Alternate Favorite Marvel Characters #2 - Doctor Doom

Character: Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom)

Creators: Jack Kirby and Stan Lee

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #5

First encounter: Fantastic Four #287. Part of a grab bag of Marvel stuff as a Christmas present, along with most of my first encounters for Marvel. Some guy attacks the Latverian embassy while Sue, She-Hulk, and the Wasp are visiting a hair stylist conveniently across the street. The guy claims Doom has his wife, so they help. Turns out the guy is Doom, inhabiting some poor schmo's body, and the Doom they saw through the window is a Doombot. Heck of a way to get introduced to the idea Doom can body-hop.

Huh, it was the issue after Jean Grey came back. At least I dodged that bullet.

Definitive writer: The trick is, I don't own very many Fantastic Four comics. Almost all the Doctor Doom appearances I have come from other titles.  I'm pretty fond of Roger Stern's version, but that's based entirely off one story.

It should probably be Stan Lee, but as I think I mentioned when I did this for the Thing, I only know the Lee/Kirby run by reputation, and all the endless callbacks everyone else does. Based on the Fantastic Four comics I actually own, it's probably Walt Simonson. His Doom was petty enough during Acts of Vengeance to create a device to compel villains to attack the FF constantly, but also have it be total loser villains who have no hope of stealing his victory.

'Course, that turned out to be a Doombot, or the Super-Adaptoid disguised as a Doombot, but when Doom showed up again, he got a cool new look, and showed he was still smarting from the beating the Thing gave him on the Baxter Building roof all those years ago. He had enough honor - or pretense of honor - to give Reed a chance to challenge him in a duel, but still cheat when things started to turn against him.

Definitive artist: John Byrne. I feel like Byrne hit the sweet spot on the armor. Detailed and with enough openings around the eyes to let Doom be expressive. Imposing, but not overly bulky.

Favorite moment or story: Amazing Spider-Man #350. This might be the second comic I read with Doom in it. He shows up looking for the Black Fox, aged thief who stole a gem from a Latverian museum exhibit to finance his retirement. A gem that was a memento of Doom's mother. Spidey, being the conscientious sort, tries to stop Doom from murdering the septuagenarian, and Doom spends 15 pages absolutely kicking Spider-Man's ass for it.

Up to that point, my impression of Doom was formed by his Marvel Universe Series 3 trading card, where his stats were good, but not overwhelming. I was used to Spider-Man facing the Sinister Six and if not winning, holding his own. Doom was just one guy. So him utterly trouncing Spidey was a surprise. Spidey only survives by, as he puts it, playing on Doom's vanity and desire to protect his mother's name. He gives Spidey a chance to fix things, and when it's all said and done, he keeps his word. Up to a point. He gives Spider-Man 24 hours, and when those are up, he is there instantly. The gem is in the possession of cultists trying to summon a murderous swarm back to Earth. Doom won't directly help, but he sort of does by attacking any of the cannon fodder that are dumb enough to attack him. He gets his gem back, then lets Spider-Man talk him out of murdering the Black Fox, settling for destroying his retirement fund (a large diamond).

How dangerous Doom was, his devotion to his mother's memory, the way he'll make deals and honor them, but only up to the precise limit of what he said. I imagine years of dealing with Mephisto trained him to be extremely specific about wording in any agreement.

What I like about him: When I did the Favorite Character post for Arcade, I called him my favorite villain, then allowed there was one other character I liked better who was a villain sometimes. Here we are. Before we go any further, I should say I have read almost no comics with Doom in them since he made his "face" turn after Secret Wars. So I can't speak to "trying to be a good guy while dressing as Iron Man" Victor von Doom.

Saying Doom is a villain "sometimes" is an understatement, but Doom is capable of being a hero, or at least allying himself with heroes. Granted, Doom working with the heroes means things have gone to hell, and he's usually looking out for his own self-interests.
Whether it's teaming up with the remaining heroes to confront Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet, or trying to keep Shadowcat's molecules from dispersing across infinity. In the former, Doom can't very well rule the world if Thanos is out there with ultimate power, able to wipe Doom from existence whenever he pleases. In the latter example, Doom was motivated by a more personal reason: The chance to get one over on Reed Richards (we'll come back to that).

But the capacity is there, and it makes him at least a bit of a wild card. If Doom shows up in a comic, most likely he is there as an antagonist, he is the problem our hero must confront. But there's a chance he won't be. If he works with a hero, there's a decent chance he will keep his word and not betray them. When he got Dr. Strange's help rescuing his mother's soul from Hell, he truly threw in with Strange and worked with him. He was even willing to be openly trained in sorcery by Strange, admitting Strange was his superior in that regard. That's a big deal given Doom's ego.

That's no guarantee the next time they meet they'll work together, but on that occasion, Doom played it fair. In the Spider-Man story I mentioned above, he made an agreement with Spider-Man, and as Spidey held up his end of the bargain, so did Doom. When Damage Control showed up with an unpaid bill, Doom immediately sat down to write out a check, and didn't even take offense when one of them asked to see an ID. I know that most of the time, he won't keep his word, or he always intended to betray them. But there's always the possibility he is going to play square. You don't know what you're getting when he shows up. Those brief glimpses of his capacity for decency make him just a bit unpredictable.

Most of the time though, he's a villain, and he's a damn good villain. He's got a good look with the armor, especially when they leave enough space around the eyes to do those intense close-ups where you can see the scarring (Byrne was good at those). The gauntlets can look imposing crushing an object in his grasp or whatever. Then the cloak, the setting himself up in a nice chair with a goblet for effect. The apparently deep voice (assuming we can trust Captain America on Doom's ability to speak his name in all caps) and impressive vocabulary to use in his threats. The guy knows how to apply dramatic effect. Which can even be used for comedy when you play it right.

He's a scientific genius and no slouch when it comes to magic. He has an entire country of (mostly) devoted/terrified citizens. You can do something with security vs. freedom if you want, since there seem to be people that are fine with Doom running their lives, and ones that aren't. He creates potential diplomatic issues, since the hero may have to deal with their own government and Doom, where they end up caught between the two. He has an army of robots, several of which end up forgetting they aren't actually him, because apparently his personality is so impressive it just overrides everything else. Plus, the Doombots allow for him to be used to give heroes big, improbable wins. It can always be written it off as a Doombot later. Also, robots are fun to watch get smashed in big fight scenes. He has big aspirations, so he can be on a world-domination plan, the kind of thing where you can raise the stakes by throwing an entire team at him, or by forcing one hero to face him, to make the odds longer.

At the same time, he can be incredibly petty and become focused on the smallest perceived slight, so it can become an intensely personal conflict. He once rewrote one of Reed's diaries to make it look as though the accident that created the FF was something Reed had planned all along. He figured it would wreck their team whenever someone read it, even though he had no idea when that would be. That's impressive, really. He's driven enough, combined with everything else to be incredibly dangerous. This is a guy who challenged a sentient universe, and won, stealing its power. 

Of course, he also lost that power because he was tricked into feeding his doubts about himself. Doom is his own worst enemy. At the end of Hickman's Secret Wars, I compared Reed Richards to Gladstone Gander from the Donald Duck comics: The guy things always work out for, whether he deserves it or not. Dr. Doom is more like Donald: The one who could accomplish a lot if he wasn't constantly thwarting himself with his own greed, anger, and jealousy. He can't resist the urge to gloat or boast. He can't envision there's a flaw in his plans, and he thinks he understands other people, so it's always someone else's fault. Since he filters everything through how he looks at the world, he misreads people and underestimates them. He turned Storm into a living metal statue, and didn't anticipate it would drive her claustrophobia to the extent she'd go berserk once she was free, and that he'd be in deep trouble at that point. He can't stop trying to one-up Reed by trying to kill him and his friends, then cursing the universe when they somehow escape because he underestimated them again. He could simply do all the world-changing things Reed doesn't do (because the writers want the world to stay something closer to our own), and soak up the adulation.

At some point, Reed should announce publicly he's going to end world hunger in the next day because, 'he's the only one who can.' Doom would end it five minutes after the announcement just to thumb his nose at Reed. DOOM Puffs: The nutritious all-in-one meal brought to you by Dr. Doom, our wonderful and beloved monarch! It is ridiculous Doom wastes his time trying to "best" Reed by killing him. By the first time he attacked the Fantastic Four, he'd already built a time machine! Reed's messing around with a fabric for pants so that Johnny can't them burn off, and Doom's mastered time travel.

But part of the fun is the absurd lengths Doom will go to mess with them. When Sharon Ventura was the She-Thing, Doom cured her just so he could use her to lure the FF into a trap. He helped Sue deliver a child through a difficult pregnancy so he could have the right to name the kid. He challenged Cap's Kooky Quartet not because he considered them a threat to his goals, but because he thought they were such pushovers he could easily use them as hostages against the Fantastic Four. You have to love a villain willing to fight one superhero team strictly to draw out a different superhero team. That's dedication to spite.

I like Doom as a constant thorn in Richards' side. I'm not going to pretend Reed is the real villain - Reed typically doesn't take over entire countries - but he seems good at ducking consequences of his more questionable actions. He was right there next to Iron Man all through Civil War, building cyborg murderclones and throwing Speedball in a Negative Zone prison. While Stark spent the next two years getting chewed out or punched by every other hero, Reed skated away clean. He and Sue patched things up on Titan while T'Challa and Storm covered for him on the FF. How does that work?
But we have Doom to harass him constantly. I root for Doom against Reed the same way I root for Wil E. Coyote: I know it might end the story if he actually defeats Reed, but I still like to see him rub Richards' nose in it. Doom has come close a few times. Stolen Reed's body once or twice, nearly wrecked his family. Doom makes the mistake of assuming Reed is like him (a lesser version of Doom, obviously, but similar) when there are differences. But they're alike enough he knows how to hurt him.

Because of all his flaws, Doom does feel very human to me. His inability to let go of past slights, blaming everyone else for his failures. His conviction he knows what's best for everyone, that he's always right. He has doubts, but tries very hard to pretend he doesn't. Every so often he can do something self-sacrificing, like free his mother's soul from Hell even though she'll escape believing he betrayed the Sorcerer Supreme to Mephisto to accomplish it. He's very aware of what others think of him. I don't know what the actual situation in Latveria is, but I usually figure it has low poverty and disease rates, and is environmentally-friendly (killer robots running on renewable energy!). It would reflect badly on Doom otherwise (he's obviously not so concerned with his reputation with regards to civil liberties). Same thing when Damage Control showed up with that unpaid bill. Can't have people thinking Dr. Doom is a bum. I'm going to argue "malfunctioning Doombot" for that time he stiffed Luke Cage of $200.

Sometimes he uses the awareness to his advantage. He pretended that curing Sharon Ventura would unlock an understanding of genetic engineering he could use to make Latveria a lot of money, so he can cut taxes. Because if he said he just wanted to help, Sharon would immediately suspect "trap". In Triumph and Torment, Mephisto is sure Doom would betray Dr. Strange in exchange for his mother. Doom uses that as a way to get he and Strange in the same place, but still catch Mephisto off-guard. One other thing from that story I like is how offended he gets when Strange suspects Doom's favor will involve helping take over the world, and then Mephisto offers that before offering the soul of Doom's mom. Both times, it isn't that they know Doom's out to take over the world that bugs him. It's that they think he'd need their help to do it.

I like Doom because he's a big character. Even when his actions or motivations are small or petty, he does them in a BIG manner.

Credits! Doom makes his first appearance on the big screen on the cover of Fantastic Four#5, by Jack Kirby (penciler), Joe Sinnot (inker), Stan Goldberg (colorist), Artie Simek (letterer). Spider-Man's having a worse day than usual in Amazing Spider-Man #350, by David Michelinie (writer), Erik Larsen (penciler), Randy Emberlin (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer). Elephants could learn a few things about never forgetting from DOOM in Fantastic Four #350, by Walt Simonson (writer/penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Brad Vancata (colorist), Bill Oakley (letterer). Doom colorfully outlines how outclassed Gwen is in Unbelievable Gwenpool #23, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Irene Strychalski (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer). Doom greets death by enjoying caviar in the face of a brassed-off Susan Richards in Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men #4, by Chris Claremont (writer), Jon Bogdanove (penciler), Terry Austin (inker), Glynis Oliver (colorist), Tom Orzechowski (letterer). Mephisto thought Doom would be more impressed with his new home entertainment system in Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, by Roger Stern (writer), Mike Mignola (penciler), Mark Badger (inker and color artist), Jim Novak (letterer). Doom uses checks because Latverian Express isn't accepted everywhere in Damage Control (vol. 1) #2, by Dwyane McDuffie (writer), Ernie Colon (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), John Wellington (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer). Doom could fund the Latverian economy with seminars on announcing your presence with authority based on Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet #1, by Brian Clevinger and Lee Black (writers), Brian Churilla (artist), Michelle Madsen (color artist), Jeff Powell (letterer).