Character history

Victor was born to Werner von Doom, a noted Roma healer, and Cynthia von Doom, who was said to be a witch. His mother was killed when Victor was an infant. She had attempted to gain power to protect her gypsy tribe from persecution by the reigning authorities of Latveria. Unfortunately, she bargained with the demon Mephisto for power, and as is so often the case when dealing with demons, she was betrayed and killed. Later, Victor's father was hunted by the authorities for his failure to cure a Latverian baron's wife of terminal cancer. Werner von Doom died from exposure whilst fleeing and the young Victor von Doom was placed in the care of the remaining gypsy tribe. Victor vowed to make the entire world pay for the loss of his parents.

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. His astounding reputation came to the attention of the dean of science at State University in America, and von Doom was offered a full scholarship. At 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 marring his right cheek with a long, jagged scar, a scar that his 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. In some versions the scarring was not particularly severe, but Doom was overly sensitive about it as a symbol of his failure. Eventually Doom discovered a village of Tibetan monks amongst whom he lived for a number of years. They assisted him in crafting a suit of body armor that concealed his "deformity," and in some versions of the story (small-scar Doom), he seriously burned himself when he ordered the mask be put on while it was still red-hot. 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.

Doom was briefly deposed by Zorba, a prince from the royal family Doom had previously overthrown. 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. Ironically, 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.

Although Von Doom has significant scientific knowledge and ability, he lacks an advanced university degree. Von Doom apparently likes the sound of "Doctor Doom"; as the absolute ruler of a country, he simply started calling himself that. It has been suggested that Doom granted himself an honorary doctorate from a Latverian university, though he has never formally obtained a doctorate and considers it a mere technicality.

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 armour made of her skin. As a direct result of this storyline, Doom possessed Ben Grimm, forcing Richards to kill them both. Ben Grimm was later brought back from the dead, but Dr. Doom's whereabouts are unknown.

A Doombot built by Ultron to trick his "son," Victor Mancha recently appeared in Runaways, sporting his original metal armour.

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, Master of the Mystic Arts and Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, he wrested his mother's spirit from Mephisto's grasp; a vital step in this process turned out to be tricking his mother into renouncing her love for Victor, and though it was difficult for him he was able to make that necessary sacrifice.

He has also achieved world domination several times, but has relinquished it for a variety of reasons, including boredom. When the world's mightiest heroes 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 was by most accounts a very good ruler, leading this world into a period of unparalleled prosperity. He eventually abdicated as ruler of Planet Doom and returned to Earth, finding the task of world domination to be tedious once it had finally been achieved. In a short-lived series of comics set in the year 2099, Doctor Doom was transported to that time from some point in our current near future 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 begins improving the quality of life in the United States as well, reinstituting democracy and an effective non-corrupt police force.

Despite repeated attempts through the years, Doom has been unable to defeat completely Mister Fantastic, although several of their encounters have resulted in temporary victories for Doom. In hand-to-hand battle, he has also been physically humiliated by the Thing and Doom has vowed to take revenge on both men. He has come close on several occasions; however, he has failed to permanently defeat either of them.

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 is utterly heartless and places little value on the lives of others, he also follows a strict code of honor. Several times he has struck bargains with various characters in the Marvel Universe, and he has always upheld those bargains, honoring his word and following through with his promises to the letter. He is a cruel and ruthless dictator; yet while he rules his nation of Latveria with an iron hand and is willing to deliver swift and cruel punishments, he also treats his subjects fairly (as long as they acknowledge his absolute rule) and at times has even put himself at risk to protect his kingdom and subjects. This complexity has made him one of the more interesting characters in the Marvel Universe.

Adversaries

Even though the Fantastic Four consider Doom to be "their" villain, Doom actually pops up all over the Marvel Universe, casually stomping on anyone who gets in his way. He has faced the Avengers and the X-Men numerous times. Individual heroes like Spider-Man, Iron Man and Dazzler have become embroiled in his schemes. It's hard to avoid Doom if you have super-powers; he has even been able to steal the power of the Silver Surfer, Galactus and the Beyonder.

Powers and abilities

Doom's most dangerous weapon is his genius-level intellect. He is easily one of the smartest men in the Marvel Universe, consistently beaten by Reed Richards largely due to his own arrogance and egocentrism. Doom has constructed hundreds of devices, including a working time machine (the first of its kind on Earth), devices which can imbue people with superpowers, and many types of robots. His most frequently-used robots are his "Doombots," exact mechanical replicas of the real Doctor Doom. They look like him, talk like him, and even act like him. Individually, Doombots have an advanced A.I. program that causes them to believe themselves really to be Doctor Doom. In order to prevent his duplicates from harming or out-performing him, Doctor Doom installs each Doombot with a dampener program that reduces all of its abilities when activated. This program is triggered whenever a Doombot enters Von Doom's presence or the presence of other Doombots. These imitation Dooms have been created to impersonate Doctor Doom when he either cannot be present or is unwilling to risk his own life (such as when confronting powerful foes). They are also, in a way, a plot device: often, if Doom is apparently defeated, acts out of character in a story, or even seems to die, "it was only a robot". Another common sight around Latveria are the purple-and-grey Warrior Robots, who resemble hulking humans in metallic armor and enforce Doom's laws.

Doom also possesses a good deal of sorcerous ability, able to fire blasts of mystical energy from his hands, create protective shields of magical energy, ensnare foes in bands of energy (the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak), and create portals to other planes of existence, such as Mephisto's hellish realm or the Dreamtime of the Australian Aborigines. Doom has also developed the ability to transfer psionically his consciousness into another nearby human being with whom he's made eye contact, a process which he learned from the alien Ovoids. However, Doom prefers his own body and only uses this transference power as a last resort.

Dr. Doom's iron-clad face is instantly recognizable to most of the world's population, a fact attributable to his infamous, high-tech, nuclear powered, computer assisted battle suit. Doom's first (and truly "original") set of armor was magically forged at a hidden monastery in the high mountains of Tibet; since then, his dark plated armor has been enhanced and repaired by normal technological means. Although a skilled practitioner of the mystic arts, Victor von Doom more often relies upon his armor for most of his powers. The armor is fashioned of a high-strength titanium alloy. Built into the right wrist is a video communicator, which he can use to stay in contact with all his bases from any point on Earth. To deal with those insignificant fools who would dare to touch Doom, the armor is built to generate a massive electric shock on command. The armor is equipped with twin jetpacks mounted at the waist which permit flight, though some suits contain a back-mounted single jetpack. Concussive bolts of force can be fired from the gauntlets and faceplate of the armor, though the mask only generates force blasts when it is not being worn. The suit's best defense is the force field generated by the armor, which has a maximum radius of eight feet (and so can encompass others); Doom cannot attack without lowering his force field. Infrared scanners in the helmet allow the wearer to detect heat sources, permitting night vision and the ability to see invisible persons (unless they do not give off or can somehow mask their heat signature). The armor is self-supporting, equipped with internal stores & recycling systems for air, food, water, and energy, allowing the wearer to survive lengthy periods of exposure underwater or in outer space. Optical scanners in the helmet allow the helmet's eyepieces to be used as high-powered telescopes, and parabolic ear amplifiers fitted inside the helmet allow Doom to detect extremely faint sounds and unusual frequencies within the audible range for humans. A thermo-energizer allows the armor to absorb and store solar and heat energy, and use it to power the armor's other systems; this system can only be used while the force field is deactivated. In addition, Doom often carries a pistol (A "Broomhandle Mauser", at least in older stories) to dispose of weaker enemies whom he considers unworthy to kill with his armor's weaponry.

Being the leader of a sovereign nation, Doctor Doom enjoys the grace of diplomatic immunity while in America during the few times he is there for non-pernicious, political actions and diplomacy. He is even accompanied and escorted by Captain America himself.