About Me
Victor was born to noted healer Werner von Doom and Cynthia von Doom, a witch. Some accounts state that Cynthia von Doom died when he was still a baby, others suggest she survived until at least his adolescence and may have inadvertently given Victor von Doom the idea for his future green attire by buying him a green cloak. Werner von Doom was later to die, shielding young Victor, in a snowdrift while being chased by the local Baron's men, after Werner was unable to use even his healing skills to aid the Baroness. Victor von Doom was very embittered by this experience.
Cover to Fantastic Four (vol. 1) #247. Art by John Byrne.While a child, he discovered his mother's magical artifacts and von Doom began his studies into the occult as well as developing his innate scientific abilities. Either due to tales of his sheer brilliance or due to the technical sophistication of an insurgency campaign against the Baron led by Doom, his astounding reputation came to the attention of the dean of science at Empire State University in America, and von Doom was offered a full scholarship. At Empire State, von Doom first met both Reed Richards and Ben Grimm, two men who would go on to become his enemies in later years as Mister Fantastic and the Thing, respectively. Richards, in particular, represented a substantial threat to Doom's self-perceived superiority. Doom began conducting hazardous extra-dimensional experiments.The focus of Doom's research was to construct a trans-dimensional projection device with which he could communicate with his dead mother. There was a flaw in the design which Richards pointed out to him, but Doom's pride prevented him from accepting Richards' advice and fixing the device before testing it. The machine worked perfectly for two minutes and 37 seconds, in which time Doom discovered that his mother was trapped in Mephisto's Hell. Then the device exploded, permanently damaging Doom's face; the most recent retelling of Doom's origin attests that this was the work of Mephisto striking at him, and by some accounts, the facial damage amounted only to one cheek being marked with a long, jagged scar, a scar that Doom's incredible vanity magnified into a hideous disfigurement. Refusing to acknowledge his own fault in the matter, Doom blamed Richards for the accident, finding it easier to believe that Richards had sabotaged his work out of jealousy than admit to his own imperfection.Doom was expelled from school afterward, and traveled the world searching for a cure for his scarred face, which he viewed as a symbol of his failure. Eventually Doom discovered a village of Tibetan monks amongst whom he lived for a number of years. Mastering their sorcerous disciplines, he took control of the monastery, and had the monks assist him in crafting a suit of body armor. In his eagerness to finish donning the suit and begin his new life as "Doctor Doom," however, he donned the armor's freshly-cast mask before it had been properly cooled, ensuring that, if his face had not been seriously disfigured before, it now most certainly was. This suit would become his trademark, and thanks to his technological enhancements, it puts him on par in terms of personal power with most superheroes in the Marvel Universe. After this, he returned to his homeland, overthrew the standing government, and crowned himself king. Ruling with an iron fist and an equally strong will, Doom began to redirect the small nation's resources to help him realize his goals.
Dr. Doom vs Mr. Fantastic. Art by Salvador Larroca.Doom was briefly deposed by Zorba, a prince from the royal family Doom had previously overthrown. After months in exile, Doom managed to convince the Fantastic Four to aid him in taking back Latveria by showing them that under Zorba's corrupt rule, the nation had fallen into crime and poverty. When Zorba learned that Doom had returned, he ordered his robot forces to massacre his own people to prevent a coup led by Doom. Realizing that Zorba was a greater threat to the Latverian people than Doom, the team reluctantly agreed to assist their enemy. Doom soon killed Zorba and reclaimed his throne, but in the process, one of his loyal Latverian subjects was killed before his eyes. Doom adopted the fallen woman's son, Kristoff Vernard, and raised the boy as his heir. In addition, as Doom considers his genius and leadership to be priceless assets to the Earth, he used Kristoff as a fallback plan to be used in the unlikely event of his premature death. When Doom was indeed seemingly killed, his robots enacted this plan and copied Doom's knowledge and memories into young Kristoff's brain. For a time, Kristoff even believed himself to be Doom, but eventually realized the truth and submitted to the true Doom's rule. Kristoff seems to be the half-brother of Doom's hated rival Reed Richards, though none of the three seem to be aware of this fact.In 2003, Doom realized he was unnecessarily limiting himself by focusing on technology, and only occasionally his magical birthright. He sold his childhood sweetheart's soul to a trio of demons in exchange for unlimited magical ability and new leather armor made of her skin. As a direct result of this storyline, Doom was confined to Hell, but was later recovered by Reed, who intended to trap him in a small Möebius strip dimension forever. To effect his escape, Doom's consciousness possessed Ben Grimm, forcing Richards to kill them both. Ben Grimm was later brought back from the dead, while Doom's consciousness returned to his imprisoned body.
Cover to Fantastic Four (vol. 1) #536. Art by Mike McKone.When the hibernating Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, fell to Earth, it passed through time and space, momentarily breaching the gateway to Hell itself, providing Doom a way to escape. Upon his return to Earth, Doom regained control of Latveria, and used its forces to locate the crash-landing site of Mjolnir and attempt to seize its power for himself. Later, a Doombot was taken down by Reed Richards, Henry Pym, Iron Man, She-Hulk and others in New York City; whether or not it was sent by Doom himself remains to be seen, as does his role in the overall conflict.[1] Doom was not invited to the wedding of Storm and the Black Panther; however he did send a present: an invitation to form an alliance with Latveria, using the Civil War currently going on among the hero community as a reason to quite possibly forge an alliance between their two countries. When Black Panther, on a diplomatic mission to other countries with Storm, did show up in Latveria, he presented them with a real present, and extended another invitation to form an alliance with Black Panther. He demonstrated behavior very uncharacteristic of him, however, which may or may not become a plot point later. Panther spurned the invitation, detonating an EMP that blacked out a local portion of Latveria before Doom's robots could destroy his ship. Doom, enraged, attacked the Panther. Panther's costume turned into Light Armor as he fought back. Storm assisted her husband to retreat. Panther argued against Storm assisting him, and Doom mocked the two of them, ending the fight and sending them on their way. The two made up and continued on their journey, planning on visiting the Inhumans on the moon next. Doom is then shown collaborating with the Red Skull on a weapon which will only "be the beginning" of Captain America's suffering.[2] Doom gave the Skull the weapon because the Skull gave Victor pieces of technology from an old German castle. The castle was owned by a "Baron of Iron" centuries prior, who had used his technological genius to protect himself and his people. The map the Red Skull used to find the castle bore a picture of Doom. Doom states that the technology the Skull gave him is more advanced than what he currently has, and that he will become the Baron of Iron in his future.[edit] Goals
Doctor Doom is driven by three principal objectives: the destruction of Reed Richards, world domination, and the liberation of his mother's soul from the demon Mephisto's realm.He has so far achieved two of these aims. With the help of Doctor Strange, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, he wrested his mother's spirit from Mephisto; a vital step in this process was tricking his mother into renouncing her love for Victor.He has also achieved world domination more than once, though various reasons always end his reign. In the graphic novel Emperor Doom, he achieved control of the world by using and amplifying the mind control power of the Purple Man. However, Wonder Man escaped the mind-control effect, and managed to break Doom's hold over several selected Avenger colleagues. An enraged Sub-Mariner smashed the device, ending Doom's control over Earth (although it should be here noted that Doom, bored with the fruits of his success and the world peace that resulted, decided not to activate a special nerve gas of his own design that would have killed almost every Avenger in the hangar where they were assembled).
Doctor Doom steals the Silver Surfer's Power Cosmic. Art by Jack Kirby.Later, when the Fantastic Four returned from the alternate Earth to which they had been shunted following their confrontation with the sentient psionic being Onslaught, Doctor Doom remained behind and conquered that planet, which he dubbed "Planet Doom".He led the world into an unparalleled prosperity and eventually abdicated, returning to the original Earth as he missed his homeland Latveria.In an alternate future, Doctor Doom was transported to the year 2099 from some point in our present and upon seeing the decrepit state of Latveria, he becomes the President of the United States in order to curb the power of the megacorporations based there that were oppressing his people.As a side effect, he began improving the quality of life in the U.S. as well, re-instituting democracy and an effective non-corrupt police force.Despite repeated attempts through the years, Doom has been unable to completely defeat Mister Fantastic, although several of their encounters have resulted in temporary victories for Doom. Arguably the closest of these to an absolute victory was when Reed Richards had found himself teleported inside of Doom's armor, and wound up assuming his identity. A facet of the armor's programming ensured that if anyone other than Doom were to wear it, they would over time become more and more like Doom himself. As Richards' behavior grew more and more despotic, the rest of the Fantastic Four found themselves having to turn to an armorless, yet extremely smug Victor von Doom. Doom, with the help of the other members of the Fantastic Four, was able to overcome Richards in combat and strip him of the armor, leaving him humiliated over the lengths he had gone to under its influence. However, as Reed Richards was not in his right mind at the time, and his defeat would not have occurred without his team assisting Doom, Doom may not consider this incident defeat enough. In hand-to-hand battle, he has also been physically beaten by the Thing, and Doom has vowed to take revenge on both men. He has come close on several occasions but has failed to permanently defeat either.Doctor Doom's plans are fueled by his ego and his conviction that he is not only capable of world domination, but also worthy and deserving of it. While he places little value on the lives of others, he also follows a code of honor. Several times, he has struck bargains with various characters in the Marvel Universe, and has upheld those bargains. He is a cruel and ruthless dictator, willing to deliver swift and cruel punishments (he once atomized a personal orchestra that failed to complete the Minute Waltz in exactly one minute[issue # needed] - a considerable feat considering the waltz actually takes longer than a chronological minute to play). He also has a secret, hidden guillotine used to kill dissidents, yet he also treats his subjects fairly and at times has even put himself at risk to protect his kingdom and subjects
