Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #5 (1962), and has since endured as the archenemy of the superhero team the Fantastic Four.

Victor Werner von Doom is the monarch of the fictional European country of Latveria who uses his mastery of both science and sorcery in pursuit of his goals to bring order to humanity through world domination, and prove his intellectual superiority over Mister Fantastic—his old college rival and the leader of the Fantastic Four. Doom blames Mister Fantastic for his disfigurement, and wears a magically-forged suit of armor with a metal mask and green hooded cloak to conceal his facial scars. Regarded as one of the smartest characters and greatest threats in the Marvel Universe, Doom has stolen the abilities of cosmic beings such as the Silver Surfer and the Beyonder in his lust for power, although his pride and arrogance frequently lead to the failures of his schemes of conquest. Despite this, Doom's diplomatic immunity as ruler of Latveria prevents him from being charged for his crimes. While his primary obsession is the Fantastic Four, Doom has also fought other heroes, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, the X-Men, and the Avengers.

The character has been listed among the greatest comic book villains ever created and adapted in various media incarnations, including films, television series, and video games. Joseph Culp, Julian McMahon, Toby Kebbell, and Robert Downey Jr. have portrayed Doom in live-action.

Publication history

Creation and development

Like many of Marvel's Silver Age characters, Doom was conceived by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. With the Fantastic Four title performing well, Lee and Kirby were trying to dream up a "soul-stirring...super sensational new villain" for the series. Looking for a name, Lee latched onto "Doctor Doom" as "eloquent in its simplicity — magnificent in its implied menace."

Due to the rush to publish, the character was not given a full origin story until Fantastic Four Annual #2, two years after his debut.

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

Kirby further described Doom as being "paranoid", wrecked by his twisted face and wanting the whole world to be like him. Kirby went on to say that "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. Stan Lee's writing typically showed Doom's arrogance as his constant downfall, and how his pride leads to von Doom's disfigurement at the hands of his own machine, and to the failures of many of his schemes.

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

In the book Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre, Peter Coogan writes that Doom's original appearance was representative of a change in the portrayal of "mad scientists" to full-fledged villains, often with upgraded powers. 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, Joker, Lex Luthor, and Darth Vader, also fit this description. Sanderson also found traces of William Shakespeare's characters Richard III and Iago in Doom; all of them "are descended from the 'vice' figure of medieval drama", who address the audience in monologs detailing their thoughts and ambitions.

1980s–1990s

In 1976, Marvel and DC Comics collaborated on Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, and seeking to replicate that success the two companies again teamed the characters in Superman and Spider-Man in 1981. Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter co-wrote the story with Marv Wolfman, and recalled choosing Victor von Doom based on his iconic status: "I figured I needed the heaviest-duty bad guy we had to offer — Doctor Doom. Their greatest hero against our greatest villain."

In 1981 John Byrne began his six-year run writing and illustrating Fantastic Four, sparking a "second golden age" for the title but also attempting to "turn the clock back [...] get back and see fresh what it was that made the book great at its inception." Doctor Doom made his first appearance under Byrne's tenure with issue #236. Whereas Kirby had intimated that Doom's disfigurement was more a figment of Victor's vain personality, Byrne decided that Doom's face was truly ravaged: only Doom's own robot slaves are allowed to see the monarch without his helmet. Byrne emphasized other aspects of Doom's personality; despite his ruthless nature, Victor von Doom is a man of honor. Returning to Latveria after being temporarily deposed, Doctor Doom abandons a scheme to wrest mystical secrets from Doctor Strange to oversee his land's reconstruction. Despite a tempestuous temper, Doom occasionally shows warmth and empathy to others; he tries to free his mother from Mephisto and treats Kristoff Vernard like his own son. Byrne gave further detail regarding Doom's scarring: Byrne introduced the idea that the accident at Empire State University only left Victor with a small scar that was exaggerated into a more disfiguring accident by Doom's own arrogance—by donning his newly forged face mask before it had fully cooled, he caused massive irreparable damage.

After his debut, Doctor Doom remained a key villain in Fantastic Four throughout the 1980s, appearing in titles as Punisher, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Excalibur. During Steven Englehart's run on Fantastic Four, Doom was exiled by his heir, Kristoff, but this storyline was left unresolved when Englehart departed. Walt Simonson's Fantastic Four #350 controversially revealed that the Doom seen during Englehart's arc was a robotic imposter, with the real Doom returning in new armor to reclaim Latveria. Simonson's retcon suggested the last true appearance of Doom was in the "Battle of the Baxter Building," but later writers often disregarded his interpretations, leading to further revisions of Doom's character and history.

2000s–2010s

Mark Waid began to redefine Doctor Doom in the 2003 "Unthinkable" storyline (Fantastic Four vol. 3, #66-70 and #500), where Doom forsakes technology for mysticism. He kills his first love, Valeria, to gain powers from demons and imprisons Franklin Richards in Hell. Doom challenges Reed Richards to escape a magical prison, but with Doctor Strange's help, Richards succeeds, causing Doom to be dragged to Hell. Doom remained there until the 2004 "Ragnarok" storyline in Thor, where Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, provided his escape. In 2005–2006, Doctor Doom starred in the limited series Books of Doom, written by Ed Brubaker. This retelling of his origin explored the early, less-seen parts of Doom's life and questioned whether his path to dictatorship was fated or due to personal faults—a nature versus nurture debate. Brubaker's portrayal was influenced by the original Lee/Kirby version, and he chose not to show Doom's face, following Kirby's example.

In Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #4, the Mighty Avengers invaded Latveria due to Victor's involvement in a chemical bomb plot involving the Venom symbiote, which was actually orchestrated by Kristoff Vernard. In the Siege storyline, Doctor Doom initially supports Norman Osborn's attack on Asgard but later withdraws. He also stars in Doomwar written by Jonathan Maberry, where he allies with the isolationist Desturi to seize control of Wakanda.