Avengers: Doomsday Spotlights (Finale), Part 28 — Dr. Doom

“Part of the journey is the end.” Truer words have never been spoken by Robert Downey Jr., as after roughly seven months of covering the biggest names and characters in the cast, we’ve finally reached the last and most important character of this whole movie: Dr. Victor Von Doom himself. Ever since RDJ announced himself as the villain, many fans (myself included) have been skeptical about how this will go, especially since the MCU hastily cast this new villain after the Jonathan Majors incident and has done little to set Doom up afterwards. However, thanks to RDJ’s undying dedication and passion for good storytelling, and especially thanks to the recent trailers, excitement for this portrayal has never been higher. After all, if you’re going to establish yourself as the next Thanos, no bigger statement could be made than by stopping an anti-Infinity Gauntlet weapon with two fingers and declaring that hell itself answers to you. 

Origins

Considering how powerful Doom is, and every atrocious or otherwise insanely powerful feat he’s done over the years in comics, it’s almost hard to believe he was once like us. And just like most people, his life did not have a happy beginning. Many years ago, Victor once lived in the small but dictatorial European country of Latveria. Both of Doom’s parents were Romani, with his dad a doctor and his mother a gypsy who practiced black magic and sorcery. Unfortunately, it was because of this practice that led Doom’s mother to the worst manipulator in Marvel: Mephisto. Wanting to fight back against the Baron and his cruel forces, she made a deal with Mephisto that granted her powers, but the demonic entity manipulated events, leading to her death at the hands of the soldiers and thereby obtaining her soul. Despite this act of rebellion, Victor and his father were largely left alone, but that wouldn’t last long. After Victor’s dad failed to save the Baron’s wife from a cancerous disease, the Baron had his forces pursue both Victor and his dad, eventually driving them into the mountains. With an unexpectedly early winter mercilessly oppressing them, Victor’s dad made the ultimate sacrifice by shielding his son from the cold, freezing to death. Despite the unbelievable amount of tragedy, Victor would not break. Instead, he found his mother’s books and artifacts, teaching himself sorcery with the goal of one day freeing her soul from Mephisto. With this goal in mind, he took his self-teaching further by adding science, even successfully combining science with sorcery (which becomes very important to his character later). However, Victor’s intellectual achievements hadn’t gone unnoticed. Wanting to recruit Victor’s brilliant mind while keeping it far from enemy forces, a U.S. general tracked Victor down to offer him a chance to come to America and learn at a great university with access to some of the best labs and technology around. Desperate to save his mother and especially to get away from his crumbling country, Victor immediately accepted. 

However, a new change doesn’t always equal a smooth ride, and Doom’s academic journey would be no exception. Now, before continuing, one clarification I need to make about my original Mr. Fantastic article is that I said Reed Richards and Doom became roommates, but I was mistaken. It turns out they were almost roommates when they first met, but the general who recruited Doom had already arranged for him to have a private room with its own secret lab, leading Reed to room with Ben Grimm instead. Regardless, this didn’t stop Reed and Doom from becoming instant rivals, a relationship that continues even to this day. But the iconic hero/enemy dynamic didn’t truly kick off until that one fateful day when Doom tried to contact his mother from beyond the grave. Using his combination of science and magic, Doom created a machine that would allow him to find and communicate with his mother’s soul, serving as one more step toward freeing her. However, Reed discovered a flaw in Victor’s calculations and tried to warn him against going through with the experiment. Ever the prideful man, though, Doom activated the machine anyway. While he was somewhat successful in reaching his mom, the machine still caused a massive explosion, leaving Victor alive but horribly scarred. 

To make matters worse, Doom was expelled, and he blamed Reed for the whole thing, refusing to accept any responsibility. Even so, this still wasn’t enough to keep Victor down. While in Tibet, he gained control of a group of monks who helped create his iconic armor as we see it today. They also made his mask, but Doom still put it on before it properly cooled, worsening his scars. Still, after Doom accumulated enough power, he returned to Latveria to take care of unfinished business. Dethroning the Baron and usurping rulership of Latveria, Doom ruled with an iron fist and set out to conquer the rest of the world, fully believing that only he could properly and effectively save and guide it. Of course, this would lead him into multiple conflicts with the Fantastic Four, followed by many other heroes for many years afterwards. 

Powers, Abilities, and Weaknesses

As anyone even remotely familiar with Marvel comics knows, Dr. Doom definitely isn’t your average villain of the week. In fact, Dr. Doom has proven to be an insanely massive threat not just to the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, or even the world, but even the whole multiverse many times. And just like other powerful or otherwise formidable heroes and villains (like Mr. Fantastic, Steve Rogers, or Loki), it all starts with his insanely high intelligence. After all, it’s what allowed him to become a quick study in magic, understanding it and advancing his skills so quickly and so deeply that he knows things about the mystic arts that even Dr. Strange himself doesn’t. Further, Marvel has even confirmed that “Doom also claims one of the most thorough libraries of magic spells and artifacts on the planet and the skill to use them to maximum effect” (marvel.com). So, even if there’s something about magic Doom doesn’t know, he can—and will—find out and flawlessly execute it. If that wasn’t enough, his scientific knowledge is just as extensive and dangerous. That machine he built to contact his mother’s soul is only a taste of what Doom is capable of; he’s also built machines or devices that have helped him travel through time and even across planes of existence. Most notable of these machines is his time-platform, because standard time travel is actually just hopping around alternate timelines. But Doom’s platform, on the other hand, actually allows true time travel where you can manipulate the flow of time. If that still isn’t enough, he has used his prowess to create one of the largest and most dangerous robotic armies on the planet. Most notable of these mechanical soldiers are his Doombots, which are near-perfect imitations of their creator, or even whoever Doom wants them to resemble. Of course, this can be very useful for espionage, sabotage, and even combat since they’ll be just as armed as Doom is. But of course, despite creating highly advanced armies and weapons, there’s still the matter of protecting your own country. And as yet another testament to Doom’s intelligence, he armed Latveria and its defenses to the teeth, making it one of the most fortified nations on the planet. Overall, Doom is hailed as one of the most brilliant minds in all of Marvel Comics, rivaling (and occasionally even surpassing) people like Tony Stark or Reed Richards. Thanks to his tactful mind, he is always ten steps ahead of his opponents, so the battlefield always answers to him alone. 

But of course, being the smartest guy in the room—while incredibly useful and underrated—can only get you so far. Not that most people even need awesome powers or anything, but sometimes the right tools are needed to get the job done or make a point. But for Doom, they don’t just make a point; his powers make a statement. First, there’s his nearly unrivaled mystical knowledge. Of course, like with most magic-based powers, he can fire mystical energy blasts and near-impenetrable force fields, which are enhanced by the enchantments etched into his armor. However, his magical prowess goes much deeper than that: he has also been known to excel in advanced spellcasting (again, using spells and knowledge that even Dr. Strange does not know), create dimensional portals, teleport, and summon or even bind supernatural entities. Even if a skilled sorcerer or powerful entity—like Strange or Dormammu, respectively—tries to challenge him, Doom’s mystical knowledge is so deep that he can quickly pick apart and counter each attack with countermagic. The most dangerous part of all this, though, is when he combines these abilities with his more scientific or physical ones. For instance, Doom’s armor alone is made of a strong yet lightweight titanium alloy, making him nearly invincible against most attacks even before the mystical enhancements. Further, the suit also grants him inhuman strength, which helps him lift a reported two solid tons. And since that apparently still isn’t enough, Doom’s armor is also armed to the teeth with highly advanced weapons, such as the powerful energy blasts that he can fire from his gauntlets. Yet, even if Doom’s opponents can shrug this all off, bypass his defenses, or at least stay alive long enough, Doom still has one last trick up his sleeve. This trick comes from his encounter with a group of aliens known as the Ovoids, who are essentially immortal because they can swap their minds with cloned bodies to escape their dying corpses. But of course, Doom shows no such consideration. Simply by making eye contact with the nearest person, Doom will swap minds with his victim if the situation demands it. 

Despite many instances when Doom has risen to meet every challenge, he’s still his own downfall. As established many times throughout this series, many characters’ worst weaknesses are usually themselves, but Doom takes it to a whole new level. This is mainly due to Doom’s insanely huge ego and pride: that man believes he’s completely infallible in every instance, absolutely refusing to accept the slightest chance that anyone other than him is right about something. This feeds heavily into his belief that he’s the only one smart and capable enough to save and lead the world into a better future. He also often refuses to accept help (much less offer it) unless the situation benefits him, and even then he’ll still try to do it alone. One time, he found a parallel universe where that version of Doom actually succeeded in making his universe into a utopia. When our Doom asked him how he did it, that Doom shared that all he had to do was admit that Reed Richards was right, forgive him, and let go of his anger. In response, our Doom completely obliterated that whole universe because he refused to accept any reality where anyone, ESPECIALLY Reed, was right. That man is so spiteful and prideful that he would rather destroy a reality than accept his flaws and heal himself. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because aside from his pride making him act out of emotion, it also makes him easier to manipulate or blindside whenever he slips up, even for a second. For instance, in the recent “One World Under Doom” comics, when the heroes make one final last-ditch effort to stop him, he unleashes a massive attack. It felled most of the heroes, but he didn’t realize that his goddaughter (Valeria Richards) had snuck onto the battlefield and was killed in the crossfire. This would cause Doom to sacrifice his own life to bring her back; a rare demonstration of pure love for someone other than himself, but still a moment where he acted irrationally and paid the price for it. Further, his pride keeps him from accepting the cold, hard truth that he tried to surpass for years: despite all that power, he’s still a man. His magic is powerful, but it can be countered. His armor is strong, but it can be broken. His robot soldiers are many, but they can be destroyed as easily as human ones. He may think of himself as a god, but he makes just as many mistakes and erroneous judgments as any man. Make no mistake, though: Doom is one of the greatest threats in Marvel comics, but that doesn’t change the fact that he can still fall like any other villain. 

Greatest Feats

Dr. Doom has one of the most extensive and deepest lore in all of Marvel that simply listing three feats doesn’t do the character justice. Regardless, I believe I have found three signature moments in his story that demonstrate his power, character, and ideology. 

One such moment reveals a shocking truth about Doom, one that nobody knows or thinks about: underneath all that armor is a beating heart. It’s almost hard to believe, considering that Doom—despite his single-minded pursuits to “save” the world—doesn’t care about many people. Regardless of these extremely rare circumstances, Doom forged a deep relationship with a particular member of the Fantastic Four’s family. It all started when Susan Storm was pregnant with her second child, but due to her previous exposure to cosmic radiation, the unborn child emitted extremely lethal amounts of radiation. However, just as the family believed they had lost their daughter in a miscarriage, a future version of Franklin used his insanely powerful reality-warping abilities to transport Valeria to an alternate timeline. While she found her way back to the main Marvel universe—all grown up as Marvel Girl—an altercation with a cosmic entity reset reality, and the future Franklin had to put her back inside Sue’s womb. But while pregnant with Valeria yet again, the radiation problems also returned, and the pregnancy was killing both of them. With Reed captured by a group of Inhumans, and Ben obviously nowhere near qualified for this operation, Johnny turned to the next best option he could think of: their greatest enemy. After admitting no one else could help (especially not Reed), Johnny successfully convinced Doom to help, but on one condition: he would have the sole right to name her upon delivery. Begrudgingly, everyone agreed. After delivering her safely, Doom named her Valeria after his first love (which is surprising, given that he literally sacrificed her to demons for more power and basically turned her skin into his new armor). Even then, Doom used this birth as an opportunity to get back at the family by turning her into his familiar, which traumatized and angered everyone. But the surprising part is, despite using his own goddaughter as a weapon, he still maintained a very close relationship with her until “One World Under Doom.” He may not have loved her as a parent would, but Doom makes it abundantly clear that she’s one of the few people in all existence who have his respect and admiration, and can especially match him in intelligence. This has been very useful because this close relationship gave Valeria constant opportunities to convince Doom to act more heroically (or at least more decently), such as secretly funding charitable causes or saving her family from the Mad Celestials. In fact, as mentioned previously, Doom loves Valeria so much that he was willing to exchange his own life for Valeria’s after accidentally killing her during the finale of “One World Under Doom.” While this hardly redeems Doom in light of all the atrocities he’s committed, it still reminds us that Doom has the capacity for love and connection. 

But of course, just as he reminds us that he’s human, he puts equal effort into reminding us that he’s Doom. During the events of “Avengers: Emperor Doom,” Dr. Doom once again hatches a plan to take over the world. However, unlike his many previous plots, Doom acquired the (unwilling) assistance of Zebediah Killgrave, better known as the Purple Man. After he captured him, Doom constructed a massive machine—the Psycho-Prism—and put Killgrave inside as the main conduit. Channeling Killgrave’s mind-controlling pheromones, he amplified them to the level that he could control the entire world. Even the Avengers who arrived to stop him immediately fell under his sway the minute they were affected. But he didn’t rule with an iron fist as most people would assume. Instead, the world entered a state of unparalleled peace for a whole month. Wars stopped. World hunger stopped. Essentially, everything that’s wrong with the world stopped for as long as Doom was in power. That term didn’t last long, because after a month under Doom’s rule, Wonder Man changed everything. A superhero with powers based on ionic energy, Simon Williams placed himself in a deprivation chamber to study those powers. Thanks to already being in the tank when Doom took over, and to his unique biology, he was immune to Purple Man’s pheromones. Immediately after realizing what was going on, Wonder Man freed other heroes to form a small resistance against Doom. The Avengers’ efforts were surprisingly effective, as they reached Killgrave’s prison and even freed Namor the Sub-Mariner. But this is where things get crazy, because despite Doom having the capability to unleash lethal nerve gas into the chamber, he chooses not to do it. This may seem uncharacteristic at first glance, but the truth is that Doom, even at the pinnacle of power with the world in his hands, felt very unsatisfied with his win. Purple Man allowed Doom to force everyone into complete compliance, but that meant there was no one left to challenge him. In fact, when the heroes were freed and rose against Doom, there’s even a panel where he admits that he finally felt alive again. In the end, Doom let the heroes destroy the machine and the world went back to normal…but that didn’t automatically mean it was a good thing. Nations went back to war, hunger returned, and the world went right back to the point where it started. The state of the world was so messed up that, despite Captain America’s arguments about freedom of choice, heroes like Hawkeye wondered if they did the right thing. Was the world truly better under Dr. Doom? He might’ve stripped away free will, but there’s no denying that the world—in a sense—was finally the Avengers’ goal realized and manifested. 

That same goal would actually be realized yet again years later, but in an extremely bizarre way. Doom didn’t just conquer the world; he literally remade it and conquered reality itself. But unlike his previous conquest with Purple Man, this plan hatched in the midst of chaos and destruction rather than in calculated preparation. In 2015’s “Secret Wars,” the multiverse was dying. Universes were colliding with each other (an event known as an Incursion), destroying both realities unless one was destroyed first. While the Illuminati worked overtime to destroy universes that were about to crash into them and stop the Incursions once and for all, Dr. Doom had a different approach. After Owen Reece—Molecule Man—came to Doom for help, he revealed to the Latverian dictator the truth about his past: it turns out that an omnipotent extradimensional race known as the Beyonders actually created a singular Molecule Man but split him into various manifestations throughout the multiverse, which must’ve happened sometime around when Owen first got his powers. But the sickest part of this is that the Beyonders planned to detonate every Molecule Man simultaneously and wipe out all realities in existence; not for any malevolent purpose, but merely as an experiment to study the aftermath. This is when Owen, Doom, and even Dr. Strange traverse the multiverse to kill every Molecule Man they could find before the Beyonders could detonate them, in hopes of weakening their multiversal bomb. However, that only made things worse. Killing Molecule Men actually began causing more Incursions, so the group switched tactics and started capturing Molecule Men instead. This would ultimately culminate in a final confrontation between them and the Beyonders, where Doom launched and detonated all the captured Molecule Men directly at the Beyonders, killing them all. But with the multiverse still in shambles by this point, Doom absorbed all the Beyonders’ power, and this is where his greatest feat truly shines. Using his newfound powers, Doom takes pieces from different destroyed realities and constructs a patchwork planet that becomes the new Battleworld. Ruling for eight years as God Emperor Doom, he remade everything into his will: he made Susan Storm his wife, turned her brother into the literal sun for Battleworld, remade Ben Grimm into a wall that protected their city’s boundaries, and even had his own police force composed of Thor variants (known as the Thor Corps). And for good measure, he kept Molecule Man locked up to serve as his power source and keep things running, while also making Dr. Strange his sheriff. No one remembered their previous lives, but everything changed when Reed Richards’s life raft crashed onto Battleworld. Containing the survivors of the original Marvel universe, both heroes and villains mounted an uprising against Doom, but things failed spectacularly at first. Doom killed a Phoenix Force-possessed Cyclops without breaking a sweat, ripped Thanos’s skeleton out of his body, killed Strange for betraying him, and even matched an Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Black Panther. Thankfully, during the confusion, Mr. Fantastic made his way to Owen to fix things. Once Doom figured it out, he went to stop Reed, but Molecule Man stripped away Doom’s godly powers to make the fight more fair. By the end of a knock-down, knuckle-dragging fight, Doom did something truly shocking: he acknowledged that Reed could’ve done better with all of this than he ever could. This doubt already lingered long before the fight. But even then, Doom normally would never admit anyone could be better than him (again, he obliterated another universe because that Doom admitted Reed was right). So to hear this level of humility from Doom’s own mouth is nothing but purely shocking, to say the least. In fact, I’m not sure what’s more iconic about this story: the fact that Doom was the most powerful he’s ever been, or that he humbled himself before his most hated rival. 

Conclusion

Marvel has countless terrifying villains, some of which are even more powerful than Doom himself. Even so, none of them can measure up to the commanding aura and popularity of Doom. And even if Doom is outmatched, he always finds a way to reach omnipotence. While Kang the Conqueror would’ve made an equally formidable villain for the MCU, Marvel should’ve gone with Doom from the very start of the Multiverse Saga. Instead, they completely blundered a powerful cosmic threat, threw Doom in at the last minute because of the Jonathan Majors incident, and recast Robert Downey Jr. as the villain. But despite the lack of buildup for Doom and the bold (borderline questionable) casting choice of RDJ, I’m still very excited to see what comes of this movie. Plus, with RDJ’s fearless dedication to making a good story, I believe this movie will truly become something special.