Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom on the cover of Fantastic Four #247 (Oct. 1982). Art by John Byrne.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	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
Abilities	Intellect Powered armor Magic Mind transferral

Victor von Doom is a fictional character that appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962). A recurring supervillain, he is the archenemy of the Fantastic Four and leader of the Marvel Universe nation of Latveria. Doom is both a genius inventor and a sorcerer, and has fought numerous other superheroes in his various plots for power and/or revenge over the years. A frequent plot device is to reveal at a story's end that the heroes were actually fighting one of Doom's many robot doubles, either working on his behalf, or a Doombot gone rogue impersonating him.

The character of Doctor Doom has featured in other Marvel-endorsed products such as feature films; video games; television series and merchandise such as action figures and trading cards.

Publication history

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."^[1] Looking for a name, Lee latched onto "Doctor Doom" as "eloquent in its simplicity — magnificent in its implied menace."^[1]

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 in his debut^[1] (except when Reed mentions that he scarred his face while attempting to contact the Netherworld in Reed's university, he was expelled and last heard of searching Tibet for magical secrets) - until two years later in Fantastic Four Annual #2.^[2] Lee established Doom's origins as the son of gypsies, born decades ago in Latveria when it was ruled by an unnamed nobleman called the Baron. Doom's mother was a witch, a fact his father tried to hide from the young boy; when his father is killed by the Baron's men unjustly, Doom discovers his mother's occult instruments and swears revenge on the Baron. Doom grows into a headstrong and brilliant man, who attracts the attention of the dean of Empire State University.^[3] Offered the chance to study in America, Doom leaves his homeland behind and meets a fellow student named Reed Richards, though Doom disregards his peers. Richards tries to warn Doom about continuing a flawed experiment to communicate with the dead, but Doom continues on; the resulting explosion severely damages Doom's face.^[3] Expelled after the accident, Doom travels the world, eventually being found by a clan of monks in Tibet. Mastering the monks' disciplines, he becomes their master and forges himself a suit of armor, complete with a mask that can only be removed by him.^[3] Doom then returns to menace those he feels are responsible for his accident — including Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.

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."^[4] Kirby further described Doom as being "paranoid", wrecked by his twisted face and wanting the whole world to be like him.^[4] 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."^[5] At one point in the Seventies, Kirby drew his interpretation of what Doom would look like under the mask, giving Doom only "a tiny scar on his cheek."^[6] Due to this slight imperfection, Doom hides his face not from the world, but from himself.^[6] 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.^[5] 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.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.^[9] Doom also attempts to use the Hulk as his slave during two issues of The Incredible Hulk.^[10] 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). Doom's origin was further elaborated on; a childhood companion, Valeria, was introduced and it was established Cynthia von Doom had sold her soul to Mephisto.^[11]

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."^[12]

The same year saw John Byrne began his six-year run writing and illustrating Fantastic Four in 1981, sparking a "second golden age" for the title^[13] but also attempting to "turn the clock back [...] get back and see fresh what it was that made the book great at its inception."^[14] Doom made his first appearance under Byrne's tenure with issue #236.^[15] 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.^[16] Byrne also emphasized other aspects of Doom's personality; despite his ruthless nature, Doom is a man of his word.^[17] However, some stories reveal he actually doesn't care about his devoted people of Latveria^[18] (though they think he does) or his henchmen;^[19] 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.^[16] 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.^[16] 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; when Doom puts on the armor forged for him when it had yet to cool, however, he truly damages his face.^[20]

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^[21] 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^[22].

Modern depictions

In 2003, Doom was the sole 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, Doom hates Richards for knowing at his core he was right when Doom was wrong.^[23][24] Waid was also convinced that the "truism that Victor Von Doom is, despite his villainy, a noble man" (as suggested in 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."^[24]

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. He has spent millions searching the globe, and is now traveling incognito in a Georgia tourist trap, patronizing one charlatan psychic after another, until he finally finds a genuine scryer to show him Valeria's house. He comes to her without his armor, dressed only in a well-tailored Armani-style suit, wearing only a simple face mask, his hair thick and healthy as in his youth. He tells her that the character of Doctor Doom "isn't here. And he need never be seen again." He offers to relinquish all his power, his armored image of invincibility, to relinquish science in all its forms, if necessary. He finally even removes the face mask, to make himself appear vulnerable to her. The fact that she does not recoil in disgust proves to Victor, and convinces Valeria, that she has some spark of love for him still. With language like "save me" and "Your love will make me a changed man", Valeria is tempted, and smiles. She agrees only that there is "a chance" for them, and allows him to place a locket around her neck. Unfortunately, this is enough agreement to doom her to be Victor's sacrifice to a trio of demons. He has promised the nether-world creatures something "of indescribable value, irreplaceable" in exchange for the sorcery powers he would have had if he had not chosen to focus on science while still a teenager. Valeria's love, after so many decades and such effort to find and convince her, is that irreplaceable sacrifice. In great pain, her skin is tanned and then flayed alive, by evil forces. The demons, presumably, get her innocent (or, at least, loving) soul, and Victor gets to wear her skin as a suit of leather armor, greatly augmenting his newly-found magical prowess, which the demons have gifted him with in return for Valeria's soul. As she is dying painfully, Doom explains how nothing he said was a lie—just horrifyingly misleading. This is but the first chapter of the Unthinkable story arc, where he captures the Fantastic Four and traps Franklin Richards in Hell, merely giving Reed Richard a chance to escape by locking him up with his books of magic because he believes that Reed will never be able to use them. Fortunately, with the aid of Doctor Strange's astral form- Doom having previously trapped Strange's body to stop him interfering-, Reed is able to master magic by accepting that he can't rationalise it, allowing him to trick Doom into angering the demons and provoking them into drawing Doom into Hell, although Doom scars Reed's face by grabbing it with a heated gauntlet before he is dragged into Hell.

In 2005 and 2006, Doom was featured in his own limited series, Books of Doom, a retelling of the origin story by Ed Brubaker.^[25] 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.^[26] 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."^[25]

After an elaborate series of events, Dr. Doom finds his way to the last spot where ley lines remain from the passing of the Infinity Gems. Here he makes a wish, to eliminate what he calls the greatest obstacle he has ever faced, and the greatest enemy he has ever known: his own guilt. With it gone he says, there is nothing to stop him from being Victor Von Doom.^[27]

The Mighty Avengers invaded Latveria, Doom's nation, due to his involvement in creating a chemical bomb that would infect people with the symbiote. Due to Ultron's interference, the bomb was dropped on Manhattan. 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. The Sentry is able to do whatever he wants due to the fact that everyone’s memory of him will be erased anyway. They escape, and arrest Doom for terrorist crimes against humanity after a brief struggle.

During Dark Reign when Norman Osborn is in charge, Doom is released and sent back to Latveria. However, Morgan le Fay engages him in a magical battle, which he is losing until the Dark Avengers rescue him. He then magically rebuilds his kingdom.^[28]

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.

Powers and abilities

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

Doctor Doom is a polymath scientific genius, depicted constructing 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.^[16] 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 Beyonder. Doctor Doom also possesses considerable mystical capabilities due to teachings from Tibetan monks, and tutoring from his lover Morgan Le Fey. He is capable of energy projection, creating protective shields, and summoning hordes of demonic creatures.^[29] The alien Ovoids taught Doom the process of psionically transferring his consciousness into another nearby being through a simple eye contact^[30][31], which Doom uses to escape from incarcerations and to avoid getting killed.^[32][33] 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.

Doom's armor augments his natural physical strength to superhuman levels and is highly resistant to harm, at one point even surviving heat levels equal to that of the sun. In addition, the armor can generate a defensive force field ^[34] and a lethal electric shock killing anyone who might come in contact with Doom.^[34] 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 and total control of the nation's natural and technological resources, as well as its manpower, economy, and military.

In 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 time and space to get back to 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.

Other versions

Doctor Doom's status as one of the Fantastic Four's greatest villains^[8] 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. He was also the only villain other than Kingpin to appear in more than one episode.

• 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!"

• 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 tries to steal Galactus' powers, only to be thwarted by the planet devourer himself. In "And a Blind Man Shall Lead Them," he struck at a powerless FF and had his hand 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 tries to go after Galactus 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 the character for a three-part guest spot in the final season of Spider-Man (1994–1998), reimagining 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.

• Doom is the main villain in 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, 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.

• Doctor Doom appears as the principal villain in 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.^[35]

• Doctor Doom will appear in the upcoming second season of the show Iron Man: Armored Adventures.^[36]

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

• 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.

Film

Doctor Doom is the main villain from 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 Colossus. He is also the main antagonist in the 2005 film Fantastic Four played by Julian McMahon. In the film Doctor Doom seems to be more based on his Ultimate counterpart. He also returns as a villain in the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with McMahon reprising the role.

Video games

Doctor Doom fights Magneto in the 1995 fighting game Marvel Super Heroes.

• Doctor Doom has appeared in several video games. He was the final boss in the 1989 computer game Spider-Man and Captain America in Doctor Doom's Revenge and next-to-last boss in Sega's 1991 Spider-Man arcade game. Later, he was featured as a boss character in the Capcom fighting game, Marvel Super Heroes, who only became playable after the game was beaten once and a code was entered. He returned as a selectable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and returns in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. He is particularly notorious for the so-called Strider/Doom trap in the latter game. He also appeared 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 primary antagonist of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Clive Revill. Spider-Woman and Black Panther have special dialogue with him. 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 Psylocke, Hulk, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Professor X, Magneto, Beast, Gambit, Colossus, Emma Frost, and the Punisher, 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 Iron Man, Dark Thor, and the Dark Fantastic Four and corrupted Colossus, Cyclops and Psylocke, . At the end of the game, once Doom is defeated, Odin's powers are returned and he strikes Doom with a bolt of lightning, leaving only the villain's mask. Thor later states Doom is in the possession of Odin along with Loki (the reason as to which Odin is "occupied" as Thor put it.) 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, 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. When the player asks Thor on how Asgard is doing if one speaks to him after the Latverian mission, Thor mentions that he and Loki are still being punished by Odin. Though it is said Doom is dead. Doom is also mentioned as one of the villains who could control the nanite-infected humans, despite the fact he is considered deceased. A dossier on Doom can be found in Latveria.
• Charlie Adler reprises his role as Doom in Marvel Super Hero Squad. Regular, Ultimate, and Professor versions of Doom appear.

• In the San Diego Comic-Con, Capcom released a video confirming Dr. Doom as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, alongside Super Skrull, Chun Li, and Trish.

Toys

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 toy 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 Wiz Kids, 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 Bobble Head 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 action figures were released from Toy Biz for Marvel in conjunction with the first Fantastic Four Movie 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 was released in 2006, and 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.

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

The Rapper MF Doom has used Dr. Doom as a basis for his persona. Some of his albums include skits that sample audio from Dr. Doom cartoons. 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 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 also raps under the name Viktor Vaughn, which is a reference to Victor Von Doom, Doctor Doom's real name. 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 younger brother DJ Subroc and his group broke up and were dropped from their record company.

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.^[37] Doom is also emblematic of a specific subset of supervillain, which comic book critic Peter Sanderson describes as a "megavillain".^[37] 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, and Darth Vader, also fit this description.^[37] 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.^[38]

Described as "iconic",^[39] Doom is one of the most well-received supervillains of the Marvel universe, as well as one of the most recurring;^[39] in his constant battles with heroes and other villains, Doom has appeared more times than any other villain.^[8] The comics site Panels of Awesome ranked Doom as the number one villain in their listing of the top ten villains in comics;^[40] Wizard Magazine went a step further by declaring Doom the fourth greatest villain of all time.^[41]

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."^[42] 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."^[43] 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."^[44]

A ride called Doctor Doom's Fearfall is located at Islands of Adventure in the Universal Orlando Resort.^[45]

References

External links

• Doctor Doom at the Marvel Universe Wiki
• Doctor Doom at the Comic Book Database
• Revamped Dr. Doom Respect Thread at KMC Forums