History
Early Years
Victor von Doom was born in a Romani camp outside Haasenstadt, Latveria.[17] His mother, Cynthia, was killed in a bargain with Mephisto that went wrong. Despite his father's attempts to care for her, a noblewoman died and Werner von Doom fled with a young Victor on a cold winter's night. Victor survived the cold, but unfortunately his father did not.[18] Doom sought to increase his knowledge of both science and magic in order to rescue his mother,[19] whose death he blamed on Mephisto. In his youth, Victor fell in love with a woman named Valeria, but she resisted his advances.[20]
Becoming Doctor Doom
Becoming Doom
The State University in Hegeman, New York offered Victor a scholarship. While attending classes there, he first met Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. Doom became obsessed with developing a machine that could project the astral form of a being into other dimensions, seeing it as a way to free his mother's soul from Mephisto's clutches. Reed pointed out a flaw in Doom's calculations, but Doom arrogantly ignored his warnings, feeling Reed was trying to upstage him. The machine exploded, scarring Doom's face. He was soon expelled for conducting unethical experiments. From then on, he blamed Reed Richards for the destruction of his face as well as his expulsion.[1][19]
Disgraced and bitter, Doom traveled the world. Eventually he came upon a small Tibetan village of monks who assisted him in creating a suit of armor. He returned to his homeland of Latveria to overthrow the leader and declare himself king. He then began to use his country's resources in order to further his plans of world domination. These schemes led Doom into conflict with the Fantastic Four on many occasions, as well as many other superheroes.[19]
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Doctor Doom's primary armor.
The Fantastic Four
Doom first confronted the Fantastic Four by holding Sue Storm hostage.[1] Doom forced the other members of the team to travel back in time using his time platform to retrieve the mystical Merlin Stones.[1] Later, he duped Namor into teaming up with him to destroy the team.[21] During the team-up, he was shrunk to sub-atomic size, and ended up in the world of Sub-Atomica, where he quickly took control using his scientific knowledge and began plaguing the Fantastic Four with shrink rays. He was again defeated by the Fantastic Four with the aid of Ant-Man.[22] His next attempt at defeating the Fantastic Four involved using the Terrible Trio, a group of thugs who had been given powers by Doom. This venture ended with him being transported into outer space by a solar wave.[23] He was later found floating in space by Rama-Tut, who revealed to Doom that he was one of his ancestors. Believing that they might in fact be the same person, they decided that Rama-Tut would return to the future after sending Doom back to Earth. Back on Earth, Doom again clashed with the Fantastic Four. This time, they defeated him by hypnotizing him into believing he had destroyed the group.[19]
The hypnotic spell was eventually broken by a Latverian stage magician who had come to Doom's castle to entertain him. Doom, realizing he had been tricked, was furious and traveled to America to take his revenge on the Fantastic Four, who incidentally had lost their powers.[24] Despite the Four having no powers, Doom was again defeated, this time with the aid of Daredevil.[25] His next attack came when he manipulated an army of the world's super-villains to attack the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm.[26]
When Doom battled and defeated the Silver Surfer, he stole the Surfer's powers and surfboard, becoming one of the most powerful beings on Earth. With these new-found powers, he was able to finally defeat the Fantastic Four. He then began running amok causing havoc all over the world. After another confrontation with the Fantastic Four, Doom was tricked into flying into the barrier Galactus set up around the Earth, and the Surfer's powers and surfboard returned to their rightful owner.[27]
Battleworld
Doom removes his mask after obtaining the Beyonder's powers.
Another coup came on Battleworld during the first of the so-called Secret Wars, an event during which the powerful and mysterious Beyonder kidnapped several heroes and villains from the Earth to have them fight with the promise of giving the winners their heart's desire. Doom became the leader of the villains, and after their defeat, escaped his holding cell and constructed a device out of the body of Klaw, to drain the power of Galactus. Using his stolen power he was able to attack his true target, the Beyonder. Doom lost the battle, but as the Beyonder came closer to dissect and study Doom, he managed to activate a device in his chest plate which hovered barely within his reach. Doom drained the Beyonder and became even more powerful. Too powerful, in fact--Doom was unable to rest, lest he destroy the universe with a dream. The Beyonder had however survived. He took possession of Klaw's body and used Klaw's guile to trick Doom into losing control of his stolen power, reclaiming it and defeating him.[28]
Emperor Doom
As part of a plan to conquer the world, Doom kidnapped Zebediah Killgrave, the mind-controlling supervillain known as Purple Man, and imprisoned him within a gigantic Psycho-Prism which not only bestowed Purple Man's powers on Doom, but also augmented them to a global scale.
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Doom demnstrates his willpower by resisting the Purple Man's mind control.
Using this device, Doom manipulated the United Nations and every government to legally name him emperor of the Earth. Under Doom's command, the planet saw prosperity, equality, and the end of war and hunger, but at the cost of every citizen's free will. Additionally, Doom began to feel that his victory was almost meaningless, due to any lack of challenge to achieve or maintain his goal.
One challenger to Doom's rule surfaced in the form of the Avenger Wonder Man, whose unusual physiology rendered him unaffected by Doom's mind-control. After freeing several of his fellow teammates from Doom's control, Wonder Man attacked Doom Island, the location of the Psycho-Prism. Doom's dissatisfaction caused him to give up on a chance to prevent the heroes from destroying the Psycho-Prism. Thus, the citizens of the Earth broke free from Doom's control, and the Earth soon returned to its status quo.[29]
Freeing his Mother
Doom eventually freed his mother's soul with the assistance of Doctor Strange. Strange had won the Aged Genghis' contest and was obligated to answer the request of the runner-up. The scheme to free his mother required Doom to incur her undying hatred; by volunteering Strange to take her place, Cynthia von Doom was so disgusted at her son that she became too pure to remain in Hell and departed for Heaven. Strange wondered if Doom had been aware of this outcome when he made the deal, but Doom simply mused that his mother's hatred was a price he was willing to pay to ensure her freedom.[30]
Counter-Earth
When Franklin Richards was kidnapped by Onslaught, Doom (who saw this as an opportunity to steal the being's powers) joined the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and the X-Men to battle Onslaught in Central Park. An enraged Hulk was able to crack open Onslaught's shell. However, Onslaught remained as pure psionic energy, and separated Hulk and Banner, planning to spread across the planet. Thor plunged into Onslaught, trying to contain him. The Fantastic Four, the majority of Avengers, the Hulk-less Banner, and even Doom (who was grabbed by Iron Man) followed. Thanks to this sacrifice, the X-Men finally managed to destroyed Onslaught.[31] Doom, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers and Banner were believed dead, but were instead saved by Franklin, who created a pocket dimension called Counter-Earth to keep them safe. After several months away, the missing heroes returned from Counter-Earth, excluding Doom, who remained behind. He took over the world and moved it from the pocket universe to his original universe with magic and technology, putting it in the same orbit as Earth, only on the opposite side, creating a Counter Earth. Eventually he was overthrown and returned to his rightful planet.[citation needed]
Valeria
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Demonic Armor
When Susan Richards experiences problems with her second pregnancy while Reed is away, Johnny contacts Doom for help, correctly guessing that Doom will be unable to pass up a chance to succeed where Reed failed (Due to the complex events involving the recent resurrection of Galactus, this pregnancy is a 'repeat' of an earlier one where Sue miscarried). Doom not only saves Sue's daughter, but also cures Johnny of a recent problem with his powers where Johnny was unable to 'flame off' without technological support after becoming overcharged with energy from the Negative Zone, by channeling Johnny's excess energy into Sue to keep her alive. After the birth, Doom's only apparent condition for his aid is that he be allowed to name Sue and Reed's daughter, calling her 'Valeria' after his long-lost love. However, this inspires a new plan where Doom makes Valeria his familiar while seeking out her namesake as part of a deal with a trio of demons known as the Hazareth Three; by sacrificing his old lover, Doom is granted magical powers on the level he would possess if he had spent the past years studying sorcery rather than science, beginning with Valeria's skin becoming his new armor.[32] With this new power, Doom traps Franklin in Hell, immobilises Doctor Strange, and then neutralizes the FF's powers, torturing the other three while taunting Reed by leaving him in his magical library, comparing it to giving a dog a road-map as he concludes that it will be impossible for Reed to master sufficient magical skill to be a threat to him.[33] However, Reed is able to release Doctor Strange's astral self from Doom's traps, allowing Strange to give Reed a sufficient crash-course in magic for Reed to free the rest of the team and trick Doom into angering his demonic benefactors, prompting them to take him to Hell.[34] Determined to ensure that Doom cannot be a further threat, Reed takes control of Latveria to dismantle all of Doom's equipment,[35] simultaneously subtly driving his family away so that he can trap Doom and himself in a pocket dimension so that he can make sure Doom never threatens anyone again. However, this plan backfires when the rest of the team attempt to rescue Reed, resulting in Doom transferring his spirit into Sue, Johnny and Ben respectively, forcing Reed to kill his best friend to stop his greatest enemy.[36] Doom is returned to Hell, but Reed is later able to use the same machine Doom once tried to create to travel to Heaven and restore Ben to life.[37]
The return from Hell itself.
Civil War
During the superhero Civil War, Reed Richards and several other heroes defeated a Doombot in New York City. Doom himself may or may not have been responsible. In another ploy to gain leverage during this time of disunity, Doom proposed an alliance between Latveria and the Black Panther's country of Wakanda. Black Panther and his new wife, Storm, however, saw through Doom's intrigue.
So Doom sought to align his country with another. Following the destruction of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, Doctor Doom made Latveria into a refugee camp for the Atlanteans[39] and struck an alliance with Loki in his plot to manipulate Thor to unwittingly release his Asgardian enemies.[40]
Iron Man led S.H.I.E.L.D. forces and the Mighty Avengers to Latveria when it was discovered that one of Doctor Doom's satellites carried the 'Venom Virus' released in New York City.[41] Using time travel, Doctor Doom had been involved in a romantic relationship with Morgan le Fay at the time in exchange for her tutelage in the mystic arts. This arrangement was interrupted when the Mighty Avengers arrested Doctor Doom and incarcerated him for crimes against humanity.[42] During the battle, Doctor Doom, Iron Man, and the Sentry stumbled through an open time travel portal, trapping Doctor Doom and his opponents in the past. Doctor Doom and Iron Man managed to return all three to the present.[43]
Doctor Doom was released from the prison by the Fantastic Force, a group from a distant future returned to the present. The Fantastic Force kidnapped Doom and the Human Torch to use them as a power source for a time travel device that was made from the dead body of Galactus. The whole plan of the Fantastic Force was led by the future Sue Storm. In the end, Reed Richards and Sue Storm not only found a home for the future refugees, but also freed Doctor Doom and the Human Torch. In what should have been a happy ending, Doctor Doom killed the future Sue Storm, to "restore his honor."[citation needed]
The Cabal
Doctor Doom in the Dark Cabal.
In the aftermath of the Skrull Invasion, Doctor Doom became a member of the Dark Cabal alongside Norman Osborn, Emma Frost, Namor, Loki, and the Hood.
Due to Doom's status, Dracula approached him to secure a non-aggression pact - between both Doom and the Cabal - before attacking Britain. Doom, who loathed Dracula, refused to acknowledge his regal standing.[44]
Morgan le Fay traveled to present day Latveria to punish Doctor Doom for failing to come through on his end of their bargain. The Dark Avengers went to Doctor Doom's aid after Morgan le Fay defeated him in mystical combat. Norman Osborn rescued Doom from mystical paralysis, and they linked their armours to access Doom's time cube in order to go back in time and stop Morgan le Fay. Doom either could not or would not destroy le Fay, despite having the power to do so, because her future was intertwined with his. Instead, Doom sent her back in time, forcing her to battle her way back to her present, and thereby distracting her from fighting Doom and the Dark Avengers. Doom showed contempt for Osborn and his "ignorance" to the time stream and went back to the present and undid all that le Fay had done to the Dark Avengers. Then Doom magically restored Latveria and rebuilt his castle with use of the time cube.[45]
Marquis of Death
The Masters of Doom.
After his initial capture and release for crimes against humanity, Doom revealed that he had been taught everything by a master, someone that was far more powerful and evil than he himself, and that he would soon be returning. When his master, the Marquis of Death, arrived, he was displeased with what Doom had been doing in the two decades since his departure. He expected Doom to be the vicious ruler of the Earth, not the ruler of a small country constantly defeated by heroes such as the Fantastic Four.
After playing with his mind, he beat Doom and banished him to the Pliocene Age to die. With his new apprentice, the Marquis of Death began to torment the Fantastic Four as punishment, but was defeated by them. When Richards chose not to finish off his defeated foe, the Marquis' Apprentice, revealed to be Doom, did it for him. Dr. Doom waited for years in the past using all his knowledge and sorcery to survive. He then became the Marquis' Apprentice once more and waited for the moment that the Marquis would be weakened enough for him to gain his revenge, and it came when he faced Mr. Fantastic. Doom declared that all rivalries between him and Richards had long been settled to his satisfaction.[46]
Asgardians in Latveria
When the Asgardians moved from Asgard, which was floating above Broxton, Oklahoma, to Latveria on Loki's suggestion, Doom secretly began capturing Asgardians, experimenting on them to discover what gave them their immortality. He even mutilated some Asgardians by converting them into cyborgs, serving his twisted ambitions. He set these cyborgs loose upon Balder and company. However, Thor came to avenge his people and engaged Doom in combat. After realizing that he could lose, Doom fled and entered the weapon he had been working on: a new version of the Destroyer Armor. He reengaged Thor and began to beat him down, with Thor unable to hurt him. Realizing that Doom's armor was powered by a battery, Thor held off Doom until the suit's power finally ran low, forcing Doom to retreat.[citation needed]
Doom had one last meeting with Norman and his Cabal, but still refused to side with Norman. To show off his power, Norman unleashed his 'secret weapon' on Doom and defeated him. But Doom was obviously prepared for this sort of attack, as he had sent a Doombot in his place. The Doombot unleashed advanced technology to attack the Cabal and Norman's Dark Avengers. Doom had made it clear that no one could control him.[47]
The Doom War
When Doom learned of a xenophobic group of Wakandans known as the Desturi, he began his plans for gaining access to the vast amounts of vibranium located in Wakanda. Vibranium has the ability to be magically charged and has infinite power potential, something Doom had figured how to use to make himself virtually unstoppable. Doom developed nanite cameras which were dispersed into all Wakandans, making them unknowing spies for Doom. With all the security information of Wakanda available to him, he was able to gain access to the vault that contained the country's vibranium. In a last ditch effort to stop him, T'Challa rendered all Wakandan vibranium inert and useless.[48]
Long ago, Doom betrayed the Leader and his super villain group the Intelligencia. The group later reformed and planned to 'lobotomize' their competition and capture eight of Earth's greatest minds, including Doom. Doom was captured by the Intelligencia using the Hulk Robot.[citation needed]
Children's Crusade
With the powers of Wanda.
When the Young Avengers helped Magneto find his daughter Wanda, they found her with no memory of her past and betrothed to Doctor Doom. He was revealed to have played a part in increasing the power levels of the Scarlet Witch, leading to the events which disassembled the Avengers and the alteration of reality known as M-Day.[citation needed] When the Young Avengers traveled back in time with Wanda, they were able to restore her memory, and thus her powers.
Back in the present, Doom stole Wanda's powers in an effort to become fully omnipotent. He offered to make perfect the lives of all those present and even revive the dead, only if he became the king of the world. The Young Avengers, the Avengers and the X-Men refused, instead battling him until his new powers overloaded, leaving him powerless again. He escaped, teleporting himself away after taking responsibility for all of Wanda's actions, stating that she was only a puppet, and only he was powerful enough to create that kind of chaos.
To the Future Foundation
After the death of the Human Torch, Doom joined the Future Foundation with the condition that Reed Richards would restore the intelligence he lost at the hands of the Intelligencia.[49] He helped the team search for the Richards' of alternate universes and was kidnapped by "Reed-Alpha", who brought him to Latveria and confronted Kristoff von Doom, who had taken over as ruler. There, with the help of the Future Foundation they re-built 616 Reed's "the Bridge", a device that allowed Reed to peer into alternate realities, traveling to them at will. While on the Bridge, "Reed-Alpha" freed Doom to help battle the Mad Celestials. Rather than taking his chance to escape, Doom stayed and fought for Latveria.[2] Ultimately, Doom lost the battle and seemingly died.[9]
Return
With no knowledge as to how he survived the blast from the Mad Celestials, Doom woke up in the middle of the ruins of the Interdimensional Council of Reeds, where Valeria had left him a present: the full army of lobotomized Doctor Dooms from alternate realities who were previously captured by the Council, along with two Infinity Gauntlets from other universes. With these resources, Doom created the Parliament of Doom.[50] He later returned to again rule Latveria, and was targeted by Lucia von Bardas and the Red Ghost, who wanted to get revenge on Doom for past discretions.[51]
Doom journeyed to the universe that one of his Infinity Gauntlets had belonged to, which was now empty and desolate, and used the gauntlet to breathe life into it anew. He separated magic and science, creating the basic rules for their existence, created new lifeforms and made himself their ruler. On a world where science and magic were wed, his creations turned on him and six rulers divided Doom's Infinity Gems between them. Reed and Nathaniel Richards entered this universe to save Doom after being told by Valeria that he was in grave danger. They managed to convince five of the rulers to pardon Doom and managed to escape the clutches of the sixth, bringing Doom back to their universe. Upon their return, Doom declared that he and Richards were even again.[52]
Incursion in Latveria
After his return, Latveria became the site of an incursion, a collision between Earth and one of its alternate universe counterparts. This incursion was different however, in that it was controlled by a mysterious group known as the Mapmakers, who had rigged the other Earth to explode and wished to mark Doom's Earth for potential expansion. Doom fought off the Mapmakers with the help of his adopted son Kristoff Vernard, whilst unbeknownst to him, the Illuminati blew up the other Earth. After the incursion ended, Doom was alerted to a rock that had fallen from the sky, which was in truth the Mapmakers' beacon. Doom contacted Reed Richards and Stephen Strange in order to confront them about the Illuminati's presence in Latveria and the incursion, but to his fury, they refused to give him answers and Reed warned him not to contact him in regard to the incursions again.[53]
AXIS
After imprisoning Loki due to the manipulations of an older Loki, Doom discovered that his people were fighting one another and rallying against him. After beginning to have bad thoughts himself, Doom realized that Latveria was under a telepathic attack. He used a spell to protect himself, and discovered that the Red Skull had been responsible for this attack. Meanwhile in Castle Doom, Loki had been freed by Valeria, who used his truth sword Gram to release a "truth wave" which stopped the telepathic influence over Latveria. Soon after, Magneto arrived in Castle Doom to recruit Doom into a team of villains to stop the Red Skull, who had now become the "Red Onslaught".[54]
Doom journeyed to Genosha with the rest of the villains that were recruited by Magneto. They destroyed one of the Skull's Stark Sentinels, which was keeping some of the heroes who had defied the Skull captive. Doom and the Scarlet Witch began to cast an inversion spell to alter the moral compass of the Skull in order to defeat him. The spell was successful, but it accidentally also affected everyone else on the island. After the island was covered by the spell, all of the villains disappeared without a trace, including Doom.[55]
Doom returned to Latveria, changed into a selfless and kind man due to the spell, ready to make amends for his past sins.[56] Knowing that the (now-inverted) Scarlet Witch would come to Latveria for revenge on Doom due to his past manipulations, Doom created a device capable of channeling a portion of the Witch's powers. With the help of an Avengers team assembled by Valeria, Doom managed to get hold of a portion of the Scarlet Witch's powers, which he used to make right one of his past misdeeds, the murder of Cassie Lang, and bring her back to life.[57]
Wanda managed to finally confront Doom, who was saved by Magneto and Quicksilver. While Magneto and Pietro tried to convince Wanda not to cross the line and take Doom's life, Doom fled to another dimension,[58] where he made a pact with a demigod to bring Doctor Voodoo back to life.[59] Voodoo's brother Daniel possessed Scarlet Witch in order to make her cooperate and help Doom cast a re-inversion spell. After teleporting to New York, where the inverted heroes and villains were fighting, the inverted Red Skull helped Doom and Daniel cast the spell, which successfully brought almost everyone back to normal, including Doom.
Victor took advantage of the confusion brought by the re-inversion and abducted the Red Skull to Latveria, for experimentation.[60]
Time Runs Out
Over the following months, Victor worked with a team of scientists to reverse-engineer one of the pieces of a Mapmaker he gathered from the incursion that took place in Latveria. The Mad Thinker successfully managed to map their entire network. Doom planned to use the Molecule Man, whose energy frequency matched with the beacon's, to oppose whatever was the origin of the incursions and the decay of the multiverse.[61] The Molecule Man took Doom elsewhere,[62] a blank void from where they subsequently traveled backwards through the mists of time and the various planes of reality.[63]
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Doom and the Molecule Man travelled twenty-five years into the past to an alternate reality to witness the origin of said reality's Molecule Man. The journey affected Molecule Man's mind, restoring it from its chaotic state, and he told Doom of his origins. The Molecule Man was a singularity across every single universe, a "bomb" created by the Beyonders to detonate across the entire multiverse at once. If a Molecule Man died, his universe died with him. If every Molecule Man died at the same time, every universe died simultaneously with them, and that was the Beyonders' goal. The Molecule Man killed his counterpart, which set off the early death of his counterpart's universe, and caused the incursions. The Molecule Man convinced Doom that in order to thwart the plans of the Beyonders, he had to embark in a mission to kill Molecule Men.[8]
Even if Doom's actions resulted in a similar result to the Beyonders' plans, the destruction of realities, Doom's course of action attempted to save all that he could from the destruction, as setting off some of the Molecule Men earlier would diminish the charge of the explosion the Beyonders had planned. Doom would also capture Molecule Men from other universes in order to create an even greater bomb with which he would destroy the Beyonders.[64]
Eight years after the beginning of his journey, when Doom had killed thousands of Molecule Men, he encountered one who would be the first of his Black Swans, a cult he would form around the religious concept of himself, under the identity of "Rabum Alal" (the "Great Destroyer").[8] A group of Black Swans rebelled against Doom, and sought a different path. They destroyed other Earths during incursions as an offering to Rabum Alal and to buy more time for other universes (for every Earth destroyed during an incursion two universes and one of the Earths were saved).[65]
In the present, when Doctor Strange and the Black Priests traveled to the Library of Worlds to find Rabum Alal, who had been believed to be one of the main causes of the decay of the multiverse, Doctor Doom presented himself.[7] Doom informed Strange of his origins as Rabum Alal, and revealed his ultimate plan to defeat them: the different Molecule Men he had captured. In a last ditch attempt to save the multiverse, Doom took Strange and the Molecule Men to confront the Beyonders.[8] He was able to destroy them and harness all of their power using his universe's Molecule Man as a conduit.[64] However, Doom's accomplishment cost the death of thousands of universes, leaving only a dozen.[8]
Secret Wars
When the multiverse finally perished in the final incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610,[66] Doom used the power of the Beyonders to salvage the remains of several realities and build a patchwork planet named Battleworld, which was ruled under his iron fist, with the help of Stephen Strange, who was Battleworld's sheriff.[67] Molecule Man continued empowering God Emperor Doom, and remained hidden in a chamber.[64] During the early days of this planet, Doom encountered an alternate version of the Fantastic Four, one in which Reed Richards didn't exist. Their Sue Storm fell in love with Victor, and they had two children, Franklin and Valeria.[68]
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God Emperor Doom
As eight years went by, Doom and Strange managed to twist the memories of their inhabitants, to the point they would no longer remember what had existed before Battleworld. Even though he was an omnipotent ruler, Victor ultimately felt he was failing his duty as a god, he thought he wasn't capable of properly inspiring his people, and even though Battleworld was the perfect world he wanted, he considered himself its only flaw.[67]
The relative monotony of Doom's reign was interrupted with the discovery of an empty vessel in the domain known as Utopolis, a life raft that had been built by the survivors of Earth-1610, the villainous Maker and the Cabal. The vessel kept them in suspended animation for the eight years that passed, and had allowed them to survive the end of the multiverse and end up on Battleworld.[69]
Sheriff Strange recognized the design of the raft, which was that of a similar vessel he had found three years earlier and had kept hidden in his Isle of Agamotto. When Strange investigated the vessel of his proprietary, he freed its occupants, the survivors of Earth-616, among which were Mr. Fantastic, Namor and Black Panther.
After being informed of the nature of Battleworld and its ruler, the survivors of Earth-616 helped Sheriff Strange confront the Maker and the Cabal, who had been finally pinned down by Battleworld's police force, the Thor Corps.[67] Doom remained unwilling to take part in the conflict, until he saw Mr. Fantastic in the scene, which is when he immediately teleported to Utopolis, and stopped the fray, demanding the newcomers to recognize his authority. To prevent Doom from prejudicially acting upon the interlopers, Stephen used his magic to teleport them away. Following the disappearance of the Cabal and the heroes from Earth-616, Doom confronted Strange for disobeying him, and ultimately killed him after Stephen accused him of being afraid of Richards.[70]
Doom later commanded Valeria and the department of science of Battleworld, the Foundation, to find the interlopers, pinning Strange's murder on them.[64] Three weeks later, Battleworld was in disarray, with disorder having escalated into open rebellion in several domains, with somebody called "the Prophet" forming an army against Doom.[68] The Prophet, who was later revealed to be none other than the Cabal's Maximus the Mad, and his army marched forward to Castle Doom. Some of Doom's allies started fighting against him, namely the Thor Corps, who had been convinced to fight against their god by the Thor survivor of Earth-616.[71]
When he decided to step into the fight, Doom was confronted by Black Panther and Namor, with the former having acquired an Infinity Gauntlet from Sheriff Strange's sanctuary.[72] After a battle that took them through the different planes of reality, Doom bested Black Panther, but he soon realized the fight was a distraction. He teleported to Molecule Man's chamber, which had been found by Mister Fantastic. The Molecule Man partially stripped Doom from his power in order to allow a fair fight. During the furious confrontation, Doom accused Richards of believing he could've done better had he had Doom's power, and when Reed conceded he did, so did Doom. On the grounds that both agreed, Molecule Man gave Doom's power to Reed, destroying Battleworld in the process.
With the power he had received from Molecule Man, and with help from his revived family, Mister Fantastic began to restore the Multiverse, including Earth-616. When he returned Victor to Latveria, Reed cured Doom of his scars.[73]
Infamous Iron Man
The feeling of unfulfillment left in Victor during his tenure as a deity prompted him to look for other ways to find personal realization. While rethinking his life, Doom was ultimately struck with the notion that if the selfish act of ultimate power wasn't his calling, maybe the opposite could hold true. Thus he set out to become a force of good in the world.[74] This new perspective also led Doom to abdicate his throne and leave his kingdom behind. Before departing Latveria, Victor appointed the top military mind in the country, General Karadick, as temporary head of state so he could help Latveria transition into a free state.[75]
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Reformed Doom
In order to make more apparent his transition to the side of the angels, the now-unarmored Victor decided to become an ally to Tony Stark,[76] a man he had always secretly admired and deemed as an equal.[74] Iron Man first encountered this new version of Victor when he was following the the trail of Madame Masque.[77] Doom revealed his intentions to turn over a new leaf,[76] and eventually helped Stark exorcise the demon-possessed Masque.[78] Doom remained on high alert, in case new demonic incursions appeared.[79]
During the second Civil War, Doom tried to help Stark regain his composure following the tragic loss of his best friend Jim Rhodes and the destruction of the Stark Tower.[80] When this conflict ended with Stark falling into a coma,[81] Doom saw Stark's fall as a message that directed the form his penance would need to take, and he decided to pick up the mantle of Iron Man.[74]Attributes
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Powers
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Magic: Doctor Doom was introduced to the mystic arts by his mother (who was of Romani and Latverian blood).[18] He further developed his abilities by studying with Doctor Strange [citation needed] and traveling through time and learning lost Dark Arts from individuals such as Morgan le Fey.[82] After Dr. Strange stepped down as the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, Doom was amongst the candidates considered suitable to replace him.[83] However the majority of his powers came from the Hazareth Three,[84] and upon angering them most of his sorcery was removed and he was trapped in Hell as punishment.[85] While they enhanced his powers he could achieve the following.
- Mystical Blasts: Doom's mystical expertise was only the minor magics of the Earth.
- Mystical Force-fields
- Invoke Entities
- Spell Casting
- Summoning: Doom could summon demonic creatures.
- Teleportation
- Foot-Diving
- Dimensional Travel: Doom could travel to other dimensions
- Mystical Ensnaring
- Mystical Portals
Psionics: Due to his great willpower, Doom has gained some telepathic abilities, which he uses against his foes.[citation needed]
- Mind Transference: By training with an alien race, Doom has gained the ability to switch his mind with that of another nearby human being with whom he has made eye contact, a process which he learned from the alien Ovoids.[14] However, Doom prefers his own body and only uses this transference power as a last resort.[citation needed]
- Hypnotism: Doom is able to hypnotize individuals, as he did with Aquaman.[86]
Abilities
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Doctor Doom with the Power Cosmic.
Super-Genius Intelligence: Doctor Doom's most dangerous weapon is his intellect. He is one of the top mortal minds on the planet.[citation needed] Doom even cured Ben Grimm of his Thing form.[93] Doom has constructed hundreds of devices, including a working time machine,[1] devices which can imbue people with powers,[94] and many types of robots.[1] His most frequently used robots are his "Doombots," exact mechanical replicas of the himself. They look like him, talk like him, and even act like him. Individually, Doombots have an advanced AI (artificial intelligence) so that each one believes itself to be the real Doom.[95] As a safety measure, each Doombot has a dampener program that is triggered whenever the real Doom (or another Doombot) is nearby. These "body doubles" appear when Doom cannot be present or is unwilling to risk his own life, and are often responsible for Doom's seeming return from certain death.[96] Another common type of robot used is the Servo-Guard, the police force of Latveria.[97] Doom specializes in physics, robotics, cybernetics, genetics, weapons technology, biochemistry, and time travel. He also has natural talents for leadership, strategy, politics, and manipulation.
Master Martial Artist: During his time in Tibet, Doom was trained in martial arts by the monks[98]. He is vastly skilled in many combat techniques, both armed and unarmed. He has been trained by the best sword masters on Earth[99] and can achieve very powerful nerve strikes.[100] His combat skills are so great that he managed to kill a lion with his bare hands,[100] to beat Daredevil in hand-to-hand combat[12] and to wield Captain America's shield as proficiently as Steve Rogers himself.[101]
Peak Human Conditioning: Doom has trained his body to the level of the finest human athlete. He is well-built, fast and agile. He has also displayed great reflexes and equilibrium. His physical strength and durability surpass even those of Daredevil.[102]
Indomitable Will: Doom has a great willpower. He was able to resist psychic attacks from Emma Frost and the Purple Man using only his will, to reject the mystical armor that the Soulsword provides the wielder on sheer willpower alone and while he was tortured in Hell, he refused to let a single audible indication of pain exit his mouth.
Highly Influential Connections: As Monarch of Latveria, Doctor Doom has access to technological and military hardware. He also has command of conventional military forces; see Doctor Doom's Generals.
Diplomatic Immunity: As the leader of a sovereign nation, Doctor Doom often visits the United States or the United Nations for political reasons. He enjoys diplomatic immunity during these trips, and his embassy is considered foreign soil. He has even been escorted by Captain America himself.
Artist: Doom has shown himself to be a talented artist. He painted a duplicate of the Mona Lisa while using Layla Miller as his model.[103]
Pianist: Doom has shown himself to be a talented pianist. He has played various compositions of his own creation.[104]
Master Swordsman: Doom has been shown being proficient in sword combat, having been trained by the best teachers - until he overcame them all - and being able to out-duel Warlord Krang in swordmanship.[105]Weaknesses
Ego: It has been shown in the past that Doom can be manipulated by pandering to his sense of superiority, especially over Reed Richards. Spider-Man was able to gain his assistance concerning unknown technology by saying Reed could not figure it out. This ego is also the main reason for his vendetta against Reed, as he cannot accept that Reed understood his equations better than he did.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Iron Man Armor: A suit of armor seemingly stolen by Doom from one of Tony Stark's labs, potentially the Iron Man Armor Model 51 retrofitted to suit Doom's style.[106] This armor has been used by Doom in combination with his magical abilities,[106] and it grants him the following abilities:
- Flight[106]
- Cloaking[107]
- Repulsor Blasts: A concussive blast of energy.[107]
- Enhanced Strength[74]
- Enhanced Durability[74]
- Magnetic Manipulation[75]
Doctor Doom possesses two different Infinity Gauntlets from two alternate realities, but due to that, they don't work the same way in his home reality.
As a genius-level inventor and monarch of a sovereign nation, Doom can attain many other pieces of equipment as needed.
See Also: Technological Achievements, Doctor Doom's robots.
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
- In Latveria, Doom has his own holiday - Doom's Day, which is an enormous celebration.[citation needed]
- One of Doctor Doom's traits that often makes him stand out is his tendency to refer to himself in third person.[citation needed]
- Because of his status as ruler of Latveria, Doom typically has diplomatic immunity. This is perhaps his greatest asset, as any attempt to kill him would be a breach of international law - It has been used to prevent his death at the hands of the Fantastic Four, and resulted in Captain America acting as Doom's escort/bodyguard whilst he was making a diplomatic visit to America.[111]
- Doom has learned magic from several powerful individuals, including Doctor Strange, Morgan le Fay and the Marquis of Death. Doom has also taken apprentices of his own, such as Layla Miller.
Trivia
- In one retcon, the scar that Doom originally received from the explosion of his arcane device was, while large, not horribly disfiguring. In his eagerness to assume his masked persona, he donned the faceplate of his first suit of armor while the metal was still smoking from the forge. The burns he suffered from this act were thought to have made him truly hideous. However, this was later itself retconned in the series Books of Doom.
- The original story of his scar was that the explosion of his demonic portal actually did cause a hideous disfiguring scar, and to suit his own hubris, he donned the infamous mask.
- After the Secret Wars, the Beyonder appeared in Fantastic Four #288, where he explained that he had pulled Doom from a different time. He then rectified the situation by reordering Doom's appearances to fit the time-stream.
Cameos from JLA #1
- Doctor Doom made a cameo appearance in the pages of DC's JLA #1. In the scene, Doom and Wolverine are executed by a super-villain team known as the Hyperclan. The scene was written by Grant Morrison.
- In Captain Britain and MI-13 #10, Doom states he has studied under one of Dracula's greatest enemies, suggesting that Doom has traveled back in time to study under Abraham van Helsing. He has also shown that he did not recognize Dracula's title of Count.
- Doom killed his first person at the age of sixteen, however it was in self-defence.[113]
- Doom states that his self-awareness began when he was within his mother's womb. Doom theorized that his mother's contact with demons is what made this possible, further stating that their "... touch opened [his] mind too clearly and too early".[113]
- Benjamin Grimm may have been responsible for the accident that disfigured Doom, saying that he had tampered with Doom's machine some time before the accident.[18]
- Doom owns three Renoirs, having previously possessed four, but ordering one to be destroyed merely because it displeased him.[114]
Stamp #84 "A" Series Marvel Value Stamps
- Dr. Doom was featured on stamp #84 of the Marvel Value Stamps "A" series. It was published in Marvel Team-Up #33 in May, 1975.
- Latveria has its own version of The Beatles' song All You Need Is Love, which replaces "love" for "Doom."[115]
- Even though Doom was expelled from college before finishing his only known higher studies, he claims to possess multiple doctorates.[116]
See Also
- 910 appearance(s) of Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 23 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 249 minor appearance(s) of Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 704 mention(s) of Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 28 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 3 invocation(s) of Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 1239 image(s) of Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 132 quotation(s) by or about Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 114 victim(s) killed by Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
- 159 item(s) used/owned by Victor von Doom (Earth-616)
Links and References
- Victor von Doom on Wikipedia.org
- The Latverian Embassy: Curt's Doctor Doom Shrine
- Doctor Doom at the Marvel Directory
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Fantastic Four #5
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 FF #13
- ↑ Dark Reign Files #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four #287
- ↑ Fantastic Four #236
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 4) #14
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 New Avengers (Vol. 3) #31
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 New Avengers (Vol. 3) #33
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 FF #14
- ↑ Secret Wars #2
- ↑ Secret Wars #8
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Daredevil #37
- ↑ Fantastic Four #260
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Fantastic Four #10
- ↑ Spider-Man / Fantastic Four #1
- ↑ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #3
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #20
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Fantastic Four (Vol. 4) #9
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Fantastic Four Annual #2
- ↑ Marvel Super-Heroes #20
- ↑ Fantastic Four #6
- ↑ Fantastic Four #16–17
- ↑ Fantastic Four #23
- ↑ Fantastic Four #39
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Fantastic Four #40
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four #57 #60
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1–12
- ↑ Marvel Graphic Novel #27
- ↑ Marvel Graphic Novel #49
- ↑ Onslaught Marvel Universe #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #67
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #70
- ↑ Fantastic Four #500
- ↑ Fantastic Four #503
- ↑ Fantastic Four #507–508
- ↑ Fantastic Four #509–510
- ↑ Fantastic Four #536–537
- ↑ Sub-Mariner (Vol. 2) #1–6
- ↑ Thor (Vol. 3) #5
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #8
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #9–11
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #10
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Captain Britain and MI-13 #10
- ↑ Dark Avengers #1–4
- ↑ Fantastic Four #566–569
- ↑ Siege: The Cabal #1
- ↑ Incredible Hulk #606
- ↑ FF #1
- ↑ FF #16
- ↑ Winter Soldier #1
- ↑ FF #23
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ Loki: Agent of Asgard #7
- ↑ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #3
- ↑ Avengers World #15
- ↑ Avengers World #16
- ↑ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #7
- ↑ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #8
- ↑ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #9
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 3) #24
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 3) #27
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 3) #29
- ↑ 64.0 64.1 64.2 64.3 Secret Wars #5
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 3) #5
- ↑ Secret Wars #1
- ↑ 67.0 67.1 67.2 Secret Wars #3
- ↑ 68.0 68.1 Secret Wars #6
- ↑ Secret Wars #2
- ↑ Secret Wars #4
- ↑ Secret Wars #7
- ↑ Secret Wars #8
- ↑ Secret Wars #9
- ↑ 74.0 74.1 74.2 74.3 74.4 Infamous Iron Man #3
- ↑ 75.0 75.1 Infamous Iron Man #4
- ↑ 76.0 76.1 Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 2) #6
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 2) #13
- ↑ Civil War II #8
- ↑ Dark Avengers #1–5
- ↑ New Avengers #51–53
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #69
- ↑ Fantastic Four #500
- ↑ Doom #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four #58
- ↑ Fantastic Four #59
- ↑ Fantastic Four #60
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #10–11
- ↑ Secret Wars #2–9
- ↑ Astonishing Tales #8
- ↑ Fantastic Four #17
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four #258
- ↑ Avengers #332–333
- ↑ Fantastic Four #84
- ↑ Fantastic Four #278
- ↑ Super-Villain Team-Up #13
- ↑ 100.0 100.1 Doom #1
- ↑ Avengers #25
- ↑ Daredevil #38
- ↑ X-Factor #202
- ↑ Fantastic Four #87
- ↑ Super-Villain Team-Up #13
- ↑ 106.0 106.1 106.2 Infamous Iron Man #1
- ↑ 107.0 107.1 Infamous Iron Man #2
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #5
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #350
- ↑ Stating in Captain Britain and MI-13 #10, that he has always anticipated war between himself and Dracula
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #50
- ↑ X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1
- ↑ 113.0 113.1 Books of Doom #1
- ↑ Iron Man #249
- ↑ Loki: Agent of Asgard #7
- ↑ Infamous Iron Man #8
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3
- ↑ Fall of the Hulks: Alpha Vol 1 1