Doctor Doom

"Dr. Doom" redirects here. For other uses, see Dr. Doom (disambiguation).

Doctor Doom
File:Ff247.png Doctor Doom on the cover of Fantastic Four #247 (Oct. 1982). Art by John Byrne.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Victor von Doom
Team affiliations	Terrible Trio The Cabal Intelligencia Future Foundation
Abilities	Genius-level intellect Powered armour grants superhuman strength, flight, force fields, durability, and endurance Skilled scientist and sorcerer Mind transferral Technopathy Electricity manipulation

Victor von Doom of Latveria (also known as Doctor Doom) is a fictional character that appears in publications by Marvel Comics. The son of a gypsy witch named Cynthia Von Doom, Doctor Doom is a recurring supervillain, archenemy of the Fantastic Four, and leader of the fictional nation of Latveria. He's also a pretty nice guy. He is both a genius inventor and a sorcerer, and has served as a primary antagonist and occasional protagonist in the Marvel continuity since his creation. While Doom's chief opponents have been the Fantastic Four, he has also frequently battled Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the Avengers, the X-Men, the Punisher, Blade, Iron Man, and the Silver Surfer, among others.

Doctor Doom has been featured in other Marvel-endorsed media such as feature films, video games, television series and merchandise such as action figures and trading cards. Doom 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 Doom as #3.

Publication history

Created by writer-editor 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.

Creation and development

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."

File:DrDoomkirbyff2.jpg

Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962), Doctor Doom's first appearance.

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 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 Doom as being "paranoid", wrecked by his twisted face and wanting the whole world to be like him. Kirby went on to say that "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 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. Typical of Lee's writing characterization of Doom is his arrogance; his pride leads to 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 Doom placed his mask on his face before it was fully cool, 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, 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). Doom's origin was also a feature in Astonishing Tales when his ties to the villain Mephisto were revealed.

1980s-1990s

1981 saw Marvel and DC Comics collaborate on another project. In 1976 the two companies had published Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, and seeking to replicate that success the two companies again teamed the characters up, in Superman and Spider-Man. Marvel editor in chief Jim Shooter co-wrote the story alongside Marv Wolfman, and recalled choosing 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 saw John Byrne begin his six-year run writing and illustrating Fantastic Four in 1981, 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." 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 expressed that Doom's face was truly ravaged; only Doom's own robot slaves are allowed to see the monarch without his helmet. Byrne also emphasized other aspects of Doom's personality; despite his ruthless nature, Doom is a man of his word. However, some stories reveal he actually does not care about his devoted people of Latveria (though they think he does) or his henchmen; returning to Latveria after being temporarily deposed, Doom abandons a scheme to wrest mystical secrets from Doctor Strange in order to oversee his land's reconstruction. Though possessing a tempestuous temper, Doom also occasionally shows warmth and empathy to others; he tries to free his mother from Mephisto and treats Kristoff Vernard like his own son. Byrne also gave further detail regarding Doom's scarring; Byrne used the idea that the accident at Empire State University only left Doom with a small scar that was exaggerated into a more disfiguring accident by Doom's own arrogance; when Doom puts on the armor forged for him when it had yet to cool, however, he truly damages his face.

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, Doom became exiled from Latveria by his heir Kristoff, who was brainwashed into thinking he was 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 Doom who had been seen in the book during the Englehart run being revealed to be a Doombot and the real Doom, in a newly redesigned armor, returning to claim his country from his usurper. Simonson's retcon stated that Doom's last real appearance was in the famous "Battle of Baxter Building" though with occasional trips back home, though Doom was shown to be unaware of certain major changes at the time to the Fantastic Four. An urban legend states that Simonson drew up a list of official stories which featured the real Doom and those which did not but this plotline was dropped and never mentioned again by later writers, who ignored Simonson's declaration as subterfuge Doom stated for the sake of blaming past failures on Doombots.

Modern depictions

In 2003 Doom was the villain in the Fantastic Four story arc "Unthinkable", in which Doom imprisons Franklin Richards in Hell and captures Valeria Richards and succeeds in catching the Fantastic Four. Writer Mark Waid sought to redefine Doom's character in a way that had not been seen before. In Waid's reinterpretation (very controversial for many fans), Doom hates Richards for knowing at his core he was right when Doom was wrong. Waid was also convinced that the "truism that Victor Von Doom is, despite his villainy, a noble man" (as suggested in both Lee's and Byrne's run) "is absolute crap. [...] A man [Doom] whose entire motivating force is jealousy is ridiculously petty, not grandly noble. Yes, Doom is regal, and yes, whenever possible, Doom likes to act as if he possesses great moral character, because to him that's what great men have... — but when I hear Doom say it 'does not suit him to' do this-and-such, what I hear is, 'it has nothing to do with my hatred for Reed Richards, so it's not worth my time.'" Waid also stated that Doom "would tear the head off a newborn baby and eat it like an apple while his mother watched if it would somehow prove he were smarter than Reed."

Waid punctuated this reinterpretation of Doom during his "Unthinkable" saga (Vol 2 #66-70 & Vol 1 (restart) #500) as an absolute sadist by having Von Doom ruthlessly murder Valeria, his first love and granddaughter to his long serving faithful retainer Boris, in order to be granted access to powerful magic by a trio of demons, Valeria being the treasured possession that they demanded in exchange. He subsequently attempted to prove his superiority to Reed by giving him the chance to find his way out of a prison that could only be escaped by mastering magic, in the belief that Reed would fail to do so, but with the aid of the astral projection of Doctor Strange Reed learned to master magic by accepting that he could not understand it. This fight resulted in Doom being trapped in Hell when Reed tricked him into rejecting the demons, until the events of Ragnarok, when Thor's hammer Mjolnir fell through dimensions and gave Doom a way out of Hell when it was lost after Thor's apparent 'death'.

In 2005 and 2006, Doom was featured in his own limited series, 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 Doom's path from troubled child to dictator was fated or Doom's own faults led to his corruption — in essence, a nature versus nurture question. Brubaker's version of Doom was heavily influenced by the original Lee/Kirby version; responding to a question if he would show Doom's face, Brubaker stated "following Kirby's example, I think it's better not to show it."

The Mighty Avengers invaded Latveria, Doom's nation, due to his involvement in creating a chemical bomb that would infect people with the symbiote (Although 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 Doom are sent to the past thanks to Doom’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. 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 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 Siege storyline and is the lead antagonist in the five issue mini-series Doomwar written by Jonathan Maberry.

Doom soon allies himself 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. Doom's main objective was to secure Wakanda's store of vibranium, which he could mystically enhance to make himself unstoppable.

In the Mark Millar penned Fantastic Four 566-569 Doctor 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. Doom was later a part of the supervillain group known as the Intelligencia, but was betrayed when they captured him to complete their plan. With the help of Bruce Banner, he escaped, and returned to Latveria. He appears to have been damaged by this experience.

At the start of the story arc Fantastic Four: Three, Doctor Doom felt that he needed to be "reborn" and was making plans to abdicate his throne and give it to Kristoff when Valeria teleported to his room unexpectedly asking for his assistance to help her father. Valeria quickly notices that Doctor 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. Later, Doctor Doom appears among those in attendance at Johnny Storm's funeral.

Due to the agreement, Doctor Doom was recommended by Nathaniel and Valeria Richards to be a member of the Future Foundation. Objecting, Thing attacks Doom out of anger, but the fight was stopped by Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who welcomes Doctor Doom to their group. In a recent issue of the Hulk series, it was revealed that Doom performed brain surgery on Hulk to separate him from Banner, extracting the uniquely Banner elements from Hulk's brain and cloning a new body for Banner, in return for an initially-unspecified favour from the Hulk. However, when Doom demands to keep Banner for his own purposes, the Hulk goes back on the deal and flees with Banner's body, leaving his alter ego in the desert where he was created to ensure that Doom cannot use Banner's intellect.

Fictional character biography

Victor von Doom was born decades ago to a tribe of Latverian gypsies under the rule of an unnamed nobleman called the Baron. Victor's mother was a witch named Cynthia Von Doom who died by Mephisto's hand while Doom was young. Victor's father, Werner, was the leader of the tribe and a renowned medicine man who kept his wife's sorceress life quiet in order to protect Victor from a similar fate. Soon after Cynthia's death, the Baron's wife grew incurably ill from cancer and Werner was called to the capitol to heal her. When she succumbed to illness, the Baron labeled Werner a murderer and called for his death. Werner escaped with young Victor, having realized the night before the woman would die. He goes on to die of exposure on the mountainside, cradling the boy in a final embrace and giving him his garments to keep him warm. Victor survived and, on return to the gypsy camp, discovered his mother's occult instruments and swore revenge on the Baron. Victor grew into a headstrong and brilliant man, combining sorcery and technology to create fantastic devices to keep the Baron's men at bay and protect the gypsies. His exploits attracted the attention of the dean of Empire State University, who sent someone to the camp. Offered the chance to study in the United States, Doom chooses to leave his homeland and his love, Valeria, behind. Once in the United States, Victor met fellow student and future nemesis Reed Richards, who was intended to be his roommate, but Doom disliked him and asked for another roommate. After a time, Victor constructed a machine intended to communicate with the dead. Though Richards tried to warn him about a flaw in the machine, seeing his calculations were a few decimals off, Victor continued on with disastrous results. The machine violently failed and the resulting explosion seemingly severely damaged his face. It is later revealed that Ben Grimm, a friend of Richards who despised Victor for his superior attitude, tampered with the machine. He would later blame himself for Doom's eventual rise to power, but never revealed this information to anyone. Expelled after the accident, Victor traveled the world until he collapsed on a Tibetan mountainside. Rescued by a clan of monks, Victor quickly mastered the monks' disciplines as well as the monks themselves. Victor then forged himself a suit of armor, complete with a scowling mask, and took the name Doctor Doom. As Doom, he would go on to menace those he felt responsible for his accident—primarily, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. He succeeded in taking over Latveria, taking an interest in the welfare of the Roma.

In his first appearance, Doom travels back in time to steal the enchanted treasure of Blackbeard and conquer the world, but he is fooled by Reed Richards, who swaps the treasure with worthless chains. Returning to Earth after learning the secrets of an advanced alien race, Doom exchanges consciousnesses with Mr. Fantastic; Richards, inhabiting Doom's body, switches the two back, and Doom ends up trapped in a micro-world. Doom takes over the micro-world and returns before being thrown into space. Doom is saved by Rama-Tut, and he returns to Earth to destroy the Fantastic Four by turning each member against the other using a special berry juice. Richards outwits Doom by using the hallucinogenic juice against the villain. Doom, believing he has killed Richards in a test of willpower, departs certain of his victory and superior intelligence.

During the 1960s, Doom tricks Spider-Man into joining forces with him, and he also menaces the Avengers when Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch travel to Latveria to find a long-lost relative. He steals the Silver Surfer's powers in 1967, but he loses them after breaching a barrier Galactus set for the Surfer on Earth.

During the 1970s, Doom branched out to more Marvel titles, with a battle between Doom and Prince Rudolfo over control of Latveria being featured in Astonishing Tales. Doom also attempts to use the Hulk as his slave during two issues of The Incredible Hulk. The character also made several appearances in the story arcs of Super-Villain Team-Up, starting in 1975, as well as appearances in Marvel Team-Up, beginning with issue #42 (February 1976). In August 1981, Doctor Doom also made an appearance in Iron Man when the two travel to Camelot where Stark thwarted Doom's attempt to solicit the aide of Morgan le Fay and Doom swore deadly vengeance for that interference, which had to be indefinitely delayed in the interest of returning to the present day.

During John Bryne's run in the 1980s, Doom attempts to steal the cosmic powers of Terrax, but Doom's body is destroyed in the resulting fight between Terrax and the Silver Surfer. Doom survives by transferring his consciousness to another human, and is returned to his original body by the Beyonder.

In the 2000s, Doom rediscovered his mystical heritage, using his powers in an attempt to destroy the Fantastic Four after making a deal with a group of demons called the Hazarath Three, but later is consigned to a hell dimension after Richards manages to trick him into rejecting the idea that the demons aided him. He escapes and attempts to claim Thor's mystical hammer Mjolnir for himself, after the rift the hammer created as it fell to Earth following the destruction of Asgard allowed him to escape. The plot fails due to his inability to lift the hammer, and Doom returns to Latveria to rule once again.

Later, a Doombot was taken down by Reed Richards, Henry Pym, Iron Man, She-Hulk and others in New York City. Whether or not it was sent by Doom himself remains to be seen, as does his role in the overall conflict. Doom was not invited to the wedding of Storm and the Black Panther. However, he did send a present: an invitation to form an alliance with Latveria, using the Civil War currently going on among the hero community as a reason to quite possibly forge an alliance between their two countries. When Black Panther, on a diplomatic mission to other countries with Storm, did show up in Latveria, he presented them with a real present, and extended another invitation to form an alliance with Black Panther. He demonstrated behavior very uncharacteristic of him, however, which may or may not become a plot point later. Panther spurned the invitation, detonating an EMP that blacked out a local portion of Latveria before Doom's robots could destroy his ship. Later on, Doctor Doom is then shown collaborating with the Red Skull on a weapon which will only "be the beginning" of Captain America's suffering. Doctor Doom gave the Red Skull the weapon because the Red Skull gave Victor pieces of technology from an old German castle. The castle was owned by a "Baron of Iron" centuries prior, who had used his technological genius to protect himself and his people. The map the Red Skull used to find the castle bore a picture of Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom states that the technology the Red Skull gave him is more advanced than what he currently has, and that he will become the Baron of Iron in his future. The Red Skull is currently in the process of reverse-engineering Doom's weapon for multiple uses, rather than the single use Doom agreed to.

At the end of the first chapter of the X-Men event Endangered Species, Doctor Doom is among the supervillain geniuses that Beast contacts to help him reverse the effects of Decimation. He spurns Beast by stating that genetics do not number among his talents.

In Spider-Man: One More Day, Doctor Doom was among those that Spider-Man contacts to help save Aunt May.

Doctor Doom also makes Latveria into a refugee camp for the Atlanteans following the destruction of their underwater kingdom as well as becoming allies with Loki in his plot to manipulate Thor into unwittingly release his Asgardian enemies.

Doctor Doom later defends Latveria from the Mighty Avengers, following a revelation that it was one of Doctor Doom's satellites that carried the 'Venom Virus' released in New York City. In a battle with Iron Man and the Sentry, the time travel mechanism within his armor overloads, trapping Doom and his opponents at some point in the past. Doctor Doom continues a relationship with Morgan le Fay using his time machine. He and Iron Man managed to get back to the present, but Doctor Doom has left Iron Man in his exploding castle. Despite this, Doctor Doom ended up incarcerated at The Raft.

During the Secret Invasion storyline, Doctor Doom was among the villains who escaped the Raft when a virus was uploaded into its systems by the Skrulls.

In the aftermath of the Secret Invasion, Doctor Doom is a member of the Dark Illuminati alongside Norman Osborne, Emma Frost, Namor, Loki's female form, and Hood. At the end of this meeting, Namor and Doctor Doom are seen having a discussion of their own plans that have all ready been set in motion.

Doom soon allies himself 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. Doom's main objective was to secure Wakanda's store of vibranium, which he could mystically enhance to make himself unstoppable. Doom was also a part of the supervillain group known as the Intelligencia, but was betrayed when they captured him to complete their plan. With the help of Bruce Banner, he escaped, and returned to Latveria. He appears to have been damaged by this experience.

At the start of the Siege storyline, Doctor Doom is with the Cabal discussing the current problems with the X-Men and both Avengers teams. Doom demands that Osborn at once reverse his course of action against his ally Namor, to which Osborn refuses, saying that he and Emma Frost had "crossed the line" with him. Doom, loathing Thor and the Asgardians all the more due to his recent defeat at their hands, claims that he will support Osborn's "madness" should Namor be returned to him, but Osborn refuses. Osborn's mysterious ally, the Void, violently attacks Doctor Doom, and an apparently amused Loki tells the Hood that he should go, as there is nothing here for either of them, which the Hood, now loyal to Loki due to his hand in the restoration of his mystical abilities, agrees. However, it is revealed that "Doom" is actually an upgraded Doombot, which releases swarms of Doombot nanites against the Cabal, tearing down Avengers Tower and forcing its denizens, such as the Dark Avengers, to evacuate. Osborn is rescued by the Sentry, who destroys the body. When Osborn contacts Doom, Doom tells him not to ever strike him again or he is willing to go further.

It has been revealed that the Scarlet Witch seen in Wundagore Mountain is actually a Doombot which apparently means that the real one has been captured by Doom sometime after the House of M event. It is revealed that Wanda's enhanced powers were a result of her and Doctor Doom's combined attempt to channel the Life Force in order to resurrect her children. This proves to be too much for Wanda to contain and it overtook her. With Wiccan and Doctor Doom's help, they seek to use the entity that is possessing Wanda to restore mutantkinds' powers. This is stopped by the Young Avengers (who are concerned at the fall-out that would ensue if the powerless mutants are suddenly repowered) only to find out Doom's real plan: to transfer the entity into his own body and gaining Wanda's god-like powers for himself. Doctor Doom becomes omnipotent with powers surpassing those of beings as the Beyonder or the Cosmic Cube. The Young Avengers confront him, but Doctor Doom kills Cassie just before Wanda and Wiccan stole his new-found powers.

At the start of the story arc Fantastic Four: Three, Doctor Doom felt that he needed to be "reborn" and was making plans to abdicate his throne and give it to Kristoff when Valeria teleported to his room unexpectedly asking for his assistance to help her father. Valeria quickly notices that Doctor 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. Later, Doctor Doom appears among those in attendance at Johnny Storm's funeral.

Due to the agreement, Doctor Doom was recommended by Nathaniel and Valeria Richards to be a member of the Future Foundation. Objecting, Thing attacks Doom out of anger, but the fight was stopped by Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who welcomes Doctor Doom to their group. When Valeria asks Doctor Doom if he has a backup for restoring his memories, he reveals that Kristoff Vernard is his backup. Afterward, Mr. Fantastic, Spider-Man, Nathaniel, Valeria, and Doctor Doom head to Latveria to meet with Kristoff and request his help. Mister Fantastic sets up a brain transfer machine in order to help restore Doctor Doom's memories and knowledge, which is successful. When Kristoff wants to return the throne to him, Doctor Doom states that it is not time yet because of a promise he made to Valeria. When Mister Fantastic asks what promise Doctor Doom made to Valeria, Doctor Doom states that he made a promise to help defeat Mister Fantastic. Doctor Doom decides to hold a symposium on how to finally defeat Reed Richards. The Thing and the evolved Moloids give an invitation to the High Evolutionary. Dragon Man and Alex Power give an invitation to Diablo. Upon receiving an invitation from Spider-Man, Mad Thinker is convinced to take part in the event. Bentley 23 even gives an invitation to his creator, the Wizard, along with two A.I.M. lieutenants. However, it is subsequently revealed that the 'Richards' they have been invited to defeat are actually members of the "Council of Reeds" (alternate versions of Reed who were trapped in this universe by Valeria a while back, possessing Reed's intellect while lacking his conscience). While Spider-Man and Invisible Woman make sandwiches for the kids, Mister Fantastic, Doctor Doom, Valeria, and Nathaniel Richards meet with the supervillain geniuses and Uatu the Watcher about what to do with the Council of Reeds.

The child members of the Future Foundation use the panic room system to teleport themselves the top of the Baxter Building to near Latveria where they help Nathaniel Richards, Kristoff Vernard, Alpha-Reed Richards, and Doctor Doom to rebuild the Bridge so that the Alpha-Reed Richards can return home. The Mad Celestials from Earth-4280 try to enter Earth through the Bridge in order to destroy it. Doctor Doom and Alpha-Reed Richards tried to stop them although Alpha-Reed Richards was killed using the Ultimate Nullifier while Doctor Doom was apparently killed by the Mad Celestials.

Doctor Doom managed to return to his Earth and Latveria. Unbeknownst to Doctor Doom, Lucia von Bardas and Red Ghost plan to use KGB super-spies (which had been previously in suspended animation) in a plot to kill Doctor Doom.

Powers and abilities

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Doctor Doom steals the Silver Surfer's powers in Fantastic Four #57 (1966). Art by Jack Kirby.

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 Doom at the time professed to be unable to do.

Doom has constructed numerous devices in order to defeat his foes or gain more power, including a time machine, a device to imbue people with superpowers, and numerous robots; Doom's calculating and strategic nature leads him to use "Doombots," exact mechanical replicas of the real Doctor Doom, for many missions, typically those where he fears defeat. Sometimes the Doombots even believe themselves to be Doctor Doom. The character 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.

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 his abilities were consistently referred to as minor, with assistance from his technology and by tag-teaming with Doctor Strange, Doom managed to come second in a magic tournament held by the ancient sorcerer the Aged Genghis.

The alien Ovoids taught Doom the process of psionically transferring his consciousness into another nearby being through a simple eye contact, as well as showing him other forms of technology which Doom uses to escape from incarcerations and to avoid getting killed; however, if his concentration is broken, it can transfer his mind back, and he rarely uses this power unless absolutely necessary due to his own ego about his appearance.

Doom can exert technopathic control over certain machines, most notably, the Doombots. In addition, 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 resists.

Without his armor he proved himself to be a skilled bare-handed fighter, even capable of killing a lion.

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. The armor can generate a defensive force field and a lethal electric shock killing anyone who might come in contact with 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.

Doom is known for the frequent plot device wherein it is revealed that his actions were actually those of a "Doombot", one of Doom's many robot doubles, either working on his behalf or as a result of rogue artificial intelligence.

On many occasions, Doom's only real weakness has been shown to be his arrogance, Layla Miller once reflecting that Doom is incapable of accepting that he himself might be the reason for his failures, as most keenly reflected in Doom's continued inability to accept that he himself was responsible for the accident that scarred his face, preferring to blame Reed Richards for sabotaging his experiment rather than accept that his calculations were wrong. While his high opinion of himself is generally accurate, he is notably generally unable to accept when others may have a better understanding of a situation than he does – although he has been noted to have enough respect for heroes such as Reed Richards or the Thing to at least listen to their recommendations about threats that he himself has not encountered rather than dismiss them instantly – and even when forced to team up with others to defeat a greater threat Doom has been shown to be willing to try to gain a personal advantage when the more expedient course of action would be to stick to the plan and try for greater rewards later, such as when he tried to steal the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos during the heroes' initial assault against the Titan rather than adhere to Adam Warlock's plan of attack and attempt to acquire the Gauntlet after Thanos had been defeated.

Doom adheres to a strict code of honor at all times. 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, 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.

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.

Other versions

Main article: Alternative versions of Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom's status as one of the Fantastic Four's greatest villains has led to his appearance in many of Marvel's alternate universes and spinoffs, in which the character's history, circumstances and behavior vary from the mainstream setting.

In other media

Doctor Doom has been included in almost every media adaptation of the Fantastic Four franchise, including film, television, and computer and video games.

Television

• Dr. Doom's first animated appearance was in 1966 on the Sub-Mariner's segment of The Marvel Super Heroes.

• Doom subsequently appeared in several episodes of Hanna-Barbera's Fantastic Four series from 1967, where he was voiced by Joseph Sirola.

• In 1978, Dr. Doom appeared in two episodes of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' The New Fantastic Four voiced by John Stephenson.

• Perhaps most significantly, Dr. Doom appeared in no less than six episodes of the 1981 Spider-Man series produced by Marvel Productions. Voiced by Ralph James (with heavy modulation akin to Darth Vader), the latter five episodes, written by Larry Parr, comprised a complete story arc, and four of them were at one point edited together into an animated feature.

• In The Fantastic Four (1994–1996), he was voiced by John Vernon and Neil Ross in season one and by Simon Templeman in season two. In "Mask of Doom," he captured the Fantastic Four and forced Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, and the Thing to go back in time and obtain an object for him. In "Silver Surfer and the Return of Galactus," he steals the Silver Surfer's powers and destroy the Fantastic Four, but is tricked by the FF (who are in the fantastic car with the Silver Surfer) to follow them to outer space, but due to Galactus' decree that the Silver Surfer may not surf the cosmos ever again is thwarted by the planet devourer himself and the Power Cosmic is returned to the Surfer. In "And a Blind Man Shall Lead Them," he struck at a powerless FF and had his hands crushed by the Thing. In "Nightmare in Green," he directed the Hulk to attack the team. In "Doomsday," he again acquired the Power Cosmic in the series finale. Once again, he is tricked into going to outer space, only to hit the barrier that prevents the Silver Surfer from leaving Earth.

• Simon Templeman reprised his role for guest appearances in two episodes of The Incredible Hulk (1996–1997), in which Doom held Washington, D.C. captive, only to be defeated by She-Hulk, whom he later attempted to claim revenge upon. With his appearance on this show, it can be assumed that Doom survived the fate he met on the Fantastic Four series, if both shows are to be considered within the same continuity.

• Tom Kane took over voicing the character for a three-part guest spot in the final season of Spider-Man (1994–1998), re-imagining Doom's role in the Secret Wars. In the third part of the episode, Doom turned part of the alien world he was on into "New Latveria" after overthrowing Doctor Octopus and renaming Octavia "New Latveria". However, he did not use his ruling powers to oppress, and allowed the aliens in his country to live in peace and harmony, protecting them from the other villains. He even kidnapped the Thing only to cure him of his deformity, turning him back to Ben Grimm, and healed his own face as an afterthought. With Ben's cooperation, he then stole the powers of the Beyonder, and with this newfound power, Doctor Doom sent the other villains back to Earth and almost killed the superheroes that Ben fought along with. However, he proved unable to control the power fully, his nightmares and subconscious fears spawning monsters that constantly attacked New Latveria. The Thing turned Doom's weapon on him, and the powers of the Beyonder were returned to the mystic figure himself. Doom was then returned to Earth with no memory of these events (as well as, presumably, his scarred face), along with every other villain and superhero apart from Spider-Man.

• Doctor Doom is the main antagonist of Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes voiced by Paul Dobson. In the pilot, "Doomsday", he is revealed to have diplomatic immunity as a head of state, which means the American police cannot place him under arrest. In one episode where in one of his experiments his mind gets put into Reed Richards body, and vice versa, more is revealed about Doom's life and ruling attitude. Doom (with Richards' mind) is now considerably more polite and respectful of others. Reed also commands the Doombots to destroy themselves as "word of Doom is law", and releases the face mask. Though the viewer is not shown Doom's face, when Reed and Doom return to their proper bodies, Richards tells Doom that Doom's insecurity, in particular about his personal appearance, is his greatest adversary. In another episode, an alternative timeline version of Doom is shown, without his mask. In a latter episode Doom uses a variation of Iron Man's armor. In the final episode, "Doom's Word Is Law", Doom is apparently killed when a self-destructing Doombot blows up his castle. Here Doom's Doombots are not robot doubles but his foot soldiers. As a result of fighting the Fantastic Four, Doom has equipped them with weapons suited to each member. (i.e. an ice cannon for the Human Torch, etc.)

• Doctor Doom appears as the primary antagonist in the first season of The Super Hero Squad Show voiced by Charlie Adler. He is after the Infinity Sword and has enlisted a number of villains to help him obtain it.

• Doctor Doom first appears in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "The Might of Doom" voiced by Christopher Britton. In this show, Doctor Doom's armor was declared so advanced that Tony stated it made his armor "look like a toaster with arms." The background and basis of the character is vastly different from his printed page version. Here, Victor Von Doom is a member of the royal family of Latervia (not a gyspy), he was married, his scarring accident happened in Latveria (not at ESU with Reed Richards intervening) and resulted in him killing the ruling portion of his family thus inheriting the throne (not overthrowing the reigning Prince Zorba) and he has rarely visited the USA (unlike printed page Doom who has a scaled down version of his Castle Doom as his embassy in the USA). No mention of the Fantastic Four are made in this episode regarding Doom's background. Doctor Doom appeared in New York to meet up with Obadiah Stane, in order to obtain the armor specifications from stolen Iron Man files, and in return would improve Stane's "Monger Core" generator. After the retrieval of the specs occurred, Doom fought Iron Man and put him into a three-hour deep sleep, also beating War Machine. After the core was upgraded, Doctor Doom activated a timer that would first have the generator absorb all the energy in New York then expel it in one enormous blast. Iron Man, however was able to stop the timer, angering Doctor Doom. War Machine landed Doctor Doom's plane, who returned the favor by nearly defeating the two armored heroes in a two-on-one battle. During the battle between Iron Man and Doctor Doom following War Machine's retreat, Doctor Doom prepares to invoke the magic of Dormammu to defeat Iron Man. Just then, S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives to end the fight as its agents escort Doctor Doom back to Latveria as Doctor Doom vows to fight Iron Man again. As Doctor Doom is given a ride back to Latveria, Nick Fury then states to Iron Man that they have been keeping an eye on Doctor Doom even though he has diplomatic immunity and then quotes "Son, we know all about Doom. When he makes a mistake, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be there to take him down." It is later revealed by Pepper Potts to Tony that Doctor Doom's armor was based on Makluan technology. In "Doomsday," Doctor Doom finds the temple of the 9th Makluan Ring and manages to defeat its guardian Grey Gargoyle just as Mandarin and Howard Stark arrive. Doctor Doom uses the 9th Makluan Ring to cause strange phenomena around the world. When Iron Man and Mandarin arrive, they end up in a death trap which they get out of until they encounter Doctor Doom. Iron Man demands that Doctor Doom tells him that he hands Howard Stark to him. Doctor Doom uses the 9th Makluan Ring and ends up attacking Iron Man and Mandarin. When Iron Man gives Mandarin one of his rings, they do a combination attack on Doctor Doom (which turned out to be a Doombot with a fake Makluan Ring). Upon finding a secret chamber in Castle Doom, they find Howard Stark in a cube cell only to be attacked and imprisoned by Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom mentions that he has tapped into the 9th Makluan Ring which can create wormholes. Doctor Doom then uses the 9th Makluan Ring to summon Yogthul and give him Iron Man, Mandarin, and Howard Stark in exchange to be reunited with his family. Yogthul declares that Mandarin is not a pure soul and ends up rescinding his deal with Doctor Doom. When Iron Man and Mandarin escape from Yogthul's dimension, they end up fighting Doctor Doom again. Howard Stark then turns on the electricity to shock Doctor Doom as Mandarin claims the 9th Makluan Ring from him. Iron Man then traps Doctor Doom in Yogthul's dimension.

• Doctor Doom appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Lex Lang. Doctor Doom was first mentioned in the episode "The Breakout" Pt. 1, during which Lucia von Bardas makes a trade with A.I.M on Doom's behalf. He made his first physical appearance in the season 2 premiere, "The Private War of Doctor Doom" where Doctor Doom sends Lucia von Bardas and an army of Doombots to attack the Avengers Mansion and the Baxter Building which ended with the capture of Invisible Woman and Wasp. Doctor Doom had Invisible Woman and Wasp placed in a special machine as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four make their way towards Latveria. During the fight, Invisible Woman and Wasp are freed and the machine is destroyed enabling the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to retreat. In the final scene, Doctor Doom was going over the data he had received from the machine where he learns that Invisible Woman was actually a Skrull imposter the whole time. In episode "Infiltration", Doctor Doom returns where he hands Iron Man a chip with the ability to scan human beings to see if they are Skrulls or not. He then leaves opting not to take part in the eventual rebellion against the full-scale invasion. He also appeared in the episode "Emperor Stark" where he was seen battling Thor and Iron Man drones under the control of the Purple Man. The outcome of the battle is never stated or shown.

• Doctor Doom appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Doomed" voiced by Maurice LaMarche. Spider-Man, Power Man, Iron Fist, Nova, and White Tiger head to Latveria in order capture Doctor Doom and prove themselves to Nick Fury. Spider-Man and the other heroes managed to defeat Doctor Doom and bring him to Nick Fury. It turns out that it was a Mark 6 Hoberman Doombot (which contained small models of it in its compartments) modeled after Doctor Doom that allowed to be captured so that it could destroy the Helicarrier. Spider-Man and the team were able to destroy the Doombot before it destroyed the Helicarrier's fusion core. The real Doctor Doom leaves a transmission that he has scanned their strengths and weakness and will be ready for them if they ever return to Latveria. In "Beetle Mania," S.H.I.E.L.D. security footage shows Beetle making a deal with Doctor Doom. In "Not a Toy," Doctor Doom gets ahold of Captain America's shield when it is accidentally thrown off the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and goes right through the window of the Latverian Embassy as Spider-Man tries to claim that it's a replica. Doctor Doom doesn't buy it and launches a heat-seeking Doom Missile. When Captain America learns that Doctor Doom has his shield, he and Spider-Man begin to infiltrate the Latverian Embassy where Captain America suspects that Doctor Doom might reverse-engineer his shield to reinforce his armor or any weapon. After fighting past the Doom Dogs and Doombots, Captain America and Spider-Man make their way towards Doctor Doom as he is studying Captain America's shield where they find that Doctor Doom has been using the Latverian Embassy for some invasion and that Captain America's shield is escaping to Latveria in his jet. Upon defeating the Doom Dogs, Captain America and Spider-Man land on Doctor Doom's jet as he ends up attacking them. Spider-Man crashes Doctor Doom's jet into the park. Spider-Man states that Doctor Doom was taking over the world as Doctor Doom states that he plans to remake North America. Doctor Doom attacks them as Spider-Man claims they were stalling just as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier arrives. Although Doctor Doom is taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D., he claims that his Embassy Officials will have him out by sundown. Doom is later stated to have been deported back to Latveria.

• Doctor Doom will appear in Avengers Assemble. Maurice LaMarche will reprise his role from Ultimate Spider-Man.

Film

• Doctor Doom is the main antagonist of the unreleased film based on the Fantastic Four, which was produced by Roger Corman in 1994. In it, Doom (portrayed by Joseph Culp) was a college classmate of Reed Richards who was nearly killed in an accident when both he and Reed try to capture the power of a comet called the Colossus.

• Doctor Doom is the main antagonist of the 2005 film Fantastic Four played by Julian McMahon. In the film Doctor Doom seems to be more based on his Ultimate counterpart. Victor Von Doom is a science colleague and also a rival to Reed Richards. Victor was in the spaceship with Fantastic Four who was also exposed to the cosmic dust cloud. As a result, he started transforming into an iron humanoid, capable of controlling electricity. Adopting a metal mask and a suit of armor, calling himself "Doom". He kidnapped Reed Richards and froze him, but The Thing stopped him and all four burned him down and froze him with water. In the final part of the film he was transported to Latveria.

• Doctor Doom returns as the main antagonist of the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with McMahon reprising the role. With Doom having been 'reawakened' after the residual energy of the Surfer passing over Latveria revived him, he attempted to form an alliance with the Surfer, only for the Surfer's subsequent attack to heal Doom's scars and skin damage, although he ultimately retained his electric powers. Deceiving both the Four and the military, he pretends to help them capture the Surfer, only to don a suit of armor and a new mask (both closer resembling his usual appearance) before taking control of the Surfer's board. After flying around and battling the Four in their Fantasticar, they end up in Shanghai, where he impales Sue with a metal spear. After her brief death, Johnny absorbs the powers of the other three heroes (effectively becoming a version of Super-Skrull) and battles Doom, separating him from the board. Ben then comes from behind with a crane and sends Doom flying into a nearby harbor. His fate after this is unknown, but he is assumed dead.

Video games

Doctor Doom faces off against Magneto in the 1995 fighting game Marvel Super Heroes.

• Doctor Doom has appeared in several Marvel Comics videogames'. He was the final boss in the 1989 computer game Spider-Man and Captain America in Doctor Doom's Revenge.

• He appeared as the main antagonist in Sega's 1991 Spider-Man arcade game.

• Later, he was featured as a boss character in the Capcom fighting game Marvel Super Heroes (pictured), who only became playable after the game was beaten once and a code was entered. He returned as a selectable character in both Marvel vs. Capcom 2, voiced by an uncredited Lorne Kennedy - where he is particularly notorious for the so-called Strider/Doom trap - and Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, voiced by Paul Dobson.

• He also appeared as a boss in Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems for the Super NES.

• He appeared in the game based upon the 2005 Fantastic 4 movie voiced by Julian McMahon.

• He is an exclusive character for the PSP version of Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

• He was confirmed to be a playable character in Marvel Nemesis 2: Fall of the Imperfects, until the game was canceled.

• In the special edition of Ultimate Spider-Man, the player will view concept art that shows the Beetle presenting the Sandman vial to Doctor Doom after Beetle has evaded Spider-Man.

• Doctor Doom is the main antagonist and final boss of the 2006 multiplatform game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by Clive Revill. He also appears as a playable character in the game's Xbox 360-exclusive downloadable content.

• Doctor Doom appears in the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer video game voiced by Gideon Emery. He plays a bigger role in the game than in the film as after he acquires the Surfer's powers, he intends to use them to fight Galactus and save Earth (though he only does this so he can conquer it afterwards). Unlike the film, he builds a machine to strip Galactus of most of his cosmic power for himself, but the F4 use his machine against him to defeat him.

• A statue of Doctor Doom is seen in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. A dossier on Doom can be found in Latveria.

• Doctor Doom appears in the Marvel Super Hero Squad video game voiced by Charlie Adler. Regular, Ultimate, and Professor versions of Doom appear.

• Doctor Doom appears as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. He is one of the key characters in the game's plot, in which he joins forces with Albert Wesker (from Resident Evil) to unite the Marvel and Capcom worlds so he can conquer both. Paul Dobson reprises his role from World's Greatest Heroes. He reappears as a playable fighter in the updated version of the game, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

• Doctor Doom appears in the Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet video game, again voiced by Charlie Adler.

• Doctor Doom appears as a villain character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online voiced again by Charlie Adler. He also appears as a playable character, in his Future Foundation outfit.

• Doctor Doom appears in the Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat video game, voiced by Charlie Alder.

• Doctor Doom is featured as a boss in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

• Doctor Doom appears as a playable character in the 2012 fighting game Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth.

• Doctor Doom is available as downloadable content for the game LittleBigPlanet, as part of "Marvel Costume Kit 6".

• Doctor Doom will appear as an enemy in the MMORPG Marvel Heroes. Lex Lang reprises his role from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Parodies

• In the South Park episode "Krazy Kripples", Dr. Doom has a brief cameo as part of a version of the Legion of Doom led by Christopher Reeve which includes David Blaine, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Professor Chaos, and General Disarray. He is also parodied as Professor Chaos.

• In the comic series Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, the title character's main antagonist is the would-be world conqueror Ducktor Doom, a duck parody of Doctor Doom.

• In the Duck Dodgers episode "Enemy Yours," the armor that Duck Dodgers wears as the Evil Lord Destructocon is similar to Doctor Doom's armor.

• In the animated series, The Venture Brothers, the character of Baron Underbheit is based on Doctor Doom.

• Julian McMahon voices Doctor Doom in the Robot Chicken episode "Monstourage." When he attacks the city, he attacks a hydrant that douses the Human Torch only to be bound by Mister Fantastic. When Vic Mackey kills Doctor Doom by shooting him in the eye, he claimed that Doctor Doom was resisting arrest.

• On the movie review/podcast website Spill.com, the head member, Korey Coleman, has a cat whom he named "Doctor Doom".

• Doctor Doom once made an appearance in the Marvel Comics-published humor magazine Crazy Magazine, mostly in-character but with several self-referential parodic elements (such as owning a dog with the same armor and hood costume, or a radiator seen inside his mouth on closeup). In the article, he presents a card-based "Game of Death" to be cut out and played by the reader and friends.

• In The Simpsons episode "Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson," Doctor Doom briefly becomes the head of George Washington during one of Homer's rants about the founding principals of the United States of America.

• In Grand Theft Auto IV's spin-off game The Ballad of Gay Tony, the conspiracy-themed radio station W.K.T.T. features a deranged female conspirator who publishes a book about conspiracy theories aimed at children. In it, she mentions "Dr. Doom" as a member of the Illuminati.

Toys

Action Figures

Doctor Doom appeared in the Marvel Secret Wars line of toys, in 1984, with cloak and tunic redesigned based on the comic book. The Secret Wars line of action figures came with a shield with interchangeable art inserts that changed when tilted from one side to the next. The Doctor Doom toy also included a pistol and a rifle. In addition to those accessories, there was also a Doom Cycle, a Doom Chopper, and a Doom Tower/Fortress released concurrently.

Doctor Doom with power driven weapons was part of the Marvel Superheroes line, released by Toy Biz in 1993. Toy Biz also released Dr. Doom with shooting arm action as part of the Fantastic Four collection in 1994. The same figure was released as part of the Marvel Universe line. A deluxe edition Dr Doom, ten inches tall, was released by Toy Biz in 1994. Also in that line were the Human Torch, Silver Surfer, War Machine, Mandarin, and Iron Man. Die-cast Metal Dr Doom appeared from Toy Biz in different versions and combinations in 1995. Toy Biz released Famous Covers Dr Doom in 1998, an 8-inch ulta poseable toy doll with cloth tunic and cape.

Toy Biz released Marvel Legends Dr Doom in Series II, and Series VIII in 2002 and 2004 respectively. Both versions included a castle rampart that could be used as a wall mounted display stand, and a comic book (a reprint of Fantastic Four #247, a classic John Byrne tale). There were versions released in Canada that had a variant gold bordered comic book and were labeled in French and English. There were different versions also released where the face under the removable mask was not horribly scarred, and one where the face was scarred all over. The Series VIII version was a Doombot, and was packaged with a reprint of a Spider-Man comic under the Marvel Age banner. The face under the mask of the Doombot was a robot face.

A Marvel Legends Icons Series Doctor Doom 12-inch figure was released in 2006.

Several versions of Doctor Doom have appeared in Marvel Heroclix from WizKids, including an Ultimate Dr Doom, Dr Doom in leather armor, Kristoff Vernard as Doom, Classic Doctor Doom, Doom 2099, and Secret Wars Dr Doom. There is a Doctor Doom in the Clobberin' Time set, and Dr Doom appeared as part of a Heroclix starter set with the four members of the Fantastic Four and two Doombots in 2008.

Dr. Doom has appeared as part of Marvel Comics Minimates sets, including a Secret Wars Doom, and a Doctor Doom with golden chalice. There is also a version of Doctor Doom with a pistol, and a Doctor Doom without a mask. The latest sets were released in 2009.

A Kubrick Doctor Doom from Medicom was a chase item in Series I in 2002.

There is a Mighty Muggs Dr Doom released in 2009. There is also a Bobblehead Dr Doom.

Doctor Doom is the Black King in a chess set released by Marvel toys.

Marvel Superhero Squad toys include Dr Doom, packaged in the first series with the Invisible Woman. The second wave of figures packaged Doctor Doom with Reptil and appeared in 2009. There was also a Battle for Doom's Castle package released with a third version of Doctor Doom. A fourth version of Doctor Doom was released from Hasbro with and Iron Man and The Mayor as a special edition at the San Diego International Comic Convention in 2010. The SDCC Doctor Doom was featured in a red robe, alligator slippers, and holding a mug of tea and a newspaper.

Several Doctor Doom toys were released from Toy Biz for Marvel in conjunction with the first Fantastic Film in 2005. Those included Dr Doom with traffic Light and Mask, Two-Faced Dr Doom with light and sound rocket launcher, and Electric Power Dr Doom with lightning bolt blast. For the second movie tie-in (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), there was a Slashing Action Dr Doom released in 2007. In addition, there were two versions of Dr Doom that appeared as toys with the Burger King movie promotion. There is also a Marvel Studios 12-inch version of the movie Dr Doom, one with an unmasked face modeled after actor Julian McMahon, who plays Doctor Doom in both movies.

Two versions of Dr Doom appear in the Figure Factory series, a Doom with a hood and one without, released in 2005.

Marvel Selects Dr Doom, with Dr Doom sitting on a thone with flags and optional chalice hand and holster with gun was released in 2005 from Diamond Select Toys and Toy Biz.

Marvel Legends Showdown Dr Doom booster pack was part of assortment 2 released in 2005. It was part of a game that included playing cards, from Toy Biz International.

Marvel Legends Dr Doom was part of the build a figure collection, one of 8 figures needed to build Ronan the Accuser series, released by Hasbro in 2007. The Doctor Doom figure included the cape for Ronan.

Additional toys include Titanium series die-cast Doctor Doom, Micro Machines, released in 2006, has a brown platform that the figure stands on, appearing to be firing weapons from a gold and silver gauntlet. A Marvel Legends Titanium Doctor Doom stands on a round platform like the floor of a castle, and gestures as if daring fools to attack.

Doctor Doom is included in the tiny Handful of Heroes toys released in 2010. There are other smaller PVC versions of Doctor Doom, including one holding a chalice, one pointing to the sky, and a mini-manga type Dr Doom. Two of these were manufactured in Spain, possibly without license. There is also a rubber painted Dr Doom from Brazil.

Doctor Doom was also released under the Marvel Universe line as not a one, but a two-pack along with the Absorbing Man. His only accessory was a pistol. He also came with Secret Wars #10. This figure has been released twice more subsequently. Once as a single pack, painted with a darker shade of green, and most recently in a FF (Future Foundation) themed 2-pack. This 2-pack features Doom in a white cloak and tunic and also features Spiderman in a variation of his FF look. It is exclusive to Toys R Us stores.

Doctor Doom is included in Lego set 76005: Spider-Man: Daily Bugle Showdown, released in 2013. He is pictured sitting in a one-man jet, launching an attack on the Daily Bugle Building. This set also includes Lego versions of Spider-Man, Beetle, Nova and J. Jonah Jameson.

Games

• Doctor Doom was a playable character in the Galactic Guardians set of Marvel Heroclix.

Vehicles

For vehicles, there is a Doctor Doom Hummer from Maisto, a Doctor Doom Corvette track car from Carrera in 2005, and an appropriate Doctor Doom Ambulance Ultimate Marvel die-cast collection car in 2002. An older version Dr Doom driver has Doctor Doom sticking his head out of the sunroof of a buggy-like plastic car. There is also a Buddy L Doctor Doom race car.

Music

American Hip Hop artist Daniel Dumile is known by one of his many stage names as MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for Metal Face Doom due to the Dr.Doom-esque mask that he wears when in character. In addition, Dumile released two albums under the separate stage name Viktor Vaughn, again a clear reference to Dr. Doom's alias Victor Von Doom. In the first album there are many audio tracks that conflate the origin of the Dr. Doom character with Dumile's Viktor Vaughn. Dumile has also notably created acclaimed music with a focus on comic book Villain, i.e. the albums Madvillainy and the Mouse and the Mask.

Another American hip hop artist, Kool Keith released two albums, First Come, First Served and Dr. Dooom 2, under the alias "Dr. Dooom". Although the spelling is different, the influence comes from Dr. Doom.

The Acacia Strain used the title Dr. Doom on its 2008 album, Continent.

Dr. Doom is mentioned in the song "Super Villain" by Powerman 5000.

Cultural impact

In the book Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre, Peter Coogan writes that Doctor Doom's appearance was representative of a change in the portrayal of "mad scientists" to full-fledged villains, often with upgraded powers. Doom is also emblematic of a specific subset of supervillain, which comic book critic Peter Sanderson describes as a "megavillain". These supervillains are genre-crossing villains who exist in adventures "in a world in which the ordinary laws of nature are slightly suspended"; characters such as Professor Moriarty, Count Dracula, Auric Goldfinger, Hannibal Lecter, Lex Luthor and Darth Vader, also fit this description. Sanderson also found traces of William Shakespeare’s characters Richard III and Iago in Doctor Doom; all of them "are descended from the 'vice' figure of medieval drama", who address the audience in monologues detailing their thoughts and ambitions.

Described as "iconic", Doom is one of the most well-received supervillains of the Marvel universe, as well as one of the most recurring; in his constant battles with heroes and other villains, Doom has appeared more times than any other villain. The comics site Panels of Awesome ranked Doom as the number one villain in their listing of the top ten villains in comics; Wizard Magazine went a step further by declaring Doom the fourth greatest villain of all time.

Comic Book Resources ranks Doom as their fourth favorite Marvel character. Journalist Brent Ecenbarger cited him being able to "stand up against entities like Mephisto, the Beyonder, and Galactus and often come out on top", as well as the tragedy of any "other number of circumstances could have led to Doom being a savior, but as it is, instead he remains Marvel’s greatest villain." Fellow journalist Jason Stanhope called his "master[ing] of sorcery and technology an unusual combination", and also felt "his inner sense of nobility sets him apart from lesser villains, in a similar manner to Magneto." Doom has also been favorably regarded by those who wrote for the character; Stan Lee declared Doom his favorite villain, saying "[Doom] could come to the United States and he could do almost anything, and we could not arrest him because he has diplomatic immunity. Also, he wants to rule the world and if you think about it, wanting to rule the world is not a crime." Mark Waid echoed Lee's assessment of the character, stating that Doom "[has] got a great look, a great visual design [and] a dynamite origin."

A ride called Doctor Doom's Fearfall is located at Islands of Adventure in the Universal Orlando Resort.

External links

Doctor Doom at Marvel.com Doctor Doom on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki

• Doctor Doom at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)