Doctor Doom in other media

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

Contents

[edit] Television

  • Doom subsequently appeared in several episodes of Hanna-Barbera's Fantastic Four series from 1967, where he was voiced by Joseph Sirola.
  • 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.
  • Dr. Doom's final 1980s animated appearance was in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends voiced by Shepard Menkin. He appeared in an episode entitled "The Fantastic Mr. Frump!"
  • 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 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 to 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, 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.
  • 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
  • Doom is the main villain in the current Fantastic Four animated series, 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, 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.

[edit] Film

[edit] Unreleased film

Doom also was the main villain of a film based on the Fantastic Four, which was produced by Roger Corman in 1994, though never publicly released. 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 Colossus. Reed would tell Doom before the experiment that Doom's calculations were not right and to do a test run of the machine before hand. Doom stated that there wasn't time because the comet was near. Doom's loyal henchmen dressed as doctors would tell Reed that Doom was dead; they would then sneak him out of the hospital back to Latveria. Years later Doom has already taken his armor; Reed would again try harnessing the power of the same comet crossing the Earth's path like before during college by going into space. However, this time he would bring Ben, Sue, and Johnny with him. He would dedicate this mission for Doom, believing his friend was dead. After the Fantastic Four gained their powers, Doom would try to obtain this cosmic power for himself by extracting it out of them. At the film's end, he is left for dead, though his gauntlet is seen moving.

[edit] 2005 Film

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Main article: Fantastic Four (film)

In the 2005 film version of the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom seems to be more based on his Ultimate counterpart. In the film he is a billionaire industrialist, an old college rival of Reed Richards, and suitor of Reed's ex-girlfriend Susan. In addition to funding Richards' trip to space, he also accompanies the future Fantastic Four on the ship. In this newer film, Doctor Doom is played by Julian McMahon (Charmed, Nip/Tuck), and, similar to Ultimate Dr. Doom, receives superpowers in the same accident that creates the Fantastic Four. Here, he is endowed with two abilities by the cosmic rays - exposure to the rays imbues him with electrokinesis, which, similar to his technologically-derived power from the comics, allows him to project bolts of superheated energy, the only difference being that it is derived from the accident in space. Also, an injury caused by a piece of irradiated shrapnel from the shields intended to protect the station embedded in his flesh, is steadily beginning to mutate his body into an organic-metallic compound, also much like his Ultimate version. Dr. Doom accelerates the process to completion by exposing himself to a duplicated version of the cosmic rays. However, this process deforms his face, so Doom angrily dons his familiar mask to hide his face (which is portrayed as a mask given to him by the people of Latveria as shown on a plaque on display in his office/boardroom). In the climax, Dr. Doom's metal body is super-heated and then immediately cooled with water from a fire hydrant, which turns him into an immobile statue. He is later transported back to Latveria via a cargo ship.

[edit] Rise of the Silver Surfer

Main article: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

In Rise of the Silver Surfer, we see Dr. Doom in a coffin, still solidified after his fiery defeat from the first film. After the Silver Surfer flies by on a quick patrol around the Earth, disrupting the energy waves all around him, it inadvertently awakens him. After removing his mask and killing a welder that was trying to separate his face from his body, he hides his horribly scarred face behind a dark green cloaked hood. He begins to study the Silver Surfer in an attempt to steal the extra-terrestrial's vast array of cosmic power. During an encounter with the Surfer, Dr. Doom is hit by one of the Silver Surfer's cosmic bolts and his scarred visage disappears and his previous face is restored, although he retains his electricity-based powers.

He filmed the encounter and goes to the United States military, under the leadership of General Hager with a plan to stop the Surfer's destruction of the Earth. He discovers that the Surfer's power comes from his board. After teaming with the military and the Fantastic Four, they subdue the Surfer with an energy device that separates the silvery menace from his board and capture his board. The five of them accompany General Hager to a Siberian military base. The Fantastic Four are held captive and Doom receives permission to study the cosmic surfboard that is the source for the Surfer's power under Hager's strict supervision. He knocks out all the guards guarding the board and kills General Hager.

He dons a new mask and full-on body armor, along with a dark green leather cloak. Using a tachyon-pulse wrist device that he designed while in Reed Richard's lab, he attaches himself to the surfboard and goes on a rampage throughout the Earth. During a chase with the Four in their new Fantasticar, Reed attempts to tell Dr. Doom that the board is drawing Galactus to Earth and he must get rid of it, but Dr. Doom either disbelieves Reed or simply doesn't care, as he simply says "I've never been the giving kind". After the team crash-land in China, Dr. Doom attempts to kill the Silver Surfer (whose real name is revealed to be Norrin Radd), but Susan steps in with her force shield. Doom throws a spear made from cosmic energy that goes right through the shield and into Sue, killing her, although she is later revived by the Silver Surfer.

Out of options, Reed and Ben, along with Sue, transfer their powers to Johnny who goes to face the cosmically charged Dr. Doom head on with nearly unlimited power; no one of the Four can get close enough to Dr. Doom to stop him, but all of them combined could have a chance. Using Sue's invisibility and his flight powers to get in close to Dr. Doom, as well as the Thing's strength and Mr. Fantastic's flexibility to hold him down, Human Torch swiftly defeats Dr Doom after destroying his tachyon-pulse wrist device (separating him from the surfboard), who is then bashed into the Shanghai River by a human Ben Grimm, who has taken control of a crane. We last see Dr. Doom sinking to the seabed, though his ultimate fate remains open (although Julian McMahon has signed on for another film, possibly indicating a return).

Dr. Doom's appearance is clad in body armor with mystical figures carved into the pieces, and his chest armor has a giant dragon carved into it. He also replaced his cloth green trenchcoat that he lost in the first film with a much darker green leather cape. After taking the Silver Surfer's board, his steel-colored armor turns silver, which seems to be an effect of the board. His powers haven't differed very much from the first chapter as he retains his electric powers, other than the fact that when he acquires the Silver Surfer's cosmically charged board, he has near limitless power (a deleted scene shows that he has also retained his metal body under his skin). Another change to note that makes the character more in line with the comics is in the manner he refers to Reed Richards; while previously referred to as Reed, at the climax of the movie he calls him by his last name, much like his comic counterpart.

[edit] Video games

  • Doctor Doom is the primary antagonist of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Clive Revill. In the game, he attempts (and succeeds) in stealing the power of Odin. To do this, he forms a new Masters of Evil and makes a pact with Mephisto to obtain his Twilight Sword. It was mentioned that Doctor Doom corrupted Medusa when she was looking for the Ultimate Nullifier on Muir Island. While the players were obtaining the Muonic Inducer and the M'Kraan Crystal, Doctor Doom defeated every hero that tried to stop him and discovered that Odin's powers allowed him to corrupt the defeated heroes (such as Hulk, Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops, Gambit, Shadowcat, Colossus, Emma Frost, Psylocke, and Beast in the Doom's Day cutscene) into his dark superhero army, and then used it to corrupt Earth. It was also discovered that he can use the powers of Odin to create evil clones of superheroes out of nothingness resulting in the creations of Dark Captain America, Dark Spider-Man, Dark Thor, and the Dark Fantastic Four. At the end of the game, once the heroes selected by the player of the game beat Doom, the powers of Odin are returned to Thor's father and then Odin strikes a bolt of lightning at Doom, where there is nothing left of the villain but his iron mask. Doom is a playable character downloadable for owners of the Xbox 360 version of the game. If the player uses Doctor Doom and challenges himself in the last level, the game takes a strange but interesting turn. The Doctor Doom that is fought is, in reality, a Doctor Doom from a future in which Ragnarök has occurred, and all the gods of Asgard are dead. Doctor Doom, in an attempt to remedy this, travels to the present to usurp the power of Odin, and in the process, forms the Masters of Evil. However, the Doom from the present notices the presence of Doombots uncontrolled by himself, suspecting Reed Richards or Tony Stark. It is only until he meets his future self that he realizes that it is necessary to defeat the future Doom to keep the world from being destroyed, even though he is not without reluctance of relinquishing command over the power of Odin. This gives a complex and positive vision about the character and shows his high sense of honor.
  • Doctor Doom appears in the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer video game. 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.

[edit] Music

The Rapper MF Doom has used Dr. Doom as a basis for the his persona. On many Doom albums there is audio from the cartoon comic book within in the tracks in his album. Doom (real name Daniel Dumile) was born in England to west Indian island parents and was moved to Brooklyn New York during his childhood. He even wears a metal mask that is almost identical to Dr. Doom's when he performs and has not been photographed without it since he took on the persona of MF Doom. He was originally known as Zev Love X of the early hip hop group KMD. He took on the persona after the death of his twin brother DJ Subroc died and his group broke up and were dropped from their record company.