10 Things You Didn't Know About Doctor Doom
Despite the Fantastic Four film adaptions not really living up to fans' expectations, Victor Von Doom a.k.a Doctor Doom is arguably one of the best and most dangerous villains in the world of Marvel.
Not only is he a gifted magic practitioner, but he also has an incredibly high intellect to rival that of Tony Stark and Reed Richards, making him one of the smartest characters to exist. Despite mostly being known as the nemesis of the Fantastic Four, his schemes and power levels have been so vast that it has resulted in the Avengers or another group of heroes having to team up just stop him. We've seen a small taste of what he is capable of from the films released so far, but they pale in comparison to his comic book counterpart; the films struggled to do the character justice. So, in order to help prove that there is more to him that what we have seen, today we are going to look at 10 things you didn't know about Doctor Doom.
10. Diplomatic Immunity
Starting us off is a fact the most casual fans of the comics and animated TV shows will know. The reason for this status is down to him being the absolute monarch of the fictional Latveria. Due to this status, Doom has diplomatic immunity and has used it various times throughout his history to escape prosecution for a lot of his crimes. During the animated show Avengers Assemble, it is confirmed that he resides within the Latverian Embassy located in New York, as a base to secretly plan his next scheme. The Avengers are not allowed within the grounds of the complex, and on one of the first occasions they do, they are attacked by Doom's forces. Being the head of Latveria also allows him full control of its resources and technology. Again, something he uses to his advantage.
9. He Is A Gifted Organ Player
When he's not busy trying to take over the world or defeat the Fantastic Four, it turns out Doom has hobbies, one of which is learning to play the organ. Based on his incredibly high intelect, it's not unrealistic to imagine him being able to master instruments, but when he starts including them in his schemes, it certainly changes the tone. During the events of Fantastic Four #199, Doom concocts a trap requiring him to complete a specific symphony in order to take over the world. We see him take to the organ and go all out to complete his plan, which eventually fails.
8. He Breaks The Fourth Wall In a Tremendous Way
Nowadays, we are slightly used to seeing characters break the fourth wall, with Deadpool being the most prolific character to do so within the Marvel world. However, Doom also does so himself and, being Doom, does it spectacularly. Back in Fantastic Four #10, we see creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee become part of their own comics and struggle to come up with a new villain for the Fantastic Four. Whilst lamenting on what happened to Doom following his last appearance, in which he disappears on the back of a meteor, Doom shows up to the Marvel offices and gives the creators a piece of his mind. He removes his mask, showing off his grotesque face, grossing both the creators and himself out, then tells both to call Reed Richards. Who says comics have to make sense, right?
7. He Killed Ant-Man's Daughter
Cassie Lang is a character we have met in the MCU films. She is the daughter of second Ant-Man, Scott Lang, and during her time in the comics has even followed in his footsteps, becoming the hero Stature. During the events of Avengers: The Children's Crusade, it is confirmed Doom was manipulating Scarlett Witch in order to steal her powers for himself, thus causing the events of The House of M storyline. Cassie and the other young Avengers travel back in time to save her dad before his death in a previous storyline, but they end up having to fight Doom, which proves a tragic choice for the young heroine. Overcome with rage at seeing Doom seemingly kill her father, again, she goes all out and attacks him furiously one on one. Whilst she gets a couple of good blows in, she is no match for Doom, who unleashes a blast of energy, killing the youngster. Shortly after, Scott is shown to have survived the attack from Doom, but arrives back after she has already passed.
6. Was Almost Sorcerer Supreme
The title of Sorcerer Supreme, is one usually linked closely the Doctor Strange. However, it was almost Doctor Doom. Back in the 80's, the issue Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Trumph and Torment saw a bunch of Earth's sorcerers called to face trials and prove who was the most powerful, therefore worthy of the title Sorcerer Supreme. Surprisingly, when Strange shows up, he notices Doom there, too. (Makes sense to us as Doom is incredibly adept at magic). Although Strange wins in the end, Doom comes as a close second.
5. Armor Contains Part Of A Major Religious Artifact
Whilst vampires may just be a work of fiction, in the Marvel universe they are very much real. We have even met Dracula himself a few times. Latveria is very close to Transylvania, the homeland of the King of Vampires, so with Doom's intelligence, it makes complete sense he would take measures to protect himself from them. In the comic book Captain Britain and MI:13 #10, Doom reveals that his armor contains splinters of the true cross (the one Jesus was crucified on), making him immune to vampires and other mystical attacks.
4. He's Not Actually A Doctor
Doom is one of the most arrogant characters ever to be created and takes it very personally whenever he thinks someone is insulting him or his intelligence. Even when he plays "hero" at times, it's purely for his own benefit. However, his most obvious example of arrogance is in his title. Doom is expelled from his studies at Empire State University due to an explosion mishap, so he never gets to finish and earn his doctorate. Whilst it is certainly an intimidating title, "Doctor Doom" is actually quite inaccurate, but we wouldn't recommend saying it to him.
3. Was Literally A God
One of Doom's most well known attributes is his thirst for power. Throughout numerous storylines, we have seen him trying to steal it from others or create his own. During the Secret Wars storyline, he actually succeeds in absorbing the power of the Beyonders and creates a brand new multiverse in his image, crowning himself "God Emperor Doom." He even takes Sue Storm as his wife and her children with Reed Richards as his own. Thankfully, Reed and other heroes are able to rise up and overthrow him, fixing the multiverse, but it's a storyline that helps prove why Doom is one of Marvel's more formidable villains.
2. Was Stan Lee's Favorite Villain
Stan Lee will forever be remembered for what he gave the world in the form of all these wonderful characters. Alongside such artists as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Lee would co-create almost the entire Marvel Universe, including a lot of its supervillains. Lee had been asked many times over the years who is favorite was, and he would always state Doctor Doom was. Back in 2016, he even said:
"Everybody has Doctor Doom misunderstood. Everybody thinks he's a criminal, but all he wants is to rule the world. Now if you really think about if objectively, you could walk up to a policeman, and you could say, 'Excuse me, officer, I want to tell you something: I want to rule the world.' He can't arrest you; it’s not a crime to want to rule the world."
I mean, I guess he is right!
1. He Has Gone Toe-To-Toe With The Devil
The character Mephisto is not one many non-comic book readers know. Thanks to hints in WandaVision, the character has become a little more well known of late. Essentially, he is the Devil of the Marvel Universe, residing over a dominion he calls Hell. He also procures and tortures souls. One such procurement is the soul of Cynthia Von Doom, the good doctor's mother. Doom became obsessed with trying to free her soul, and so made a deal with Mephisto whereby he could summon him once per year to a fight, and if he won, Mephisto would need to release her, but if not, then the people of Latveria would grow to hate Doom with each failed attempt. Unfortunately, Doom is never able to defeat the powerful Mephisto, but his mother's soul goes on to be saved by Doctor Strange.
Well there you go, 10 things you didn't know about Doctor Strange. With Fantastic Four being confirmed as an upcoming project under the ever widening umbrella of Marvel Studios, hopefully we will finally get to see an interpretation of the Doom on the big screen which does him justice.
How many of the above did you know? Do you know any others?
Until next time!