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"Call me Doom."
―Victor von Doom[src]

Victor von Doom, also known as Doctor Doom, was the CEO of Von Doom Industries and the enemy of the Fantastic Four.

Biography[]

Fantastic Four[]

Victor is a billionaire industrialist, an old college rival of Reed Richards and suitor of Reed's ex-girlfriend Susan. In addition to funding Richards' trip to space, he also accompanies the future Fantastic Four on the ship.

Doctor Doom receives superpowers in the same accident that creates the Fantastic Four. Here, he is endowed with two abilities by the cosmic rays - exposure to the rays imbues him with electric manipulation, which, similar to his technologically-derived power from the comics, allows him to project bolts of superheated energy, the only difference being that it is derived from the accident in space and most his body being covered (or possibly completely trasmutated) into an organic metal alloy.

Victor's company goes into bankruptcy, and blames Reed for what has happened. Victor kills Ned for pulling the board of his company and tries to disband the four persuading Ben that Reed is spending most of his time with Sue instead of curing him. When Reed couldn't generate enough power to his machine, Victor stepped in and used his powers to give it more power curing Ben. However, this process accelerates his body becoming more metallic, so Doom angrily dons his familiar mask to hide his face (which is portrayed as a mask given to him by the people of Latveria as shown on a plaque on display in his office/boardroom).

He kidnaps Reed and tries to freeze him with liquid nitrogen and kill Johnny with a heat seeking missile. However Sue arrives and fights him along with Ben having changed back into The Thing and frees Reed. In the climax, Doctor Doom's metal body is super-heated and then immediately cooled with water from a fire hydrant, which turns him into an immobile statue. He is later transported back to Latveria via a cargo ship.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer[]

Doctor Doom is in a storage container, still solidified after his fiery defeat. After the Silver Surfer flies by on a quick patrol around the Earth, disrupting the energy waves all around him, it inadvertently awakens him. After removing his mask and killing a welder that was trying to separate his face from his body, he hides his horribly scarred face behind a dark green cloaked hood. He begins to study the Silver Surfer in an attempt to steal the extra-terrestrial's vast array of cosmic power. During an encounter with the Surfer, Doctor Doom is hit by one of the Silver Surfer's cosmic bolts and his scarred visage disappears and his previous face is restored, although he retains his other superhuman attributes.

Victor filmed the encounter and goes to the United States military, under the leadership of General Hager with a plan to stop the Surfer's destruction of the Earth. He discovers that the Surfer's power comes from his board. After teaming with the military and the Fantastic Four, they subdue the Surfer with an energy device that separates the silvery menace from his board and capture his board. The five of them accompany General Hager to a Siberian military base. The Fantastic Four are held captive and Doom receives permission to study the cosmic surfboard that is the source for the Surfer's power under Hager's strict supervision. He knocks out all the guards guarding the board and kills General Hager by obliterating him.

Doom dons a new mask and full-on body armor, along with a dark silver leather cloak. Using a tachyon-pulse wrist device that he designed while in Reed Richard's lab, he attaches himself to the surfboard and goes on a rampage throughout the Earth. During a chase with the Four in their new Fantasticar, Reed attempts to tell Doctor Doom that the board is drawing Galactus to Earth and he must get rid of it, but Doctor Doom either disbelieves Reed or simply doesn't care, as he simply says "I've never been the giving type". After the team crash-land in China, Doctor Doom attempts to kill the Silver Surfer, but Susan steps in with her force shield. Doom throws a spear made from cosmic energy that goes right through the shield and into Sue, impaling her, although she is later revived by the Silver Surfer.

Out of options, Reed and Ben, along with Sue, transfer their powers to Johnny who goes to face the cosmically charged Doctor Doom head on with nearly unlimited power; no one of the Four can get close enough to Doctor Doom to stop him, but all of them combined could have a chance. Using Sue's invisibility and his flight powers to get in close to Doctor Doom, as well as the Thing's strength and Mr. Fantastic's flexibility to hold him down, Human Torch swiftly defeats Doctor Doom after destroying his tachyon-pulse wrist device (separating him from the surfboard) who is then bashed into the Shanghai River by a human Ben Grimm, who has taken control of a crane. Doctor Doom sank to the seabed, his ultimate fate is unknown.

Character traits[]

Victor is an extremely intelligent individual, it has been speculated that he is the most intelligent man on earth; second only to Reed Richards, although Victor himself would dispute that fact. Victor is also extremely arrogant. His hubris and constant underestimation of his foes is what often leads to his defeat.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Superhuman Physiology: His exposure to the cosmic storm granted Doom a metal like body which is "harder than titanium and stronger than diamonds". Because of his new body composition he has superhuman strength, durability, endurance, stamina, electrogenesis, electrokinesis, energy absorption and an accelerated healing factor.
    • Superhuman Strength: Doom is much stronger than normal humans and other superhumans. He was able to go head-on against the Thing and ultimately overpowered him. This could be due to the organic-metallic allow his body was turning into at the time, as it was said to be stronger than titanium or carbon steel.
    • Superhuman Durability: Doom is far more durable than normal humans and other superhumans. Bullets can bounce off him. He can also withstand the Thing's powerful blows and was completely unfazed by them.
    • Superhuman Endurance: Doom's endurance is far more greatly developed than normal humans and other superhumans. He continued to fight back against the Fantastic Four, despite having received a tremendous beating from the team.
    • Superhuman Stamina: Doom possesses far more stamina than normal humans and other superhumans, allowing him to remain physically active for long periods of time.
    • Superhuman Immunity: Doom is completely immune to extremely warm temperatures and environments. Even Human Torch's flames at supernova cannot melt his metallic body.
    • Electrogenesis: Doom can generate, create and project bright blue electricity from both of his hands or his entire body.
    • Electrokinesis: Doom can manipulate electricity. He can use it in several ways such as absorbing electrical discharges from nearby power sources, affecting the lights around him.
    • Energy Absorption: Doom can absorb several different types of energy, particularly electricity. He was able to absorb the Silver Surfer's cosmic blast to heal himself.
    • Accelerated Healing Factor: Due to his energy absorption powers, Doom can heal much faster, more extensively, and efficiently than normal humans and other superhumans. After being blasted by the Silver Surfer's cosmic blast, Doom's scars and damaged skin were completely healed in a matter of seconds.

Former Powers[]

Abilities[]

  • Genius-Level Intellect: Victor is a highly intelligent individual and is considered a genius.
  • Expert Scientist: Victor is an expert in the fields of science, chemistry, physics, electronics, mechanics, technology and several other subjects.
  • Expert Engineer: Victor is an excellent engineer and successfully constructed special suits with unstable molecules.
  • Skilled Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Doom is skilled in combat but helped greatly by his superhuman powers.

Weaknesses[]

  • Arrogance: Due to his tremendous level of power and exceptional intellect, Doom has a massive ego to the point of underestimating his opponents. Doom's arrogance ultimately proved to be his downfall at the climax of his first confrontation against the Fantastic Four.

Former Weaknesses[]

  • Water: If Doom's organic-metallic body was rapidly cooled down by water he became permanently immobilised. As of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, following Doom's encounter with the Silver Surfer and the curing of his metallic form, Doom's body is no longer metallic so water no longer poses a problem.

Relationships[]

Appearances/Actors[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Tim Robbins, Jude Law and Mel Gibson were all considered for the role before Julian McMahon got the part.

Trivia[]

  • This incarnation of Doctor Doom seems to be more based on his Ultimate counterpart.
  • There is a possibility Victor is still alive, as Julian McMahon and other cast members had all signed onto a 3-film contract. Whether he was to return in physical form or as a flashback is unknown, as the third installment of the Fantastic Four franchise was never conceived.
  • It was Julian McMahon's idea inspired by his role on Nip/Tuck to have Victor's scars sealed by surgical staples.
  • Many comic-book fans disliked the way Doctor Doom was portrayed, Stan Lee agreed.
  • In a deleted scene of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Victor is shown that he has also retained his metal body under his skin.

Gallery[]

Fantastic Four[]

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer[]

See Also[]

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