His backstory:
Every version of doom in non-comics media tells the story of how he got his powers in a wrong way. He didn’t get them with the fantastic four! They tell this story because that’s how it is in the Ultimate universe, but that version sucks! I’m gonna tell you the story of a poor gipsy who lived in the european country of Latveria, whose mother was a witch and sold his soul to the devil. One day she was kidnapped by a demon and never came back. The kid was extremely traumatized by this because he loved his mother and teached him lots of things. Plus, the governor of Latveria also killed his father. The kid grew up and was extremely intelligent. He went to university, where he met a young man called Reed Richards. Victor was a ladies man and very succesfull, but couldn’t let go about his mother’s dissapearance. He and Reed decided to build a machine to try to go to other dimensions: To Mulphelheim, where his mother was. But something went wrong, and the machine exploded, and Victor’s face got F’d up. Victor blamed Reed... and forever would. He decided not to handle the supernatural with science ever again, and wanted to master both fields, thus completing what his mother teached him. He went to the himalayas and learnt everything mystical from monks. Then, after he mastered everything, he built his armour, came back to his home country and made a coup. Then, he declared himself: Dr. Doom! Ruler of Latveria! Most intelligent man on earth! Next objective: The world!
One of the most important aspects of doctor doom is his personality. He has an extremely big ego to the point that he even speaks about him in 3
rd person. He says that he is the most intelligent man in the planet and he believes so, he is convinced of it. And he thinks that he deserves to rule the world because no one else knows how to properly do it. Not anyone deserves having the pleasure to speak to him, and if a normal man or lackey speaks to him he just basicly responds as he was talking to a dog, without caring if he didn’t do it with respect, because everyone is below Doom.
The way he works:
This guy is a man who is always going to the point. He never gets distracted or stops to do something else. He is always progessing and never gets stuck. This is a guy who always has to be one step ahead of everybody, and never lets any one know more than him. Right when Thanos killed half of the universe in the infinity gauntlet saga he blasted right through Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum to interrogate him and silver surfer in search for answers. When the first secret wars commenced he started to investigate who was this beyonder, where were they, how did everything happened... And he geneticly started to engeer lackeys to have advantage right off the bat. Then he figured everything out, used Galactus’ powers, defeated the beyonder and became god. In Marvel Now, when the incursions were happening he investigated them as soon as everything started, he got the molecule man to work with him, they traveled to through the multiverse and he became god again!
His superpowers:
The way his character works is he’s a combination of the mystical and the technological. He is a total expert on both fields, and that’s what gives him an advantage when he needs to face any kind of threat. While the world in the Marvel Universe are still getting amazed with Stark’s technology, spaceships and his inventions, this man could whipe his ass with anything he does. Doom and his armour can withstand Iron Man any day of the week. But he can also hold his own against people like Doctor Strange, Mephisto or Morgana la fey because he is an expert on spells and mystizism. Even his outfit is a representation of that: a combination of a modern armour like Iron Man’s with wizard-ish robes.
His intelligence:
This guy is an expert wizard, a tech genius and has invented a f*cking time machine. Need i say more? Kang the conqueror, the famous avengers’ villain, aquiered his time traveling powers because he was inspired by Doom’s work. He copied him and went to the past to fight the avengers, F4... (The rest is history) Doom never gets fooled by anyone, and as i’ve already said, he is always one step ahead of everybody. He tricked the silver surfer, stole his surfing board and kept him prisoner. And he has a ton of andriods who look just like him (Doombots), so just when you think you've defeated him after a long battle... you were just tasting the starters. Plus, he has such a strong will that Purple Man’s powers didn’t affect him! Who else can do that?
He is everyone’s villain:
Doctor Doom is not by any means just a fantastic four villain. He is a Marvel Universe villain, probably THE Marvel universe villain (next to Magneto, Galactus and Thanos). He is also included in the villains roster of Iron Man, the Avengers, Spiderman, X-Men, Captain America... etc. And even if he is not included in the official roster, this is a guy who has fought basicily every superhero including Thor, Silver Surfer, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Black Panther... etc. And not only superheros but tons of supervillains as well, neutral characters and cosmic entities such as Galactus, the Beyonders and the Celestials! You just don’t understand what this man can do.
His motivations and flaws:
Due to the fact that he has such an ego and thinks he is superior to EVERYODY, he has three objectives:
1 - Rule the world.
2 - Prove that he is smarter than Reed Richards.
3 - Get his mother back.
(Although most of the time he is just worried about his country and makes sure no one f*cks with him and leaves him alone)
But these are also his flaws, specially number two and three. Reed Richards is constantly outsmarting his plans. Mr. Fantastic is not special because he can stretch, but because he so intelligent (and because he is an egotistical maniac like Doom. Maybe I should do an article about him). So doom is constantly frustrated by Richards, who makes him question his own principles: Am i truly worthy of the world? And number three is also a flaw because he is kind of like batman: He never got over his mother kidnapping by Mephisto, and he misses her...
He is a ruler:
Victor Von Doom is not just a normal supervillain, he is an official politician, a dictator of the European country of Latveria. He even has representatives of their country in the U.N. He is just like any dictator who wants to expand his domains and conquer the world. But not really, because he is not like Hitler. Unlike the german murderer, this man is loved by everyone who lives in his territory. It’s just that he is convinced that he has the right to rule the entire planet and that he is superior. Although apart from being a politician, he has a very busy agenda of fighting superheroes, cosmic entities, mystical creatures, protecting his country…etc. The F4 are just one of his problems.
So Doctor Doom is a wonderful supevillain as you can see. This is a near perfect villain, who can stand against anybody. When your heroes are very powerful, it’s not that interesting, but when your villains are (like Thanos and the infinity gauntlet), it’s way cooler. Plus, this is a character that’s so neatly defined and whose personality is just a pleasure to read. Aside that, he has several flaws that make a him more human, and that prove that he is not above everyone like he thinks. Fun fact: Darth Vader's look was based on Dr. Doom and Japanese Samurais.
COMPARISON WITH THE MOVIES:
Backstory:
He has a boring origin in which he gets his powers with the F4. He didn’t get his powers in an accident! He got them because he wanted to! He is a master tech and mysizism. In either 2 versions he was a gipsy of Latveria and hasn’t got that batman-ish origin with the monks. He is just like a bussiness man. He isn’t even the ruler of Latveria.
Personality:
His personality and his way of thinking is probably the most important thing about Dr. Doom, and they never want to adapt this. Come on! He is convinced he is superior! He speaks about in 3
rd person! He is just a generic bad guy in the films. In the new film he was like a hacker geek young guy and in the other he was a douchy bussines man who just wanted to pork Sue.
The way he works:
I don’t know, he doesn’t really do anything aside fighting the F4...
His superpowers:
They just suck. Why can’t they get him right? He just has electro powers and goo powers. Wtf FOX? And don’t even get me started on how he looks.
His intelligence:
I mean, i guess he’s smart in the movies. Smart.
He’s everyone’s villain:
Given that Fox only owns the Fantastic Four and the X-Men and they don’t even want to create a universe with both franchises (wich i respect), i can’t really say much. But HE IS everyone’s villain.
His motivations and flaws:
The whole deal about his mother: Scrapped. He just wants to pork with Sue. What the hell? But why? Love is for babies! Love is beneath Doom! He just wants to be at the top.
He is a ruler:
No. Apparently not. Not according to Fox. His second most important feat.
Conclusion: I hope that now you understand who Doctor Victor Von Doom is and that you like him. And concerning the movies: Doctor Doom has never been in the movies for me and i am still waiting for a film adaptation of the character. It hurts that my friend told me the other day: "Isn't Dr. Doom just a guy who shoots electricity?" Anyways i've had so much fun writing this article and talking about Doom.
Stay cool, and always remember: