Even if you don't like comic-book characters, this entry will leave you inspired and motivated
Dr Victor von Doom is easily one of the most powerful and the best Marvel character ever created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Unfortunately, 20th Century Fox did an embarrassing job in showcasing the character to the big screen in the Fantastic 4 franchise as they did not just completely ignored and changed his origin story but they also did no justice whatsoever at portraying the power, the gentlemen code, the determination and the sheer genius of this incredible figure.
Now, if you read the title to this entry carefully, you’ll notice that I did not use the word ‘Villain’ because of …… well you’ll find out once you’ve finish reading this entry. If you’re like most people who cringed upon reading the title, that’s either because you don’t know who Dr Doom is or because as mentioned earlier, Fox did a terrific job at ruining the character on the big screen. Let’s get to some of the top reasons why Dr Victor von Doom, to me, is the best Marvel Character ever to have graced the comic.
His Batman-like origin, but better
Victor was born in a Gypsy camp outside of the wall of Latveria, a fictional European country in the Marvel universe. His father was a doctor but the more interesting character here is the mother, Cynthia von Doom. Cynthia is somewhat a devil worshiper in which she has deals with the underworld and practises magic and wizardry. Things didn't go well when the Government went after those who practices witchcrafts and Cynthia who was pregnant at the time, made a deal with the devil to protect her baby in the future but the deal turned awry and her soul was stolen by the evil underworld demon, Mephisto.
Victor and his father escaped and fled to the cold arctic region. They walked through the cold snow and blizzard until they couldn’t walk any further and decided to hide from the Government’s army. His dad wrapped Victor tightly to keep him safe and warm long throughout the day and night while his own life was slowly vanishing. In this emotionally tragic moment, Victor lost both of his beloved parents at such a tender age, unable to comprehend and accept the cruel reality that had befallen upon him. In his overwhelming sadness, he vowed to learn as much as he can about science and magic so that one day, he could make peace with his tragic past and save his beloved mother that he never met.
Akin to batman's origin, Doom’s origin is the story of a boy who used the emotional death of his parents to fuel an obsession, except it differs in that Doom’s obsession was with mastering science and magic so he could save his mother’s soul from the clutches of Mephisto regardless whatever it takes, whereas Batman wanted vengeance and a blind blanket justice.
He is a gifted genius
If there is one thing we can all admire about Doom, it has to be his determination to really master knowledge. With genuine interest and hard work, he studied science into great depth and length that he became so good at it. He mastered the knowledge of Physics, Chemistry and Medicine at such a tender age so much so that he was able to create lots of inventions with his most notorious one, The Doombot, an artificial intelligent robot which mimics Doom and serve as his double. He wanted to develop more of these robots to exert revenge upon the Latverian government for what they have done to his parents.
Doom’s incredible inventions and ingenuity caught the attention of the Empire State University of the United States of America in which he was offered a scholarship to further his study. It was at this point, he met Reed Richards and Ben Grimm (Soon to become Mr Fantastic and The Thing). One of the most conspicuous bad thing about him was that Doom had a very very big ego. He didn’t liked his two classmates and looked down upon them or any competitor for that matter. He was always full of himself, he only respects himself and to be fair, he is kind of brilliant enough to feel that way though.
He really really loved his mother
Determined to find his mother and save her soul from the clutches of Memphisto, Doom invented a machine (using resources from his institution) that could project a person’s astral form into other realms or dimension so that he could go to the netherrealm and find his mother. Reed Richards who saw what Doom was doing, noted that some of the calculations used was off by a few decimal points and could possibly turn fatal for Doom upon usage.
Did Doom respected the opinion of the hometown genius Reed Richards and made subsequent adjustments? Of course not.
Blinded by his ego, he told Richards to start the machine anyway. The plan backfired so bad that his body especially his face, became deformed and he had to be sent to the hospital. Upon discovering what Doom had been doing with the School’s resources, he was expelled immediately.
Despite this, it did not put out his desire to find his mother. His pursuit led him to enlist the help of Dr Strange in one of the best Marvel Comic Storyline Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment. When two of the most powerful sorcerers combined forces in an attempt to fight the powerful demon Mephisto in hell, you can bet that the story is freaking EPIC! Eventually, they both managed to trick the devil himself and freed the soul of Doom’s mother where she could rest in peace.
He is a master of science and sorcery
At this point, it’s safe to say that Doom is one of the brightest mind in the Marvel Universe. His genius level intellect even rival those of Reed Richards, Dr Strange and Tony Stark. One thing I should also add here is that while simultaneously studying science as a boy, he also studied magic and spells and thanks to some inherited ability from his mother, Doom was able to do some spells and magic of his own as well as developing a great and deep understanding of Magic that even rivaled the sorcerer supreme himself, Dr Strange.
Picking up from where we left Doom, after being expelled, the homeless and disfigured Doom traveled the world in search of dark magic for him to learn and master before eventually passing out at the Tibetan Mountain range. It was here that he was rescued by Tibetan monks who took him in, healed and taught him the magic and sorcery he wanted. Doom was a quick learner and when he proved himself worthy, the monks equipped him with a charmed titanium armour and mask which went on to become his second skin and default attire for most of his comic book existence. His genius intellect allowed him to quickly learn sophisticated dark magic, spells and sorcery up to the point that he became better than all of the monks and subsequently, a master to them. Impressive? Damn right.
Combining his technology and magic, the armour has been continuously upgraded and even at the very basic level, it gave him peak-human condition, enhanced senses, strength and agility. Through further upgrades, he managed to combine the wonders of magic and the marvel of science into his suit which allowed him to do all sort of crazy stuff like casting spells at will, shooting lasers and energy field, flight and teleportation to even enhancing his strength beyond superhuman level.
He became the embodiment of both science and sorcery and used these knowledge to push the boundary of his limit and capabilities to unprecedented heights, something not even the most genius of the avengers were able to do. Everything – From his weapons, his armour, his technology; were fortified with magic and charms, making him so powerful that he has beaten powerful enemies before with the aforementioned arsenals.
If you’re not convinced at just how powerful Doom’s magic is, he has learned magic and spells that not even Doctor Strange knows about and after Dr Strange stepped down, he almost became the next Sorcerer Supreme! TWICE!
He rules his own Nation
How many villains in the Marvel Universe you know of rules his own nation? That’s right, after leaving Tibet, he went back to Latveria to overthrow the ruler and sure enough, he did it with ease after leading a revolution. Now, you might think that the Latverian people fell into a dark age under his rule but to your surprise, he was loved, like genuinely loved and admired by his citizens. This is because all Doom ever wanted to do was make peace and progress in the world and given a country to run, he did just that. Crimes were unheard of, quality of education and healthcare improved monumentally, technological advancement made life better for the people so much that it could arguably rival Wakanda! (IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT WAKANDA IS, STOP RIGHT NOW AND GO WATCH BLACK PANTHER!) The bad thing about his ambition however is that he has not trust in other people and believed that only he can ensure peace in the world.
One awesome thing about being the leader of a country is that you are protected under ‘Diplomatic Immunity’. That means even The Avengers could not lay a finger upon him as it is against the law (unless he violates something). In Disney’s Avengers assemble, Dr Doom, under the capacity of the leader of Latveria, even enlisted the Avengers as his bodyguard in one of his visit for a conference in the United States. The team led by Captain America simply had to follow orders and protect Dr Doom throughout the episode.
The Avengers as his Bodyguards
You know you’re a badass when you use your enemy as your bodyguards.
He honours his words and the gentlemen code
He adheres to a strict code of honour at all times and believe it or not, he never lied, in fact, he is man of his words and will keep his exact words. Keeping to his words however can be a double-edged sword because while he may swear not to harm you, that doesn’t mean he will prevent others from doing so, so yeah.
His honour code led him to put his body on the line to protect the shield-less Captain America from Red Skull’s missiles and even saved Captain America from drowning at one time because in both occasion, Captain America had saved his life earlier.
There was also this occasion when he thanked Spider-Man for saving him from a terrorist attack at an airport by allowing him to leave alive (this was despite Spider-Man subsequently insulting him). His gentlemen code (and partly because of his inflated ego) also means that he will not attack a respected opponent who is weakened, handicapped or at a severe disadvantage as he deem any victory resulting from such circumstances as unworthy and meaningless.
His ego can be so big that he has even helped Tony Stark to develop a machine that could detect the Skrull in secret wars solely because he did not want any alien race (or anyone for that matter) to rule planet Earth but himself. He was even willing to fight opponents who seriously wanted to kill the Fantastic Four because he believed that the F4’s defeat should only come from him.
He is unbreakable
Put his ego aside, the things we can all admire and should try to emulate from Doom are his indomitable will, unbreakable determination and his unwillingness to give up or admit defeat. Coupled that with his incredible skills and tactical genius, Doom has achieved victory over some of the most overpowered beings in the universe such as the Marquis of Death himself! If you don’t know how powerful the Marquis of Death is, I'm just going to mention just the things that he did to Doom - He turned Doom’s blood into acid and heart into stone and messed up his mind with illusion of happiness, burnt his skin under his armour and threw him millions of years into the past, into the deep ocean surrounded by hungry aquatic dinosaurs for him to die. But as you may have guessed, HE DIDN’T DIE! He regenerated his body from pieces (thanks to magic) started everything from scratch, built a time machine and patiently disguised as the Marquis’ apprentice before killing the Marquis of death in his return! HOW INSANE WAS THAT? NONE OF THE AVENGERS COULD SURVIVED ANY OF THAT!
The Marquis of Death
Marquis of death sending Doom to the Dinosaur age
Simply put, his determination and willpower is literally second to none. He was able to still concentrate enough to activate a device in his breastplate while the cosmic entity known as the Beyonder painfully dissects him! Have you ever heard of anyone resisting diseases and infection using willpower alone? Because that’s exactly what Doom did when he resisted a worldwide mutation caused by the High Evolutionary (another cosmic entity) on sheer willpower alone!
To further illustrate the monstrosity of his willpower, he resisted the full power of mind-control of Purple man at close range using his willpower alone!
He resisted the mind-control of Purple Man
He IS SO POWERFUL
Now it goes without saying that the reason why Doom is so powerful is because he derives his power from his genius mind, technology and magic. Let me just list down some of the things that Dr Doom had done with his power and intellect:
Defeated the FREAKING PHOENIX FORCE!
Beaten Magneto.
Stole the power of the reality-warping Beyonders! TWICE!
Became Emperor God Doom and killed Thanos! THE FREAKING MAD TITAN!
When he killed Thanos
- Wielded the Infinity Gauntlet!
Defeated Loki himself in a gain of trickery! Something Loki is a God of!
Stood Toe to Toe against the Celestials!
- Defeated the Hulk 1v1 with just one punch!
And now.....
My most favourite reason why he is the best character in the entire Marvel Universe.
Doom isn’t really a Villain
Take a moment to digest that.
Done? Good.
Unlike what you may have thought, Dr Doom’s quest to take over the world was purely so that he could rid the world of diseases and suffering. He wanted to genuinely bring peace to the world provided, it's under his command.
Now wait a minute.....
Isn't that what all bad guys says when they explain their motive for world domination? True but as mentioned before, Doom does not lie, he never lied.
This story was beautifully captured during his conquest on Wakanda. He managed to take over Wakanda and just before he could get his hands on the Vibranium through the Vibranium vault, the gate to the door was sealed with magic, a magic of the Panther God in which if any corrupt soul stepped into the gate, they would be instantly vanished.
You want to know what Doom did?
He stripped himself completely NAKED and stepped into the gate for the Panther God to judge his soul and as the Panther God did just that, a shocking revelation was made - The Panther God not only learned that Doom meant every word he said pertaining his vision, after seeing millions of path the world could possibly take, the Panther God, Bast, saw that the only one path where no sadness, no war, no sufferings occurred…..was a world led by Dr Doom.
MINDBLOWN PEOPLE
Plus he could lift Thor's hammer so that's more than worthy enough for me.
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