I've never written a movie with a villain character as the protagonist before, and this is my first attempt. I made a joker movie once, but it was from someone else's point of view. Dr Doom has a compelling, and even heroic origin, so here is my attempt.
This weeks article will be my pitch for a Doctor Doom movie. For this movie, Victor Von Doom is the protagonist. While Doctor Doom is often a villain, it is surprisingly easy to give him a heroic story due to his background. I would say he's not technically Doctor Doom through most of the movie, as this is an origin. This is the journey to become Doctor Doom! But he's still a villain, so there's extra depth to his origin. He could have been a hero, but instead he became one of the most feared men on Earth. So, I see this movie as, in the classical sense, a tragedy.
Well, let's start.
We begin in Sokovia, a time before pain, a time before Doom, but not before Victor. It's a summer day, the Romani caravan has stopped along a stream where the children now laugh and play. Valeria splashes the young Victor, and he cries out, swearing vengeance! He splashes her back, and she shrieks and laughs. Werner and Cynthia Von Doom watch, but soon, Cynthia leaves to attend to other matters. Werner follows her, telling her what she does now will only bring the Baron’s soldiers down upon them. She knows what they say about them, they call the Romani sorcerers! She will be playing into their hands! Cynthia tells him, what she does, she does for the good of all of them. Werner reappears in front of his people, some dressed in traditional clothes, others wearing more modern clothing, and tells them they must get moving again. They have remained here too long already. A fellow member of the caravan approaches Werner, and tells him he will have no part in Cynthia's madness. He is leaving. The man takes a horse and goes. Werner realizes the end is coming.
That night, they travel. Werner tucks his child to bed with Cynthia. He walks beside the wagon house his son sleeps in, and speaks to his second in command, Boris, asking him, that if anything ever were to happen to him and Cynthia, he would take care of Victor. That night, Victor awakens to find the caravan has stopped, outside, he finds out why, glimpsing his mother in the center of the others, performing a dark ritual, opening a portal to the dark dimension itself! Victor turns away and runs screaming as his father finds him and chases after him. The dread Dormammu ( while I understand loyalists may not be happy with this, I felt it was nessasary as, while I do not plan to ever write a triumph and torment movie, I am treating this story as something that can eventually lead to one, and as such, I want this to better connect to Dr. Strange, as a set up) speaks to Cynthia, as she explains her desires, power, the power to overthrow the Baron , to give her son a better life, where he can be free! Dormammu laughs at a joke only he knows, and then takes her soul, transforming her into a mindless one, and sucking her into his realm.
Werner catches up to his son, trying to reason to him what has been done, telling him what his mother told Werner, that it was for him, for the greater good. Then, screams. The Barons soldiers have come, they ride on horseback, wielding machine guns! Werner throws his son into a pit between the roots of a nearby tree, and runs to save as many as he can, only to find Victor is right behind him. As their homes are torched and horses are let loose, Werner takes his son, racing to avenge what has been lost, and drags him away. They run, and they keep running, as snow begins to fall.
Days later, Werner and Victor walk through the blizzard, stumbling as they go. Victor is young, but his father is not. Werner falls to the ground. Victor grabs him, begging him to keep going. They will find shelter soon. But no, they won't. Victor looks up, and there is a rage in his eyes. On that day, Victor died, but he was not Doom yet. Doom would come later. The title card appears:
DOOM: ORIGINS
Boris, wrapped in furs, searches through the blizzard, a lantern in his hand. Eventually, he finds Victor, and Werner, but at this point, only one remains alive. Weeks later, Victor will awaken, and learn what has happened. Many of their caravan were killed, including his mother, according to Boris, by the Baron’s men. Victor tries to recall what he saw his mother doing that night, but cannot, and he believes Boris. He can hardly remember anything. He asks what happened to his father. Boris tells him, he is dead as well. Victor tells Boris calmly he will be avenged. Boris stares at the boy, and tells him to rest. Victor questions him, why does no one stand up to the Baron, why does no one fight? Boris tells him he is a smart boy, he should understand that this isn't the first time this has happened, it will not be the last. Sokovia has always been at war. This time, they were the losers. Victor pleads with Boris, the Baron is just a man, they could kill him if they worked together! Boris tells him, the others do not see it that way. To them, a Baron is more than a man.
Later, he wakes up again, and is greeted by Valaria, who tells him it's alright, her parents too were killed by the Baron’s soldiers. Victor tells her they will be avenged as well. He asks her to leave. He's trying to think. There's something about that night, something he can't remember. Leaving, Valaria tells him maybe it's better to forget.
Doom falls back to sleep, and the dreams begin. His mother, Dormammu, but the boy does not know him as such, to him, he is the devil. Victor wakes up. He has been sleepwalking. He stands in the back off is mothers Vardo(a type of wagon). There is a chest there, silver and dark oak, it's padlock, a ghastly face, the face of some obscure ghoul or devil, similar to the mask that this boy will later wear. Victor searches for a key, finding nothing. He runs outside, crawling along the side as a horse pulls the vehicle along. He jumps off, the full moon shining on him, and finding the largest rock he can, then struggling due to his short stature, eventually gets back inside without being noticed. He breaks the lock, and inside, finds what he has been compelled to find. His mother's tools of black magic, staring out at him.
Years later, the American arrives in a small town in Sokovia. He wears a well tailored suit, and carries a leather briefcase. He's balding, with a tiny mustache, but his hair remains brown, and he wears thinly rimmed spectacles. Old fashioned cars drive through the streets. He passes a bombed out building, and turns into a market, where he questions people, asking for information on a Roma caravan. A plane flies over and everyone rushes inside. The American finds himself in a dark alley with another man, who offers to give him the information he desires.
Later, he arrives where Victor’s people have set up camp, and asks the gun wielding guards if he may see Victor. We are introduced to the now 19 year old, exceedingly handsome Victor Von Doom, the new leader of this group, who the American speaks to in private, telling him that the people he works for have been watching Victor for some time. The man presents an armored gauntlet to Victor, telling him it was salvaged from a prison he attacked. Victor thanks the man for returning this to him. The American continues. The surviving guards claimed he was a sorcerer, but this is science. It drains energy from the microscopic dimensional particles in the air around it, and focuses it into a laser blast. He's willing to, on behalf of the US government, give Victor a full scholarship to Empire State University, a prestigious school in New York, in exchange for more inventions like this. Victor thinks it over, the American mentions how the Sokovian government is looking for him. His people can convince them to end the manhunt if he takes the offer. The man adds that he will be given unlimited resources. Victor decides, and tells Boris to take care of everyone until he returns, and he promises, he will return. He then goes to see Valaria, now his girlfriend. He kisses her goodbye. He tells her he has found a way to get the tools he needs to stop the Baron. She begs him not to do this. They had been able to live normally enough, and now, after his attack on the prison- Victor cuts in, liberation- she continues, after that, the Baron’s men are searching for them again. If he leaves, he cannot come back. His return would only make things worse. Victor says goodbye.
He travels to the US, where he is immediately quite popular with the other students, being thought of by most of the girls and a few guys as the most attractive man on campus, being invited to parties(which he finds boring), correcting his professors to the amusement of the class, and ending up roommates in the dorms with Reed Richards, all while working on experimental weapons for the US government in his spare time, including some very early stage unrealistic Live Model Decoys. Initially being annoyed by Richards, he befriends him after Richards presents some of his ideas about Interstellar travel to Doom. Doom looks over the plans, including blueprints for a rudimentary dimensional portal. He corrects some of Reed's mistakes, and promises to help him build it. They begin getting to work, and Victor begins to enjoy himself more in America, actually having fun at the parties he goes to instead of just going because he was invited. He grows more arrogant due to realizing how intelligent he is compared to everyone else, he becomes more vain about his appearance. He remains friends with Reed, and they have a short exchange where Victor describes how he's not arrogant, he's just always right.
At one point, he researches the history of Sokovia, and we see stuff about it once being part of the Soviet bloc but after the fall of the Soviet Union it erupted into on again off again civil war. We also see medieval Sokovian art, featuring the common clothing of peasants, a tunic with a hood over it. He will get his Doctorate in his first year, but decide to try and continue to a masters. (He won't make it that far)
Then, he has another Dormammu dream, where the dread entity taunts him for believing he can escape, that he can forget, he has abandoned his mother. He has abandoned them all to die. Victor promises to kill this creature, it’s face visible, but it's name unknown to him, a reverse of the Baron, who we have heard of, but never actually seen.
Anyway, eventually Reed will discover some of Victor's blueprints on various advanced weapons, and discover Victor in a daze after his dream trying to construct a dimensional portal in their dorm room, get into a fight with him over it, the two friends will fight, both toppling over onto the machine, and cut to horrible explosive fire. Doom is unconscious, Reed, clothes shredded, tries to carry him out, his face obscured from view by shadow and smoke. We never see the face of Victor again after this point. Someone rushes in( Ben Grimm), grabs the two, who are now both unconscious from smoke inhalation, and drags them out.
Days later, Victor finds himself in the hospital, covered in bandages. He calls out for help, he calls out for anyone. Victor died years ago, but he is not Doom yet. For now, he is no one. Eventually, nurses come in, and put him back to sleep. He wakes later, a nurse stands over him. She tells him that… they did the best they could with what they had to work with. His face was… He asks to see it. She tries to continue. He asks again. She brings him a mirror, and he begins to unwrap the bandages. The camera moves to the back side of the mirror, the back and his hand in focus, the face behind blurred beyond ability to see. His hand clenches into a fist, and he crushes the mirror to bits in his fingers. He leaps up and grabs the nurse, people rush in to restrain him, he's thrown back onto the bed and put back to sleep.
Victor wakes up. Bandages are on. He's tied down to the bed. Reed comes in. He tells Victor he's sorry for what happened. Victor stares up at him, delirious and in a dream like state from the drugs. He stares up and questions Reed, you did this? Reed tells him no, the doctors wanted him restrained, the school is talking about expelling him. Doom stops him, speaking in a dreamlike way. No. My face? You ruined it…. Reed tells Victor he's sorry, they're friends. He shouldn't have fought him. We can see there are two ways to go. In one, he's Victor, a member of the fantastic five, in the other, he's something else.
Doom stops him again. They aren't friends… Doom is going to kill you. His eyes are filled with rage. He says it again louder, and again, until Reed leaves.
We hear the voice of the man who will become Doom, much later. He walks the streets of Ukraine, face covered in bandages, this is a letter, to Valaria. Something has happened. He has been expelled, he will do as she asked though, and will not return. Not yet, there are still things he must do. He isn't ready yet. In a small apartment, he works, constructing weapons, never removing his bandages. He builds the same weapons again and again, ice grenades, electric gauntlets, poison carrying drones, laser rifles, dimensional shields, then just as quickly takes them apart to reconstruct. They aren't good enough. He tells Valaria people have come to him, offering jobs, Hydra, AIM, the Ten Rings, he has accepted nothing though. We get a fight scene. Spies follow Victor, he leads them into an alley, only to find he is somehow behind them and they are at a dead end. He uses the ice grenades, shield, electric gauntlets. They were Hydra agents, they're dead now. He continues, he doesn't know what to do with his life now, after everything that has happened, but they are not it. He rolls in his bed, the nightmares continue. We see him continue to travel. He rides a camel through the sands of Pakistan, he slices through the jungles of India with a machete, he eventually finds himself in Nepal. Kathmandu. He stands at the door to Kamar-Taj. The door is open, he is welcomed in. He enters, and after a moment, he is kicked out.
A homeless man watches and laughs. He seeks magic, doesn't he? That place will not help him. He can tell, what Victor Von Doom yearns for is darker. The bandages man asks what he means. The man tells him, there is another place, high in the mountains. A place where he can learn, and become a master over all magics. What he desires most is there. The bandages man prepares for his journey, the sun sets as he walks through Kathmandu, and then he sees her, Valaria. She runs to her. She realizes it's him. She tells him she has been searching for him, following behind since Ukraine, always one step away. He asks her why? She tells him, things are worse in Sokovia. She mentions a city being destroyed. His people need him. Come home, and marry her. The bandages man has two choices. He can be Victor, return with her, lead his people, have children, grow old, or there is the mountains. A destiny, power, vengeance, Doom. He tells her that he will return, but not yet. Go back, he will meet her there. There is one more thing he must do here before he returns home. Then he goes to the mountains.
A hooded green parka with fur tips is pulled tight over him, goggles are over his face, obscured by both bandages and a scarf. A bandage flies off and into the blizzard as he holds onto the ground, slamming ice picks into it to pulls himself forward. Something watches him from afar. He keeps climbing. He finds stone cravings, sticking out of the snow, he tries to read what's on them, determining he's close. The thing watching him moves closer, it's behind him now. He gets up and looks around, then continues. Later, he hears it. It's circling him. He readies weapons under his parka, and continues. He stares up, and learns what has been hunting him…. A Yeti! There is a brief fight scene against the carnivorous brute, but he manages to kill it with some bombs he was carrying and a defensive semi magic shield. Then, he finds it was standing in front of a cave, light emanating from within. He's found it.
He stumbles into the cave, lit with candles, and falls to his knees as bald green robed men surround him. The dark monks. Doom is brought to meet their leader, revealed to be the homeless man from the alley. We see he has been taken into the main monastery, it's only entrance at the cave, always guarded by nature itself, steep climbs, blizzards, and yetis, built into a cliff with a thousand foot drop, windows and balconies showing a view of the himalayas. The man questions Victor, what does he know of magic? Victor tells him, his mother's books, her rituals. The man tells him that those were paltry magic, the lowest bits of mysticism mixed with half remembered science. Victor demands he take back what he has said or die. The master tells him, it is no insult, it is the truth. His mother knew nothing of what she was doing, the way a child knows nothing of the world around him. Now, he asks Victor what he desires most. Victor answers, power. And so, Victor begins to learn true magic. His head is shaved, as we are shown from behind. He takes new bandages, and green robes.
He learns powerful spells, reads ancient books, battles against his fellow dark monks His first test begins. They do tests on his willpower, your magic is only as strong as you are, and you must put your all into it.
A mystical battle against a rival dark monk on the edge of the cliff, in a room with no wall on the cliff facing side. One of them will live, and pass to the next level, the other, will be thrown off the cliff by his superior. The battle begins, and Victor, thrown off the edge, flips his opponent over, taking him with him. Victor however, grabs onto the edge and pulls himself up, while the other falls to his death. Yetis race across the landscape, smelling blood. Victor rises through the ranks, and spends some time on Yeti feeding duty, until at long last, deep in sleep, Dormammu returns to torment him. But this time, Victor is ready. He sees the death of his mother, what the Baron forced her to do. He cast his spells, shielding himself, and pushes the elder god back, out of his mind. He's straining using all of his energy, and somehow… He's winning! But he can't last much longer. He warns Dormammu. Today, he is his superior, but one day… he will be his Doom.
The training continues. The dark master asks Victor what he will do with the power he has gained as they spar. Victor explains his history. His people were persecuted, his mother murdered, his father murdered, all at the hands of the Baron who rules Sokovia. When he has the power he desires, he will return there. He will take his vengeance, and he will free his people. The sensei asks him, what next? Victor thinks. He has many enemies. They must be dealt with. His mother's soul will be freed. The dark master tells him, if he seeks to overthrow this Baron, he must have people who will rally behind him. Victor tells him that will not be a problem. When they see a better way, they will follow it. The dark master responds, but the Baron’s hand is swift? His army mighty. How can the people be convinced a scarred boy can beat him? Victor tells him to mind his tongue. The master repeats, he is a scarred boy who offers only chaos. Once the Baron is dead, another will take his place. There will always be another Baron. The Baron is, and always has been, more than just a man. He is an idea.
Victor thinks. He will become more than a boy, more than a man, like the Baron. He will be a symbol, and once the Baron is dead, he will take the throne for himself. Victor is screaming this. Now, he is ready. They begin to craft his armor, forged in mountain fire, in a furnace shaped like the mouth of a dragon, crafted with dark magic and the strongest of hammers. Magic and science will merge within it. Advanced weapons powered by sorcerer runes. Doom explains that the human body can only do so much, but with this, his powers over both science and sorcery will be unparalleled.
Soon, Victor’s body is covered completely. All that is left, is a mask. A face to the symbol. It is forged as well, and placing it on his face, he becomes… DOOM.
In Sokovia, a prison camp. High walls and guard towers. Inside, a captured small town turned mining quarry. Large pits dug through the streets and destroyed properties. People work at gunpoint with pickaxes, hammers, and jackhammers. An elderly Boris is there. A cool place for an action scene. Doom marches towards the place, wearing a green hood and tunic. We see how Sokovia has become much worse, and there are large “Vladimir is watching signs”
A wall blows up, Doom enters. Electrocutes multiple soldiers running at him, protects himself from bullets with magic shields, kicks people into a quarry, hits someone with the backside of a pickaxe, tears up the chains the prisoners are in and free’s them, including Valaria, who recognizes his eyes. He tells her they will speak later, and sends her off towards the blown open wall. Guards begin shooting at the prisoners, then find all their guns have jammed, and are frozen in ice. Doom punches a guy out with electric knuckles, then, noticing a guard grabbing Valeria and hitting her with the back end of a gun, he lifts the guy up with force lightning, shocks him for a while, tosses him into the sky, and shoots missiles out of his arms at the guy, causing a massive explosion in mid air. He leads everyone out, ordering a few former prisoners to grab weapons from an armory he's ripped the vault door off of. Doom tosses a magical energy javelin at an attacker, then is shot by a tank. He arrives out of the explosion unscathed, twists the tanks barrel around, then struggles as it moves forward towards him to push it back, using his back thrusters and pushing it into one of the mined out pits, causing it to drop about 25 feet. Doom is annihilating everyone.
Doom checks if all of the escaped prisoners are alright in a somewhat aloof manner, and offers a bag of medical supplies. That night, Doom speaks to the prisoners in the forest, which include Valaria and Boris. The people look up at Doom, wondering who he is, what he is about to say. He tells them, he is Victor Von Doom, he is one of them, he abandoned them long ago, but now, he has returned. A man questions Doom. Why has he returned? Why now? Doom tells them. He has seen what is happening to them, and he can stand by no longer. He has come to kill Baron Vladimir, and free all Sokovia from his tyranny!
Elsewhere, later, a young boy questions Valeria on whether or not they should trust the man called Doom. She isn't certain what to think of him now, but they don't really have any other option.
In a castle, a few weeks later, we see the Baron for the first time. He is an old man, his long grey hair falling over his face. He sits in his throne room, wearing a ceremonial black and gold military uniform under a long green cloak with golden chains. He is a weak man, sick with many diseases and hacking every once in a while. It is difficult for him to stand. His only power comes from his title. He is being informed by his men that the lower classes have rebelled against him. There have even been reports of members of the upper classes backing Doom. Countless towns have been raided. They are working from the forests, using the “gypsy trails”. Their weapons are unusually advanced, and it's believed they are being backed by an outside force, which would explain how they were united. They speak of a man calling himself Doom.
He demands to know who this Doom is, and orders that a message be sent to the Russian Government for aid. A messenger arrives at the gates at this moment, and is dragged up. He explains that Doom will speak for himself, and presents a hologram. The man sent to deliver it is dragged off to the dungeons for execution. In the hologram, Doom appears and explains that he is a man of the people, and the people desire change. Most desire your death. He is not an unreasonable man though. If Baron Vladimir steps down and gives all of his power to Doctor Victor Von Doom in a public ceremony, he will be allowed to live out the rest of his most likely short last daysand die in his home. A presentation of what happens to those who disobey Doom is then shown, as we see some soldiers being hit with force lightning. Vladimir smashes the hologram, has a fit, and collapses, but not before ordering a bounty on Doom’s head.
Doom watches this from a camera in the hologram machine.
We begin a short montage of scenes where we find ourselves in a village occupied by Doom’s forces, now a small army. There are a couple hundred, maybe a thousand.
We’ll show Doom looking at weapons and deciding they don't have enough to adequately fight.
Cut to Valaria is walking around, and will spot the young child she had been speaking to a few weeks ago now practicing his aim with rifles. Doom is speaking to Boris at a weapons factory they've taken over, who informs him that the landfill is a few miles from here. Doom finds Valaria, and leaves her in charge while he and Boris are gone.
Cut to Boris leads Doom through the fog by lantern as the moon shines down on the moor. Eventually, they arrive at the barbed wire chain link fences. Doom uses his laser finger to cut open a hole for the two of them. They enter, and in the landfill under the light of the moon, Doom finds dozens upon dozens of Ultron drones. He thanks Boris for his aid, and informs him that these will do nicely. Others who have come with them begin to fill an old pickup truck, partly submerged in fog with the machines. Doom looks around, and we see out of the mist covered landscape massive toppled buildings like tombstones, remnants of a different time, when things were still bad, but not as bad as they are now, and further, the crater.
Later, the factory is being used to repair these, reprogramming them, outfitting them with new weaponry, changing the face designs to more resemble Doom, and making them into prototype versions of what will become Doombots.
We’ll end the montage with an attack by dozens of Doombots outfitted with the same technology as Doom himself attacking an outpost, which is then claimed by Doom’s forces.
Back with Baron Vladimir, He's speaking to his advisors regarding if anyone left is still on his side, as most governments have stopped backing him, seeing it as a lost cause. He's informed that any soldier showing pro Doom stances is severely punished, so they still have an army. Vladimir then meets with Hydra, who see Doom as a threat to their plan of world domination.(it's implied they think he’ll take over first) They give Vladimir information on Doom, and he finally learns the identity of the man as one of the Romani, and his history in America and that sort of thing. He’ll also learn about Valaria, who Hydra considers one of his few weak points.
We cut to Doom’s army, and learn they’re only a few towns away from the capital now.
Valeria asks to speak to Doom alone.
She tells Doom that he's changed a lot since last time she saw him. He responds that he's not the man he once was, but he is still Victor Von Doom. When he speaks, we see he's more open with her than around most. He seems more human. She tells him no, he's not. She saw him on the battlefield. He tells her it is not wise to disagree with Doom, trying to end the conversation. She continues. He tells her that this is a war, you win through strength. She asks him, what does he plan to do when the war is over? Will he become the new Baron? He tells her yes… but, he will be better. He will lead Sokovia to a new golden age. They’ll do it together. She will sit beside him as Queen of their new empire. She looks at him. And what if he dies? Then things will go back to the way they were. What if, they made Sokovia a democracy? Let the people choose their ruler. It wouldn't make much of a difference. They would pick him! He is a good man! A good leader! He pauses, seeming like he's thinking it over, but he isn't, not seriously anyway, if not maybe for a moment. He tells her no. He can't trust them to make the right choice. The people need a firm hand. She tells him that if that's true, than he's just like the Baron. He loses his temper. He yells. The Baron killed their parents! Doom is nothing like him! He is Doom! She stares at him, and begins to cry. She walks away, he follows, finding she's prepared a horse, and has grabbed her belongings. He asks her what she's doing. She tells him she's leaving. He tells her she can't. She tells him that he's Doom. He needs no one. He stands there in silence. She rides away into the night.
The next day, Doom walks out of his tent, and Boris comes to him with the news. He stares down at the phone. It's being broadcast throughout Sokovia. Valaria, tied to a chair in a dark room, blindfolded and gagged. It cuts back from this to a soldier reading off a script about how Victor Von Doom must come to the capital alone and surrender at the gates of Baron Vladimir’s castle, or she will die.
Doom’s people discuss with him. He wants to go alone. They want to go with him. He has protected them, they should protect him. Follow alongside him. He tells them no. This he must do alone.
An army waits in front of the castle. There are tanks, barricades, and more. Two soldiers speak to each other, believing Vladimir has gone insane. They're using his name, not calling him the Baron. Names have power. One jokingly questions if the other thinks they're still being paid. We hear him before we see him, the sound of armored feet. He marches alone towards the castle. It's morning, the skies are grey, but not quite dark. Doom continues to March as they prepare their weapons, until he stands only a few yards away. They're petrified, too scared to shoot. He stands there. He announces he has come, but he has not come to surrender. He keeps walking. The crowd slowly parts, allowing him in.
Meanwhile, Doom’s forces are waiting in the other village a few miles outside the city. Then, an airstrike. Boris leads many to cover in basements. Doombots fly up and destroy the planes. Those remaining on the streets shoot into the sky. The dust settles. Everyone gets back outside. Then, they realize during the airstrike, Vladimir's forces of Sokovian and HYDRA soldiers have surrounded the village, and have begun to invade. An EMP blast shuts down Doombots (they aren't magic based in these early iterations) Doom is not there to save them. Doom’s army begins a battle in the streets.
Doom marches through the castle, there are traps, which he easily avoids at first, but a few manage to disorient him. A Gatling gun from within the wall, a sonic cannon at the edge of a hallway, they're annoyances, but they're wearing him down. Eventually, he arrives at the throne room, where an assortment of Hydra agents attack from all around. The room is empty, Vladimir is elsewhere. Tear gas fills the room. Dr Doom kills most who touch him, but more keep coming, firing into him at close range, trying to find gaps in the armor, they begin to move in from afar, hitting him with electrified spears. It's like bringing down a rhinoceros, or whaling. His hood is ripped off him. They begin to find chinks in the armor. Something manages to get into Doom’s flesh. Doom then pushes everyone off him with shields, then electrifies everything around him. Lightning knocks many into the walls. A stray armor piercing bullet from a survivor hits the power core, deactivating the dimensional energy absorber, he needs to fix that design flaw in the next iteration of the armor. He grabs and tosses the final shooter into a concrete pillar, which cracks at the force. The tear gas fades away. He asses the damages, blood comes from his side, the armor is no longer operational, but still mobile and protective. I
Upstairs in a chapel built on the top floor of the palace, Baron Vladimir, looking more disheveled but still in his uniform and green hooded cloak, stands over Valeria, under the light of a large stained glass window. The fist of Doctor Victor Von Doom smashes out of the floor. It tears the hole open, and it grows larger until he bursts out of it completely, climbing onto the tile floor, carrying one of the electric spears from below, and standing up in front of a shocked Vladimir.
Valaria watches as Vladimir tells him to stay back. He killed his parents, he’ll kill her too! He tells Doom he's sent his armies to Doom’s. He's led their protector away, now they’ll all die in the street! Vladimir has already lost. Doom approaches. Vladimir threatens to kill Valaria! He holds out a pistol. He is calmly told that it will not matter. He shall die either way. Doom needs no one. The electrified spear from downstairs is thrown into his shoulder, piercing him, forcing him to drop the gun, and knocking him to the floor. Doom picks him up off the ground as he begs for mercy. He calls out for help, he calls out for anyone. Doom ignores this. He rips the cloak off of him, golden beads rip apart and hit the ground, and he begins to choke Vladimir, sunlight from the stained glass window shining on him, showing his deed in the light. He clutched the Baron, slamming him onto the ground. Vladimir coughs and spits, and Doom’s eyes stare, full of rage and madness. There is no victory here, only an old man being strangled to death. Vladimir's eyes roll into his head, and Doom tells Vladimir to say his name, demanding it loudly, filled with rage. Vladimir struggles to get out the words. Finally, he says it. In Vladimir’s last moments, he sees through those eyes the face of death itself. Doom tells him through his teeth how weak he is. We hear a crack. No one will remember his name. The Baron goes limp, Victor Von Doom rises up off the ground, and wraps the cloak over his own body. He turns towards Valaria, ripping up her bonds, questioning if she's alright. She doesn't speak. She just looks at him, and she's terrified by what he's become. Then she runs.
Doom turns away, he has more important matters to attend to now, Doom needs no one, but at the same time, his people need Doom.
He walks towards the balcony below the stained glass window.
He shoots off some sticky bombs to the walls of the castle. It's going to blow up soon.
In the battle, his people fall back from the streets to find more attackers behind them. They're surrounded.
Doom uses his own life force, his own primal energy, and creates a portal to enter the battle as the castle explodes. Soldiers down below rush away.
Then, he stands between his people and their attackers, announcing Vladimir is dead and his castle has fallen. If you are Sokovian surrender now and join the army of Doom, and you may live. If you are of other blood, leave and tell your masters to never send any others of your ilk here. There is no point in resistance. . There is a large scale, and almost instantaneous surrender. The war is over.
Some weeks later, in a repaired armor, he steps out of his new castle to the adoring crowd below. They chant his name, again and again. Boris stares up. The coronation begins, and he is officially announced as the new ruler of Sokovia. Valeria leaves the country, crossing the border with others who have seen the side of Doom she has, swimming through a river, carrying whatever they can on their backs, and they disappear into the night. Doom walks towards his throne, an army of Doom Bots stretched down the long room, standing at attention as Doom passes. There are several versions. The classic Kirby design, the ones that are basic Ultron Drones outfitted with new tech and new faces, and the most advanced ones, the ones we’ve seen in my previous FF film, the ones of silver and green metel, their faces mostly filled by a single, unmoving glowing eye. Those who refuse to submit to Dr. Doom are executed in the town squares. The Doom Bots stare, eyes blank, as their master takes his throne. They are cold, mechanical, but also fueled by fire, just like Doom. In the darkened room, He sits on his throne.
Valaria leads a girl, no older than Victor was when his parents died, across the river. She's scared and she can't swim. Valaria asks her to tell her about herself, trying to get her mind off the subject. Why is she leaving Sokovia? The girl tells her.
Doom killed her father.
The camera pans up as they cross the river, leaving Sokovia, moving further and further into the night. We reflect on how Doom, in an attempt to destroy the one who had a hand in creating him, may have created another who could eventually become like him, and challenge him for the same reason.
Out of the blackness, the inside of Doom’s cape. Doom stands, cape flowing in the wind, on a hill, Miles away, but visible behind him is Sokovia’s new capital, a city destroyed years ago in the skies above its foundation, now rebuilt, more prosperous than ever. It has become a place of peace. Doomstadt. A castle, constructed by Doombots looms over the lake that has replaced the crater. He is Doom, master of men, here, he resembles a perfectly sculpted statue, a warning to those who would dare to attack his people, and a warning to all that have not yet felt the his cold metal hands wrap around them and squeeze, that they are next, and the world belongs to Doom.