Doctor Doom

Doctor Victor Von Doom is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in ''The Fantastic Four'' #5 in July 1962. The monarch of the fictional nation of Latveria, Doom primarily serves as the archenemy of Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four. He has also come into conflict with other superheroes in the Marvel Universe, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, the X-Men, and the Avengers. He has also been portrayed as an antihero at times, working with the heroes if their goals align and only if it benefits him.

Doctor Doom was ranked #4 by ''Wizard'' on its list of the 101 Greatest Villains of All Time and #3 on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time. In a later article, IGN would declare Doom as Marvel's greatest villain.

The character has been substantially adapted from the comics into several forms of media, including television series, video games, and merchandise such as action figures and trading cards. Most notably, Doctor Doom has been portrayed in licensed Fantastic Four live-action feature films by Joseph Culp in Roger Corman's unreleased 1994 film; Julian McMahon in the 2005 film and its 2007 sequel; and Toby Kebbell in the 2015 film.

Publication history

Creation and development

Like many of Marvel's Silver Age characters, Doom was conceived by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. With the ''Fantastic Four'' title performing well, Lee and Kirby were trying to dream up a "soul-stirring…super sensational new villain" for the series. 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.

In a 1987 interview, Kirby commented on Doctor Doom's design. "Dr. Doom was the classic conception of Death, of approaching Death. I saw Dr. Doom as The Man in the Iron Mask, who symbolized approaching Death. It was the reason for the armor and the hood. Death is connected with armor and inhuman-like steel. Death is something without mercy and human flesh contains that element of mercy. Therefore I had to erase it, and I did it with a mask"..

Kirby further described Doom as being "paranoid", wrecked by his twisted face and wanting the whole world to be like him. Kirby went on to say that although "Doom is an evil person, but he's not always been evil. He was espected��but through a flaw in his own character, he was a perfectionist." At one point in the 1970s, Kirby drew his interpretation of what Doom would look like under the mask, giving Doom only "a tiny scar on his cheek." Due to this slight imperfection, Doom hides his face not from the world, but from himself. To Kirby, this is the motivation for Doom's vengeance against the world; because others are superior due to this slight scar, Doom wants to elevate himself above them. Stan Lee's writing typically showed Doom's arrogance as his constant downfall, and how his pride leads to Von Doom's disfigurement at the hands of his own machine, and to the failures of many of his schemes.

While the Fantastic Four had fought various villains such as the Mole Man, Skrulls, the Miracle Man, and Namor the Sub-Mariner, Doom managed to overshadow them all and became the Fantastic Four's archnemesis. During the 1970s, Doom branched out to more Marvel titles such as '' Astonishing Tales'', '' The Incredible Hulk'', and '' Super-Villain Team-Up'' (1975). Beginning with issue #42, he also had appearances in ''Marvel Team-Up'' (February 1976). 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 Victor Von 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."

1981 also saw John Byrne begin 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 ..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 Doom's face was truly ravaged: only 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, Victor Von 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, 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 Victor with a small scar that was exaggerated into a more disfiguring accident by 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 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, Doom became exiled from Latveria by his heir Kristoff, who was brainwashed into thinking he was Victor Von Doom. 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 Victor Von Doom who had been seen in the book during the Englehart run being revealed to be a robotic imposter and the real Von 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 Victor Von 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. Later writers ignored Simonson's choices, retconning these story elements as an attempt by Doom to blame his own past failures on unruly robots.

2000s–2010s

Writer Mark Waid sought to redefine Doctor Doom in the 2003 "Unthinkable" storyline (vol. 3 #66-70 & vol. 1 #500), by having him forsake technology and invest entirely in mysticism. The story took its title from the "unthinkable" act Doom had to perform to acquire this new magical might from a trio of demons: killing his first love, Valeria. With Valeria's flesh turned into new mystic leather armor, the story follows Doom as he imprisons Franklin Richards in Hell, captures Valeria's namesake, and succeeds in de-powering and imprisoning the Fantastic Four. He subsequently attempts to prove his superiority to Reed Richards by giving him the chance to find his way out of a prison that could only be escaped through magic, in the belief that Richards would fail to do so. With the aid of Doctor Strange, however, Richards learns to utilize magic on a basic level by accepting that he could not understand it and escapes. Richards proceeds to trick Doom into rejecting the demons, resulting in them dragging Doom to Hell. Doom remained trapped there until the events of the 2004 "Ragnarok" storyline in the pages of ''Thor'', which resulted in Thor's hammer Mjolnir falling through dimensions and giving Doom a way out of Hell.

In 2005 and 2006, Doom was featured in his own limited series entitled ''Books of Doom'', a retelling of the origin story by Ed Brubaker. In an interview, Brubaker said the series was a way to elaborate on the earlier portions of Doom's life which had not been seen often in the comics. The series also set out to determine if Doctor Doom's path from troubled child to dictator was fated or if Doom's own faults led to his corruption — in essence, a nature versus nurture question; whether Doom could ever become a hero. Brubaker's version of Doom was heavily influenced by the original Lee/Kirby version; responding to a question if he would ever show Doom's face, Brubaker stated " llowing Kirby's example, I think it's better not to show it."

The Mighty Avengers invaded Latveria, Von Doom's nation, due to his involvement in creating a chemical bomb that would infect people with the symbiote (though it was recently revealed that this attack was actually set up by Kristoff Vernard to put Doom out of the picture prior to Kristoff's future attempt at a coup). Due to Ultron's interference, the bomb was dropped on Manhattan, but the Mighty Avengers are able to stop the effects on the people. The Mighty Avengers proceed to invade Latveria. During the invasion, the Sentry, Iron Man, and Von Doom are sent to the past, thanks to the Latverian ruler's time platform. Eventually, the trio breaks into the Baxter Building and make use of a confiscated time machine to return to the present era, the Sentry taking advantage of the fact he will soon be forgotten by the world to easily defeat the Thing. Doctor Doom transports himself to Morgana's castle to summon up a magical army and captures the Avengers, but they free themselves and he is arrested for terrorist crimes against humanity after a brief struggle that culminated with the Sentry tearing off Doctor Doom's mask.

During Dark Reign when Norman Osborn is in charge, Doom is released and sent back to Latveria. However, Morgana le Fay engages him in a magical battle, which he is losing until the Dark Avengers rescue him. He then magically rebuilds his kingdom.

The character is also featured in the ''Siege'' storyline, where he initially approves of Osborn's attack on Asgard before withdrawing from the arrangement.''Siege: The Cabal'' #1 He also appears in the five issue mini-series '' Doomwar'' written by Jonathan Maberry. ''Doomwar'' sees the culmination of Doom's alliance with the isolationist group known as the Desturi, to take control of Wakanda. He attacked and wounded T'Challa, the current Black Panther, maiming him enough to prevent him from holding the mantle again. Doctor Doom's main objective was to secure Wakanda's store of vibranium, which he could mystically enhance to make himself unstoppable. However, this plan was thwarted when T'Challa triggered a device that destroyed Wakanda's entire vibranium stockpile, choosing to believe that his people could survive without the element.

In the Mark Millar penned ''Fantastic Four'' 566–569, Doom received a significant power upgrade. He was thrown back in time (perhaps about 50 million years) by the Marquis of Death. Doom then fought through time and space to get back to the present to seek revenge on the Marquis of Death. Doom stated, as he killed the Marquis, he had rebuilt every molecule of his being and increased his power all to destroy the Marquis. In later issues, this seems to have been ignored, however, with writers treating Doctor Doom the way they have always before in terms of power, the arc later retroactively being said to have been a dream had by Valeria Von Doom.

Doom later joins the supervillain group known as the Intelligencia, but is betrayed when they captured him to complete their plan. With the help of Bruce Banner, he escapes and returns to Latveria. He appears to have been damaged by this experience.

At the start of the story arc ''Fantastic Four: Three,'' Doom feels that he needs to be "reborn" and makes plans to abdicate his throne and give it to Kristoff when Valeria teleports to his room unexpectedly asking for his assistance. Valeria quickly notices that Doom has suffered brain damage and makes a deal with him to restore his mental capacities if he helps Reed and the Fantastic Four. Doom agrees to her proposition.''Fantastic Four'' #583. Marvel Comics Later, a humble Doom appears among those in attendance at Johnny Storm's funeral.''Fantastic Four'' #588. Marvel Comics

Due to the agreement, Doom is recommended by Nathaniel and Valeria Von Doom to be a member of the Future Foundation.''FF'' #1. Marvel Comics Objecting, Thing attacks Doom out of anger, but the fight is stopped by Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who welcomes Doom to their group.''FF'' #2. Marvel Comics Leading to the Secret Wars, Doom usurps the power of the Beyonders with the aid of Doctor Strange and the Molecule Man,Secret Wars (2015)