was the reason for the armor and the hood. Death is connected with armor and the inhuman-like steel. Death is something without mercy, and human flesh contains that mercy." Kirby further described Doctor Doom as being "paranoid", wrecked by his twisted face and wanting the whole world to be like him. Kirby went on to say that "Doctor Doom is an evil person, but he's not always been evil. He was [respected]…but through a flaw in his own character, he was a perfectionist." At one point in the 1970s, Kirby drew his interpretation of what Doctor Doom would look like under the mask, giving Doctor Doom only "a tiny scar on his cheek." Due to this slight imperfection, Doctor Doom hides his face not from the world, but from himself. To Kirby, this is the motivation for Doctor Doom's vengeance against the world; because others are superior due to this slight scar, Doom wants to elevate himself above them. Typical of Lee's writing characterization of Doctor Doom is his arrogance; his pride leads to Doctor Doom's disfigurement at the hands of his own machine, and to the failures of many of his schemes. There is also an idea that Doctor Doom placed his mask on his face before it fully cooled, burning his face. In some early stories glimpses of his face are shown, in which he appears to be bald.
While the Fantastic Four had fought various villains such as the Mole Man, Skrulls, the Miracle Man, and Namor the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Doom managed to overshadow them all and became the Fantastic Four's archnemesis.
During the 1970s, Doctor Doom branched out to more Marvel titles such as Astonishing Tales, The Incredible Hulk, and Super-Villain Team-Up, starting in 1975, as well as appearances in Marvel Team-Up, beginning with issue #42 (February 1976). Doctor Doom's origin was also a feature in Astonishing Tales when his ties to the villain Mephisto were revealed.
1980s–1990s
In 1976, Marvel and DC Comics collaborated on Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, and seeking to replicate that success the two companies again teamed the characters in Superman and Spider-Man in 1981. Marvel editor in chief Jim Shooter co-wrote the story with Marv Wolfman, and recalled choosing Doctor Doom based on his iconic status: "I figured I needed the heaviest-duty bad guy we had to offer — Doctor Doom. Their greatest hero against our greatest villain."
The same year, John Byrne began his six-year run writing and illustrating Fantastic Four, sparking a "second golden age" for the title but also attempting to "turn the clock back and get back and see fresh what it was that made the book great at its inception." Doctor Doom made his first appearance under Byrne's tenure with issue #236. Whereas Kirby had intimated that Doom's disfigurement was more a figment of Victor's vain personality, Byrne decided that Doctor Doom's face was truly ravaged: only Doctor Doom's own robot slaves are allowed to see the monarch without his helmet. Byrne emphasized other aspects of Doom's personality; despite his ruthless nature, Doctor Doom is a man of honor. Returning to Latveria after being temporarily deposed, Doctor Doom abandons a scheme to wrest mystical secrets from Doctor Strange in order to oversee his land's reconstruction. Despite a tempestuous temper, Doctor Doom occasionally shows warmth and empathy to others; he tries to free his mother from Mephisto and treats Kristoff Vernard like his own son. Byrne gave further detail regarding Doom's scarring: Byrne introduced the idea that the accident at Empire State University only left Doctor Doom with a small scar that was exaggerated into a more disfiguring accident by Doctor Doom's own arrogance—by donning his newly forged face mask before it had fully cooled, he caused massive irreparable damage.
After Byrne's departure Doctor Doom continued to be a major villain in Fantastic Four, and as the 1980s continued Doom appeared in other comics such as Punisher, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Excalibur. Under Fantastic Four writer Steven Englehart, Doctor Doom became exiled from Latveria by his heir Kristoff, who was brainwashed into thinking he was Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom would spend most of his time in exile planning his return, but Englehart left the title before he could resolve the storyline. This storyline ultimately ended with the controversial Fantastic Four #350, where writer Walt Simonson had the Doctor Doom who had been seen in the book during the Englehart run being revealed to be a robot imposter and the real Doctor Doom, in a newly redesigned armor, returning to claim his country from his usurper. According to Simonson's retcon, the last appearance of the real Doctor Doom was in the "Battle of the Baxter Building" story arc, but Simonson's interpretation of the character was unaware of certain major changes at the time to the Fantastic Four. Simonson drew up a list of stories which featured the real Doctor Doom and those which did not but later writers ignored Simonson's choices, retconning these story elements as an attempt by Doom to blame his own past failures on unruly robots.
Fictional Character Biography(2)
Victor von Doom was born to the Zefiro travelers (Gypsies) Werner and Cynthia in Latveria, a small European country which grew out of Hungary and was ruled by King Vladimir Vassily Gonereo Tristian Mangegi Fortunov, Baron of Sabbat, Baron of Haasen, Baron of Krozi. Victor barely knew his mother, a witch who had invoked the demon Mephisto for power, which raged out of control before she was finally slain by a soldier. Before dying, she asked Werner to protect young Victor from Mephisto. Victor's father, a doctor, was forced to treat King Vladimir's wife. When Werner could not cure her cancer, Vladimir blamed him for his wife's death, and Werner fled with Victor. Werner died from exposure to the cold while protecting his son. Before dying, Werner placed Victor into the care of his best friend, Boris, and tried to warn his son of the fearful life he foresaw him falling into, but he died before he could make Victor understand.
A Chosen Path
Discovering his mother's mystical artifacts, Victor schooled himself in sorcery. He began an annual contest against the might of Mephisto, attempting to set his mother's soul free. By the time he was a teenager, he had also become a scientific genius and used his inventions to wage a one-man war against the monarchy of Latveria, always a step ahead of them. His genius was heard of even in America, and he was invited to New York's Empire State University on a scholarship. Victor had been in love with Boris' granddaughter Valeria, but he left her behind as his desire to acquire knowledge and the means to seek revenge on others consumed him.
Disgraced, Scarred, and Doomed
Arriving at State, Doom was greeted by Reed Richards, a fellow student who was interested in rooming with him, but Doom rejected his offer of friendship. Throughout his university days, Doom pursued a rivalry with Richards, convinced of his own superior intellect. Doom's greatest invention was a machine designed to rescue his mother's soul from the netherworld. Richards tried to warn him of a flaw in his calculations, but Doom was too proud to listen. He activated the machine and it exploded in his face. Expelled for the explosion, Doom sustained only a few facial scars, but believed his looks had been ruined. Filled with self-loathing he left America for Tibet, seeking new enlightenment. There he found the Aged Genghis, one of the enigmatic Immortal Nine. The now senile sorcerer directed him to seek out a long-lost order of monks. Doom made them his servants and had them forge his first suit of armor, designed to hide his features from the world. Doom had them press the mask to his face before it had cooled, ensuring that if his face had not been hideous before, it was now.
The New Ruler of Latveria - For Life
Dr. Doom then conquered Latveria, slaying King Vladimir, imprisoning his son Rudolfo, and having a robot duplicate of Rudolfo surrender the Latverian crown to him, after which he renamed the capital city, Haasenstadt, as Doomstadt. He used his genius and technology to transform Latveria into a paradise where no citizen wants, no one is threatened by war, and all praise Doom-- or face the consequences. While Doom maintained a puppet prime minister, the outside world was largely unaware of Doom's status as ruler, tending to dismiss his existence as a myth. Doom stepped up his scientific prowess, designing a time machine and robotic duplicates of himself: his Doombots. In one of his earliest time travels he journeyed back to World War II and considered killing Adolf Hitler for the crimes his Nazi regime had inflicted upon the Zefiro and other travelers, but ultimately decided to leave him to his own fate.
Goals Set Down
Armed with his genius and the might of Latveria, Victor set for himself three goals: to rescue his mother, to prove his superiority over Reed Richards, and to conquer the world. By this time, Reed and his friends had become the Fantastic Four, so Dr. Doom sought them out and abducted the Invisible Girl. He forced the other members to journey back in time to recover the gems of the legendary sorcerer Merlin for him; but Mr. Fantastic tricked him, bringing back a chest full of chains instead. Although the FF survived Doom's attacks, Doom escaped them by using a Doombot as a decoy. Dr. Doom next formed an alliance with the Sub-Mariner, believing that their mutual hatred of the FF made for a natural partnership. Doom nearly cast the Baxter Building into the sun, but the Sub-Mariner turned on him and Doom was cast adrift into space. He was saved by the alien Ovoids who taught him how to exchange bodies with others. With this new power, he had Marvel Comics creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby lure Mr. Fantastic into a trap so that he could take over his body. However, the Fantastic Four saw through Doom's facade and he was forced back into his own body, then accidentally cast into the microverse.
Through Time and Space
But the microverse proved to be merely a new challenge for Dr. Doom's genius rather than a prison. Doom conquered Mirwood, the kingdom of Princess Pearla, and brought the Fantastic Four there as prisoners. Aided by Ant-Man (Hank Pym), the Fantastic Four escaped and followed Doom back to Earth, where they battled him aboard his Flying Fortress, from which he threatened to unleash chaos throughout the globe--when the FF thwarted his plan, he escaped again. Doom soon attempted to reclaim his abandoned Flying Fortress from military custody, but the newly-formed Avengers intervened and he was forced to destroy it. Dr. Doom next empowered and sent the Terrible Trio (Bull Brogin, Yogi Dakor, and Harry Phillips) against the Fantastic Four, but this plot also failed and ended with Doom cast into space by a Solar Wave, a fate he had meant for the FF. He was rescued by the time traveler Rama-Tut, who was so impressed with Doom that upon his return to his own time, he created for himself the masked identity of Kang the Conqueror. Rama-Tut had suggested to Doom at the time that they might actually be the same person, though this eventually proved false.
A Crushing Defeat
Dr. Doom next engaged Reed in a mental battle at the Latverian Embassy to determine who had the greater intellect. They employed an encephalo-gun which would cast the loser into Limbo, and Doom seemed to win the contest; but Reed had actually hypnotized Doom into believing Reed was cast into Limbo. When Doom was freed from the mesmerism by a Latverian hypnotist, he again targeted the Fantastic Four, who had temporarily lost their powers. But Doom was humiliated in the ensuing battle when the Thing regained his powers and angrily crushed Doom's hands inside his gauntlets then allowed him to slink away, furious that he had been forced to become the Thing in order to stop Doom. Doom, in turn, never forgot what the Thing had done.
The Machinations of Doom
When Reed Richards was wed to Sue Storm, a spiteful Doom used an Emotion Charger to send scores of super-villains to the wedding site, but they were defeated by the FF and their super-heroic wedding guests. Reed ultimately undid the assault with a sub-atronic time displacer which sent all of the villains back to before Doom summoned them with no memory of what had occurred. Reed and Sue's wedding took place without further incident. Doom engaged in new schemes, once stealing the Silver Surfer's powers, which he lost by challenging the barrier Galactus had placed around the Earth. He also swapped bodies with Daredevil, but this farce was foiled by the FF. Doom's obsession with the FF once nearly led him to sacrifice an entire Latverian village to kill them. Doom has also played deadly games with his robot, the Prime Mover, games which have manipulated Nick Fury and Shang-Chi into battling robot duplicates of enemies such as the Yellow Claw and Razor-Fist.
Diablo once tried to force Doom into a partnership by holding his long-lost love Valeria hostage, but Doom used his time machine to cast Diablo into the future. He saved Valeria, but then lost her again--Valeria was ashamed of Doom's gloating over Diablo's fate. Doom's throne was threatened by its rightful heir, Prince Rudolfo, who was assisted by the extraterrestrial Faceless One. Doom also had to contend with his rogue creation the Doomsman, and with the Red Skull, who attempted to claim Latveria for himself. The Black Panther, ruler of Wakanda, foiled Doom's attempt to steal Wakanda's Vibranium, but Doom intended to make an ally of T'Challa one day. Doom also accumulated various power objects, culminating in his using the Cosmic Cube to usurp Galactus' power, but Reed stole the Cube, reversed its effects, and erased the events from everyone's memory. Doom also fought side-by-side with the FF to save the Earth from the Overmind, acknowledging that while he had no love for them, he would not allow anyone to threaten Latveria.
A History of Ugly Partnerships
When the Faceless One sponsored another Latverian revolt, Doom hired Luke Cage to spy on them in the United States; however, he then refused to pay Cage for his services, so Cage tracked Doom down in Latveria and fought him to a standstill until Doom finally agreed to pay Cage what he was due. After rejecting Doom's offer of a new alliance, Namor reluctantly sought Doom's aid when the people of Atlantis were rendered comatose and Mr. Fantastic could not revive them. Namor aided Doom against Andro, formerly the Doomsman, who had brought many of Doom's robots under his control through a self-created religion; Doom in turn aided Namor against his enemies Dr Dorcas, Tiger Shark, Krang, and Attuma. Still, Namor could not bring himself to fully trust Doom, so Doom ruined the water rebreather suit Namor needed to survive at that time and threatened to destroy Atlantis unless Namor pledged his allegiance to him. Namor was forced to comply.
A War With the Master of Magnetism
Learning of Namor's fate, the FF came to Latveria to aid him, only to discover that the United States had signed a non-aggression pact with Latveria, forcing them to depart. Surviving an assassination attempt by the vigilante Shroud, Doom subsequently mind-controlled the Avengers into fighting Attuma for him. Finally, after receiving Namor's aid against the Red Skull, who had slain Rudolfo and briefly usurped control of Latveria, Doom made good on his bargain, restoring the Atlanteans to consciousness; Namor then ended their partnership. Following this, Doom spread a neuro-gas into Earth's atmosphere to bind the entire world's population to his will. His authority was challenged by the mutant Magneto, and they fought, manipulating the Champions, Avengers and Hulk into fighting for their sides. When Doom was attacked by the Ghost Rider, his mask overheated and he was forced to remove it, inhaling his own neuro-gas; this rendered him unable to control anyone affected by the gas. Via power gained from the Negative Zone, Doom accessed the netherworld, only to be overwhelmed by spirits posing as his parents.
Disastrous Fallout
Realizing that his villainous actions had injured Latveria's reputation, Doom planned to abdicate the throne to his "son", actually a clone of himself named Victor von Doom II; but his son's true origins were exposed, and Doom was forced to slay the clone when it turned against him. However, this plot had merely been a ruse for Doom to take mental control of the United Nations using his Solartron Complex. After he was exposed to multiple images of his own face projected by the Solartron, Doom went completely insane and was imprisoned. Prince Zorba, Rudolfo's younger brother, reclaimed his family's throne from Doom, but Doom was freed by Boris and regained his sanity.
An Heir to the Throne
Aided by the Puppet Master, Doom had the Fantastic Four's minds placed into miniature synthetic bodies, living a mostly-idyllic life in the miniature town of "Liddleville" within his Adirondack Castle. Doom hoped this would prevent the FF from interfering with his attempts to regain the throne, but the FF managed to turn the tables on him and he wound up imprisoned within a synthetic body in Liddleville. The Puppet Master, furious at how his stepdaughter Alicia had been treated by Doom's world, led an army against him there. Doom sought aid from the alien Microns when they passed through, but was finally rescued when his Doombots activated a contingency plan to return his consciousness to his own body. Learning that Latveria had fallen into anarchy without him, Doom convinced the Fantastic Four to assist him in overthrowing the now-insane Zorba and retaking his throne. Doom himself slew Zorba. In the aftermath, a young Latverian boy named Kristoff Vernard was orphaned by Zorba's forces and Doom took the child under his protection, making him his heir. Another man, Alexander Flynn, claimed to be Doom's true son, but that was later shown to be a falsehood created by the mutant telepath Shadow King.
New Power, Gained and Lost
Unleashing Terrax against the Fantastic Four, Doom was disintegrated when Terrax exploded in a blast of cosmic energy. Using the Ovoid technique, Doom transferred his mind into the body of an onlooker, Norman McArthur, an instant before his death. He eventually regained his original body from the Beyonder, who sent him back a short distance in time to participate in the "Secret Wars" on his artificially created Battleworld. There Doom briefly usurped the immense power of not only Galactus, but the Beyonder himself, though he eventually lost all of his stolen power. Back on Earth, Doom once more achieved world domination, using the Purple Man's mind control powers to subjugate the global population. Although Doom was able to solve most of the world's problems by using his work in Latveria as a model, he found the mindless obedience of humanity unsatisfying, and ultimately allowed the Purple Man to slip from his grasp during a conflict with the Avengers and Namor.
The Rise and Fall of Kristoff Vernard
After Terrax seemingly killed Doom, his Doombots had activated a contingency plan whereby Doom's past experiences were implanted within Kristoff's mind so that he could assume Doom's role. Kristoff went mad, believing he was Doom trapped in the body of a child. While Kristoff ruled Latveria, one of the Doombots, believing itself to be the true Doom, made a weak attempt to overthrow him. Finally, the true Dr. Doom returned to Latveria following a time travel adventure, and he retook the throne from Kristoff. Soon after this he helped cure Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura), a new member of the FF who had become a grotesque "She-Thing". Doom used her to spy on the FF, but she eventually gave in to her conscience and turned against him. He transformed her into an even more grotesque creature as punishment.
Doom Defeated? Never!
Doom often attributes his many defeats to his Doombots; perhaps the most humiliating case is when Squirrel Girl defeated a Doombot by sending her squirrels to chew apart the wiring in its armor. Another Doombot participated in the "Acts of Vengeance" teaming up with the other prime movers--who were unknowingly pawns of the Asgardian trickster-god Loki--against new foes. Other Doombots, such as Mechadoom, have even turned against Doom and pursued their own goals, though such betrayal rarely long survives Doom's discovery. Doom has seen to it that Latveria's history is constantly revised to suit his needs, employing the mysterious Editor to affect all such changes. Doom tends to blame failures on underlings--such as Gustav and Gert Hauptmann--who seldom live to fail again. Doom claims to have a contingency plan for every situation, and regards the FF's victories over him as mere setbacks. Doom's greatest victory came when, after years of combating Mephisto, he and Dr. Strange finally rescued the soul of Cynthia von Doom from Hell, allowing her to pass on to a better afterlife.
The Death of Doom
After briefly usurping the cosmic energies of Aron the Watcher, Doom was severely wounded while seeking the power of the alien Hunger. Doom attempted to take Reed with him and the pair were seemingly disintegrated in a powerful energy blast; however, the immensely powerful Hyperstorm had teleported them away. Long believed dead, Doom was freed from his extra-dimensional prison by the Fantastic Four and Kristoff, and aided them against Hyperstorm. Returning to Earth, Doom seemingly died yet again, this time alongside Earth's heroes battling Onslaught; but Doom and the others were preserved in the new Counter-Earth, created by Franklin Richards, and Doom lived out a new life in which he was an old friend of Bruce Banner, Reed Richards and Tony Stark, who had all been members of a fraternity called "Knights of the Atomic Table".
Conquering All Reality
But history repeated itself, and Doom became a villain on this Earth as well. When the heroes regained their memories, Doom helped them return to their own Earth via the Negative Zone, but when he attempted to abscond with Franklin, Doom was assaulted by Thor and cast back to Counter-Earth. With no super heroes to oppose him, Doom soon became ruler of Counter-Earth. He recruited Divinity, Dorma, Lancer, Shakti and Technarx as lieutenants, and won a decisive victory over the powerful Dreaming Celestial, which had attempted to claim Counter-Earth for itself. For a while, Doom ruled both Counter-Earth and Latveria simultaneously by projecting holograms back to Earth, but he ultimately found that Counter-Earth could never equal the utopia of his Latveria, so he returned to Earth to resume his duties in Latveria, leaving Lancer to rule Counter-Earth in his stead. Doom has also shown an infatuation with the X-Men's Storm (Ororo Munroe). Via the powers of a defective Cosmic Cube, Doom once merged two realities, creating one in which he ruled Earth as emperor, with Storm as his queen. Like all of such efforts to achieve supreme power, however, the power was eventually usurped from him, and normal reality restored.
The Road to Hell
When Thor led an unauthorized invasion of Slokovia, a country neighboring Latveria, Doom aided the Avengers in fighting their rogue ally-manipulating events so that when Slokovia's government collapsed, Doom moved in and annexed the country, adding it to Latveria. Dr. Doom assisted in the birth of Reed and Susan's daughter Valeria Richards, who was named after Doom's childhood love, but Doom only performed this act of kindness as part of a grander scheme. Having recognized that it was in magic that he was truly Reed's superior, Doom forged an alliance with the Haazareth Three demons and sacrificed to them his greatest love, Valeria. The Haazareth increased his mystical might to the point where he was a threat to even Dr. Strange. Dr. Doom fashioned for himself new armor from his former lover's body and made Valeria Richards his familiar. He wielded his new mystical power against the Fantastic Four, attempting to break them as he never had before, sending Franklin Richards to Hell and torturing the FF. Once again, Reed defeated him by both mastering some magic himself and turning Doom's own pride against him by having him claim to acknowledge no superior in front of the Haazareth. The Haazareth took Doom into Hell with them, but he left "parting gifts"-- a traumatized Franklin and a scar down the left side of Reed's face.
Determined to devise a final solution to Doom, Reed created an infinitely large Mobius dimension to serve as Doom's prison, and had all of Doom's backup equipment in Latveria destroyed. Doom briefly escaped the prison by taking mental possession of the FF, but was ultimately forced back into his own body.
Escape
Recently, Doom escaped from the Mobius dimension while chasing after the Mjolnir (Thor's hammer) which was flying through the dimensions following the fall of Asgard. Returning to Latveria, Doom assumed that he was worthy of the hammer since it appeared for him and went with a troupe of robots to obtain it. He was met by the FF, who wished to stop him. Doom reached the hammer, but found he was not worthy of lifting it. Angered, Doom returned to Latveria, where he currently resides.
Powers and Abilities(3)
Doctor Doom is one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. He was once #1 on S.H.I.E.L.D's most wanted list.
Doctor Doom is a polymath and scientific genius. Throughout most of his publication history, he has been depicted as one of the most intelligent humans in the Marvel Universe. This is shown on many occasions, most famously by actually curing Ben Grimm of his Thing form, which Reed Richards has never repeated. On the other hand, Reed Richards managed to process all the computer calculations necessary to save the life of a disintegrating Kitty Pryde by himself, which is a feat that Doctor Doom at the time professed to be unable to do.
Doctor Doom also possesses originally minor mystical capabilities due to teachings from Tibetan monks, but later increased them to a considerable extent due to tutoring from his lover Morgan Le Fay. He is capable of energy projection, creating protective shields, and summoning hordes of demonic creatures. Even at a time when his abilities were consistently referred to as minor, with assistance from his technology and by tag-teaming with Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom managed to come in second in a magic tournament held by the ancient sorcerer the Aged Genghis.
Doctor Doom has also used his scientific talents to steal or replicate the power of other beings such as the Silver Surfer, or in one case the entity Galactus' world-ship.
The alien Ovoids taught Doctor Doom the process of psionically transferring his consciousness into another nearby being through simple eye contact, as well as showing him other forms of technology which Doctor Doom uses to escape from incarcerations and to avoid being killed. However, if his concentration is broken, his mind can transfer back, and he rarely uses this power unless absolutely necessary due to his own ego about his appearance.
Doctor Doom can exert technopathic control over certain machines, most notably the Doom bots. In addition, Doctor Doom has a remarkably strong will, as demonstrated in the graphic novel, Emperor Doom when he dared his prisoner, the mind controlling Purple Man, to attempt to control him and he successfully resisted.
Without his armor he proved himself to be a skilled bare-handed fighter, even capable of killing a lion with a single punch.
Doctor Doom’s armor augments his natural physical strength to superhuman levels, to the point where he is able to hold his own against Spider-Man in hand-to-hand combat, although he tends to rely on long-range tactics when engaging physically stronger foes. It is also highly resistant to harm, sufficient to withstand blows from Iron Man’s armor. The armor can generate a defensive force field and a lethal electric shock killing anyone who might come in contact with Doctor Doom. The armor is self-supporting, equipped with internal stores and recycling systems for air, food, water, and energy, allowing the wearer to survive lengthy periods of exposure underwater or in outer space.
As the absolute monarch of Latveria, Dr. Doom has diplomatic immunity – allowing him to escape prosecution for most of his crimes – and total control of the nation’s natural and technological resources, along with its manpower, economy, and military.
Doctor Doom is known for the frequent plot device wherein it is revealed that his actions were actually those of a "Doombot", one of Doctor Doom’s many robot doubles, either working on his behalf or as a result of rogue artificial intelligence.
On many occasions, Doctor Doom’s only real weakness has been his arrogance. Layla Miller once reflected that Doctor Doom is incapable of accepting that he himself might be the reason for his failures. This is most keenly reflected in Doctor Doom’s continued refusal to accept responsibility for the accident that scarred his face, instead preferring to blame Reed Richards for sabotaging his experiment. While his high opinion of himself is generally accurate, he is generally unable to accept when others may have a better understanding of a situation than he does – with the occasional exception of hearing the recommendations of heroes such as Mister Fantastic or the Thing when it is to his advantage. Even when teaming up with others against a greater threat, Doctor Doom will often try to subvert the alliance for personal gain. For instance, while allied with Adam Warlock and other heroes against the Titan Thanos, he attempted to steal Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet before its owner had been defeated.
Doctor Doom adheres to a strict code of honor at all times. However, Von Doom will keep his exact word, which may or may not be beneficial to the person to whom he has given his promise. For example, Doctor Doom may swear that he will not harm an individual, but that only means he will not personally harm that person, it does not mean he will prevent others from harming that person.
Doctor Doom’s honor code led him to save Captain America from drowning because Captain America had earlier saved his life, and on another occasion he thanked Spider-Man for saving him from terrorists attacking him in an airport by allowing him to leave alive despite Spider-Man subsequently insulting him. His code of honor also means that he will not attack a respected opponent who is weakened or at a severe disadvantage, as he regards any victory resulting from such circumstances as hollow and meaningless. He has even on several occasions battled opponents who were intent on killing the Fantastic Four, for no other reason than the fact that he does not want the ultimate defeat of the Fantastic Four to come from anyone’s hands but his own.
Doctor Doom is shown to be devoted to the welfare and well being of his subjects. In fact, one future premonition that was explored explicitly stated that of all the possible futures that could exist for Earth in the Marvel Universe, the only one where Earth is truly safe and peaceful is the one where Doctor Doom rules supreme.
Supporting Characters
Allies
Doctor Doom usually works alone but is known to have occasionally teamed with the Fantastic Four. If he requires assistance he calls to his Doombots.
Enemies
Doctor Doom being a villain has a number of enemies who are superheroes including the Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Spider-man, Daredevil and many more.
Movies
Fantastic Four(2005)
The movie was directed by Tim Story. The movie featured Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm/Invisible Girl, Chris Evans as the Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Micheal Chiklis as Ben Grimm/Thing and Julian McMahon as Doctor Doom. The movie performed moderately at the box office but had a negative response by critics and fans.
You can check out the trailer below
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer(2007)
This was the sequel to Fantastic Four and was also directed by Tim Story. The movie featured most of the old cast reprising their role including The movie featured Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm/Invisible Girl, Chris Evans as the Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Micheal Chiklis as Ben Grimm/Thing and Julian McMahon as Doctor Doom. The new cast members included Doug Jones as Silver Surfer and Andre Braugher as General Hager. This movie also received negative reviews by fans and critics and performed badly at the box office.
You can check out the trailer below
Fantastic Four(FANT4STIC)(2015)
You can check out the trailer below
Notable Comics(4)
| Comics | Writer(s) | Artist(s) |
| Books Of Doom | Ed Brubaker | Pablo Raimondi |
| Fantastic Four #67-70, 500 | Mark Waid | Mike Wieringo |
| Secret Wars | Jim Shooter | Bob Layton, Mike Zeck |
| Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment(Marvel Graphic Novel #49) | Roger Stern | Mike Mignola, Mark Badger |
You can check out out Doctor Doom products here
Sources
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Doom#Publication_history
2.http://marvel.com/universe/Doctor_Doom_%28Victor_von_Doom%29
3.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Doom#Powers_and_abilities
4.http://comicbook.com/2015/07/31/the-4-best-doctor-doom-stories