Who is Dr Doom?
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #5
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| Fantastic 4 #5 Doom's first appearance |
Victor Von Doom AKA Dr. Doom is one of the most popular and powerful villains in the Marvel Universe. He is created at a special moment in comic's history.
He was designed by comic legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to be a heavy weight villain in 1962. At the time Fantastic Four was blowing up and was pulling away super hero readers from DC. Marvel was beginning to believe they could compete with DC with their own super heroes as opposed to their previous focus on Westerns, Horror, and Dramas. Stan Lee and Kirby's run on Fantastic Four is a historical moment that both creates Marvel as we know it today and also alters the comic landscape forever. They begin to tell stories with more adult themes, more dynamic and deeper characters. They begin to attract the kids who are getting too old for the stories being written by DC and want a little more. Lee and Kirby are eye balling Fantastic Four #5 they do not want to lose the traction they have gained with comic readers and more over if they want to increase the insanity. They decide to create an ultimate villain a real powerhouse that will push the Fantastic Four to their limits both physically and mentally, they create Doctor Doom.
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Doctor Doom mixes magical as well technological elements together opening up a variety of stories that can be told. He is modeled after Death, with a cowl that covers his head, and Steel Mask that is like a skull. The bits of humanity that can be seen beneath his mask from his eye slits remind the reader that he is in fact a man, and give him greater depth of motivation and feeling that non human characters lack. The result of this initial design and subsequent evolutions is that Doctor Doom has become one of the greatest and most dynamic villains of all time.
Doctor Doom is one of the first villains that come to mind when you think of villains. He almost feels more generic now that so many have copied aspects of him. He remains as the ultimate symbol of the evil, megalomaniac, world conquering villain.
Bio:
Victor Von Doom is born to a gypsy family in the country of Latveria. His mother is a powerful sorceress and his father is a leader of the tribe and a healer. Doom's mother dies by being killed by the evil demon Mephisto. His father tries to hide his wife's magic from Doom in the hopes he does not follow her footsteps. The ruler of Latveria is a Baron and he calls on Doom's father to heal his ill wife. Dooms father find the Baron's wife to have incurable cancer and realizes that she will soon die. He prepares to leave with young Victor to escape the Baron's inevitable wrath.
The wife dies and the Baron immediately begins to seek vengeance on the Dooms. Victor's father dies while embracing young Victor, he saves his son but is killed by the elements.
A young Victor Von Doom vows to avenge his parents. He returns home seeking the means to acquire revenge and fatefully discovers the occult items of his mother. He studies the magic of his mother and becomes proficient in magical occult world and a protector of the Latverian gypsies. Combining technology with magic Doom is able to create fantastic devices that keep the Baron's forces away.
Due to his fame in technology Empire State University asks a young Doom to study in the United States. He agrees to the offer and leaves his home and love Valeria behind to learn amongst the best and brightest. He quickly meets Ben Grimm and Reed Richards. He immediately dislikes both of them. Ben Grimm for being a fool, and Reed Richards for being more brilliant than himself. A failed experiment causes Victor to recieves a scar across his face, and he blames the failure on Reed.
Doom leaves the University and travels. Eventually, he lands in a monastery where he conquers the monks and their sciences. He forges a suit of armor and becomes Doctor Doom. He conquers his old homeland of Latveria, and vows to conquer the world.
In no time he once again confronted by his hated rival at Empire University, Reed Richards and the two become Arch-Nemesis.
Fun Facts
- Wizard ranked Doctor Doom as the #4 top villain of all time, IGN ranked him #3.
- Doctor Doom has seemingly been killed a million times but this is often due to his Doombots that take his place as doppelgangers. Doombots are an integral part of his lore and have even at times become characters themselves. One notable Doombot became partially sentient and began kidnapping cyborgs like Michael Peterson / Deathlok and Misty Knight in the hopes of becoming more evolved.
- Doom is a perfectionist and wears a mask to hide a small scar that marks his otherwise handsome face. The scar is from a failed experiment whole failure he blames on Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.
Movies:
Dr. Doom's movie rights are owned by Fox through their Fantastic Four license.
Dr Doom will appear in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot.
I have removed any leaked photos from this post.
Secret Wars:
Identity as Rabum Alal Destroyer of Worlds:
It is revealed that Doctor Doom is Rabum Alal a character that seems to be the main antagonist in the Secret Wars storyline.
Rabum Alal is revealed to be a future version of Doctor Doom who after learning about the incursions and the map makers traveled back in time with the all powerful Molecule Man. Somewhere during this journey Doctor Doom created a defacto religion with the Black Swans a people that worship him. The Black Swans then spread throughout the multiverse looking for worlds to be sacrificed in his name. Black Swan claimed that the incursions began at the birth of Rabum Alal. It is unknown whether she referred to the actual birth of Doctor Doom or when he transitioned from Doctor Doom to Rabum Alal.
Doctor Doom / Rabum Alal Timeline:
In New Avengers #6 Mapmakers who attack and strip mine worlds to remove them to save the universes from Incursions attack Latveria. Doom manages to keep a Mapmaker beacon and has the tinkerer begin studying the device.
In New Avengers #24 Namor comes to ask Doctor Doom to help destroy worlds as part of his replacement for the Cabal group. This is the first time Doom learns of the Incursions and need to destroy worlds. He begins to harness this new information along with what he learned from the Mapmaker beacon to create a new plan.
In New Avengers #29 Doctor Doom and Molecule Man begin to carry out Doom's mysterious plan and travel through the multiverse.
In New Avengers #31 Doctor Doom is revealed to have become Rabum Alal the Destroyer of Worlds during the journey set through the multiverse with the Molecule Man.
All New All Different Marvel Universe:
A new strikingly different Doctor Doom has appeared in the All New All Different Marvel Universe. This one does not where his cowl or mask at all.
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