DoomScribe's Den of Madness Presents:

In Honor of Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom is without a doubt the singularly most PERFECT villain ever designed by the creators [all bow to Stan Lee & Jack Kirby . . .visionaries from a lost time]. He has evolved over the years, since his first appearance in the Fantastic Four #5 (1962). But his true character was far deeper than that which you see in those early issues. For in the Fantastic Four Annual #2, we see the complex and tragic origin of a man who was to become the most hated and feared enemy of nearly every major heroic character to grace the pages of Marvel comics over the last thirty years. And a few minor ones as well. [Anyone remember the Squirrel Girl?? Argghhgh!!! I could be boiled in oil just for mentioning it!]

Part One: The Beginning

While Doom was nothing more than a child, both his mother and father were hounded by the local authorities and ruling class of Latveria, as were all peoples of gypsy heritage (then as now). His mother was ambitious, and sought a better future for her young son. Calling upon the dark powers of Mephisto's realm, she traded her own soul for the mystical power to defeat their enemies. But where the demon had granted her power, he had not given her control, and though she succeeded in felling the Baron's soldiers that tormented the tribe, her power was unknowingly loosed upon the innocent children of the village. Bravely, she renounced the power, but was struck down by a dying soldier as she did so, pierced from behind. As she died, her soul was captured by Mephisto, as was their bargain.

Years later, Doom's father also came under the unwanted glare of the Baron Draasen. The elder Von Doom was a renowned healer, and the Baron's wife had fallen gravely ill. But even Werner's remarkable skill could not cure her, and he could only delay the inevitable. Knowing that the Baron would have his head should the Baron's wife die, Werner fled the gypsy camp, carrying his only son Victor deep into the wooded mountains where winter was rapidly approaching. Barely escaping the mounted soldiers who scoured the hillsides for the two desperate fugitives, Werner braved freezing rain and falling snow, wrapping the young Victor in his own threadbare garments so that the boy might live. They were rescued later by members of their tribe, but Werner would not survive. He called upon his faithful friend, Boris, to look after Victor, who was now filled with a building rage against the society which had killed his parents, and tormented the gypsies for as long as he had known!

Part Two: Adolescence

Although both his father and later Boris had tried to hide them from him, Victor soon discovered his mother's belongings, including arcane books and artifacts which confirmed his suspicions and the rumors that his mother had indeed been a witch!  Excited with the prospect of gaining some measure of power over the unjust fates that shaped their lives, Victor began dabbling in sorcery, and though he learned much and learned quickly, he never fell prey to the demons which had consumed his mother. At some point in his youth, he began to turn away from magic, and found a new mistress in science. Sneaking into libraries in whatever small town the tribe might stop, he devoured books of all kinds, and in this way empowered his mind. Like his grandfather, young Victor was also fascinated with puppets and marionettes, and he began building lifelike, robotic androids, one of which was realistic enough to pass for the real Victor and was shot by a firing squad! His inventions were both clever and diabolical, and he delighted in selling the ruling class trinkets and potions which would backfire on them as soon as the gypsy caravan was out of town. In time, however, his inventions caught the attention of an American professor vacationing in Vienna. Tracking down the enigmatic young Von Doom, the American offered him a full scholarship at New York's prestigious State University. Though it would mean leaving his homeland and his kin, he accepted.

Part 3: Learning

Traveling to America eager to take advantage of advanced laboratory facilities, Doom met up with freshman Reed Richards, a fellow science student and already a renowned scholar. But Doom had learned to be distrustful of all outsiders, and rebuffed Reed's attempts at friendship. Reed was kind of a pushy nerd anyway. But they were intellectually well-matched and would argue advanced theory and complex calculations that soon surpassed even their teacher's knowledge. Doom however, being self-taught up to that point in his life, had little patience for the formal rigors of academics, and was far more open to creative interpretations. He embraced wild theories of multiple dimensions, alternate realities, time travel and the like, things which were relegated to the realm of science fiction by most of his colleagues at the time.

Doom began to experiment with some of these forbidden subjects, and was in the process of building a machine to help him communicate with his mother in Mephisto's realm, when Reed stumbled upon some of Doom's notes. Finding an apparent error in the execution of a fourth order tensor calculation, Reed attempted to point it out to his fellow student. But Victor snatched the papers from Reed's hands, and ordered him out, suspicious that the other's motives were competitive rather than benevolent in nature. He proceeded immediately with his experiment, and the machine that surrounded him malfunctioned and exploded, destroying the lab. Doom escaped with his life but his face was scarred, a deep wound along the left side of his face. Further humiliation followed, as Doom was expelled from the college for endangering the other students with his reckless experimentation.

Convinced that his scarred features prevented him from leading a normal life, Doom flung himself now into exile, blaming Reed all the while for having sabotaged his experiment and ruining his once perfect features. He left America and traveled to a remote region of Tibet, seeking a higher order of learning, spoken of by the natives only in fearful whispers and unsubstantiated rumor. Nearly frozen in the high mountain country, he was discovered and rescued by an ancient order of secluded monks. He lived with them for a number of years, learning of their mystical Oriental ways and augmenting them further with scientific studies. He quickly learned their secrets, and in time, it was they who called him "Master". The monks helped him cast a magnificent suit of armor including a metal mask which, in his impatient desire to proceed, he had them put to his face before it had completely cooled. Facing at last the cold mountain winds, his plans of conquest and revenge now clear in his mind, Victor Von Doom declared himself forever, Doctor Doom!

 

Part Four: Conquest of Latveria!

Latveria had been an agricultural society ruled by a king from the royal bloodline of Haasen and based in the castle at Haasenstadt.   That 600 Year old dynasty was interrupted only once in Latverian history, by a Gypsy's ascension to the royal throne!

Since the 17th Century, Latveria has been a relatively peaceful land of strong, vibrant people who love their homeland and only wish to live in peace in their idyllic, storybook country.  The country's isolationist policies began in the late 18th Century in response to broken treaties and fouled trading policies with surrounding nations.  Latveria quickly became a self-sufficient and calm country, remaining that way until the late in the 20th Century.

Exorbitant spending by then King Vladimir Haasen and his two royal predecessors over the previous 50 years had driven the little country to economic ruins.  These last three rulers had finally opened trade with the West, attempting to modernize their technology and regain national economic stability.    The Crown Prince Rudolfo VI openly urged his father, the King, and others in the royal court to allow the pursuit of technological studies and western science at Werner Academy, Latveria's somewhat medieval university.  This move unknowingly  paved the way for an armored outsider to work his way into power with his advanced knowledge of western science.  Rudolfo subsequently welcomed this armored stranger with open arms into the Latverian Court.  Victor Von Doom had returned home at last, promising young Rudolfo the advanced technology that would bring Latveria to the heights of a new world power. 

Doom had enhanced his mystically-forged armor, adding many powerful electronic weapons and defenses to the armor's arsenal.  He had also constructed one of his first armored robots, a duplicate of himself (see Doombots!),  that would come to act as the scientific advisor to King Vladimer of Latveria in his stead, freeing Doom to complete other plans.  His robot double promised to bring Latveria to the forefront of the world's technical advances, a feat that would make Latveria the envy of all nations of the world.  The king believed Doom's claims, and allowed the Doombot to conduct its experiments within the castle.  With this incredible intelligence gathering device, Doom soon knew all about King Vladimer, his family, the castle, and most importantly, their vulnerabilities.

Doom meanwhile constructed a second robot, an exact duplicate of Prince Rudolfo.   His Doombot secretly captured the real prince and placed him in the most remote dungeon within the castle, an area rarely patrolled or visited.  Then Doom tricked a minor Count of the Draasen family into believing that the Count had Doom's support in a coup for the throne, as Victor cunningly hinted that there was a need for a new monarch on the throne of Latveria.  The simple noble, confident that with Doom's technology backing him up he could not fail, then willingly assassinated the elderly King Vladimir.   That left young Rudolfo, his only obstacle to rule, as the next target.

However, the Rudolfo robot, under the control of Doom, foiled the assassination attempt while at the royal funeral of his "father", exposing the petty noble as the assassin in front of many important witnesses.  The Draasen noble was quickly executed, and then the Rudolfo robot executed its master program!   Feigning little desire for such a dangerous seat as the leader of his country, the Rudolfo robot willingly stepped down from the throne.   Due to the sincerity and emotion of its claims (truly a marvel of the Master's programming abilities), the people of Latveria believed and accepted that Rudolfo had willingly abdicated his father's throne to the "stronger and more able" -- Victor Von Doom!

Doom's coronation was performed by the robot Prince Rudolfo.  Victor quickly established a nation of peace and prosperity ruled by a stern dictatorship, swiftly cementing his position as new ruler and leader of his native land.   Sequestered in the castle overlooking the newly-named Doomstadt, Doom used the resources of his new power base to further his dreams of conquest and revenge against the world and Reed Richards!  During the next months, he built his greatest invention -- the time platform!

As a footnote, Prince Rudolfo eventually escaped his dungeon and, gathering a group of devoted royalists about him, attempted a coup to regain the throne from Doctor Doom!  He used some of Doom's own robots, and used a young woman who closely resembled Doom's childhood sweetheart, the fair Valeria, to get close to Doom.  This coup was handily crushed by Doom, as well as another attempt on the throne by Zorba Draasen, half-brother of the late Prince Rudolfo.  Zorba, with the help of the Fantastic Four, managed to steal the throne away from the Master, but Latveria suffered under his petty and ill-managed rule.  When Doom returned to once again reclaim the throne, it was a glorious day in our history!

SOURCES include the "Domains of Doom", a Marvel Superheroes TSR Game, by Scott Davis with Steven Schend, © 1992 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc.

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Last updated by DS on May 13, 1999.