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DoomScribe's Den of Madness Presents:
Mirror Images of Doom
Here is where we discuss all of the villains (comic book and otherwise) who owe all or part of their existence to Doctor Doom! And by default, his creators, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Not that Doom hasn't benefited from other previous creations (discussed below), it's just that over the last 30 + years, Doom has in more than one way defined all that is both malevolent and magnanimous in a melodramatic and megalomaniacal evil doer of global proportions.
Just who is Doctor Doom? Doctor Doom is a supremely confident man, born to an impoverished gypsy tribe, gifted with exceptional intellectual powers, but morally blighted by the early loss of his mother, a witch, and his father, a benevolent man of the healing arts. His pride has in fact, often been in his undoing, and the tragedies of his earlier years have left a considerable chip on his shoulder. For a more complete history, see the FAQ and In Honor of Doctor Doom!
Doctor Doom, or
by default, his mechanical replicas the Doombots (depending upon who you
ask) have committed any number of heinous crimes, including kidnapping, extortion, theft,
and murder. As the sovereign leader of the country of Latveria, however, Doom's actions
are no worse than those of the leader of any other nation which seeks to gain political
power! To Doom, the ends always justify the means. His ultimate goal has
been to impose his will upon the entire world, confident that in doing so he will create a
world that is better than the one we have. He is determined, arrogant, intelligent,
antagonistic, stubborn, honorable, demanding, charming, regal, ambitious, focused,
confident, unforgiving, vengeful, thoughtful, and inventive. Is he mad? . . . I truthfully
don't know. As Doom has said, "Men always think their
superiors mad!"
Doctor Doom as Compared To . . .
- Darth Vader
- Magneto, Master of Magnetism
- Kang, the Conqueror
- The Mandarin
- Doctor Octopus
- Baron Zemo
- Red Skull
Baron Mordo
And Figures from History and Literature that may have influenced Doctor Doom!- Doctor Frankenstein
- Captain Nemo
- Namor, the Mighty Submariner
- Morgana LeFey
- Genghis Kahn, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Atilla the Hun
- John Wayne
- The Man in the Iron Mask
1. DARTH VADER, Dark Lord of the Sith!
Well, for anyone familiar with these two characters, this comparison is pretty much a no-brainer. These men are two exceptionally nasty villains, definitely people who you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, or accidentally spill your drink on. Both are wear concealing masks to hide their disfigurement, both men are physically tall and powerful, both have mystical as well as advanced technological skills. Both are bent on global, if not universal domination, and both use all the powers at their disposal to achieve their lofty goals, crushing any who would dare to stand in their way, even if it meant destroying their own kin (see "Return of the Jedi" and Fantastic Four # 199). I'm not going to accuse George Lucas of plagiarizing, but it is obvious that he "freely cribbed" from a number of literary sources, from the Bible to Shakespeare and beyond for his Star Wars stories. And it was Darth Vader who introduced me to Doctor Doom in the first place! However, I'm as excited as the next person to see the newest Star Wars flick, THE PHANTOM MENACE, due out in May of 1999! In it, we will get to see more of the young Darth Vader, and the events that shaped his life.
2. MAGNETO, Master of Magnetism
First Appearance: X-Men #1. Real Name: Eric Magnus Lensherr. Founder and leader of the Original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Goal: to assert the rights of Homo Superior (mutants) over non-mutant humanity.
Magneto shares with Doom both a scarred and tragic past, and the ambition to rule the world. They also share an inner passion that drives them ever onward. From online discussions in various message boards on AOL, I heard this interesting tidbit from JOHN BYRNE, former writer/penciller of the Fantastic Four. I'm paraphrasing from memory here, but what he said was that at some point when both he and CHRIS CLAREMONT were working at Marvel, Claremont approached him about using Doctor Doom in an upcoming X-Men storyline, which Claremont was writing at the time. Byrne said basically "no", that Doom was going to be too busy (imagine the nerve of that guy . . .). Anyway, no doubt miffed that he couldn't use Doom in this story, Claremont started to change Magneto, who up until that time had pretty much been a raving lunatic, into a character that had more depth, more tragedy, more presence, and more charm than he'd had before. In short, more like Doctor Doom! Also, when Claremont did finally get the chance to use Doom in an X-Men story, he had Doom teamed up with this bozo named Arcade (see X-Men 145 - 147), and some things happened which seemed out of character to Mr. Byrne, who was at that time the definitive Doom writer. So Byrne "retconned" the X-Men story later on in Fantastic Four #258, by making the Doom that appeared in the X-Men story to be a "Doombot"! The first story I don't know if it's true, but the last story you can check out for yourself by reading those issues!
Additionally, Doctor Doom and Magneto have clashed at least twice in the Marvel Universe. First time was in Super-Villain Team-up #14, followed by Champions #16. The second time was in X-Factor Annual #4 (although they met in Secret Wars I previously, they did not actually battle). In both instances, Doom was the clear victor!Magneto drawing from X-Men #85, art by Alan Davis & Mark Farmer, © Marvel Comics.
First Appearance: Avengers #8. Former alias: Pharaoh Rama-Tut. It is rumored that Kang and Doom are related (Rama-Tut once claimed to be a descendent of
Doom from the future), but this has never been proven. He was later alleged to be a descendant of Nathaniel Richards (Reed Richard's father) from a timeline that the elder Richards had traveled to where the Earth was a utopian society. He is a time traveler from the 30th century, who has looted and pillaged across the ages. Ruthless and ambitious, he is nonetheless driven more by boredom and base desires. Doom convincingly kicked Kang's tail in Secret Wars I. Kang is currently appearing in Avengers Forever.
<-- From Avengers Forever # 2, art by Carlos Pacheco, Jesús Merino, and Steve Oliff. © Marvel Comics.
Dig those crazy pajamas!
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #50. Former alias: Gene Kahn. Mandarin is skilled in an alien science of the Makulan, using ten rings with which to weave his almost magical power. He is also skilled in several Oriental martial arts, and he too dreams of world conquest.
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-man #3. Real Name: Otto Octavius. A brilliant atomic researcher who created a chest plate bearing four mechanical, tentacle-like arms. Doc Ock is physically and emotionally scarred by the accident which melded him to his mechanical arms, and subsequently lost his standing as a respected scientist in the academic community.
First Appearance: Captain America #168. Real Name: Helmut Zemo. Son of the original Baron Zemo who was a Nazi scientist and mortal enemy of Captain America, Helmut Zemo followed in his father's footsteps. A chemical accident during a fight with Captain America left him with a severely disfigured face. [He joins Doom in the "Face Club For Men" category, along with other characters such as Deadpool, Red Skull, DreadKnight, Freddy Krueger, Spawn, etc.] He has near-genius level intellect with specialties in chemistry, biology and genetics. Currently seen in the excellent Marvel series, "Thunderbolts".
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #66. The Skull and Doom have fought in the past, each an ambitious ruler intent on world domination. The Skull's ruthlessness comes from an impoverished childhood and early tutelage under Adolf Hitler during W.W.II. The Skull was willing to destroy the world, should the Nazi's fail in their attempt to rule it.
First Appearance: Strange Tales #111. Real name: Karl Amadeus Mordo. From the Latverian neighbor of Transylvania, Mordo is a powerful sorcerer who draws upon magical powers that Doom has yet to fully realize. A pupil of the Ancient One, Mordo is motivated by power, but has also allowed himself to become the pawn of the demon Dormammu, something Doom would never tolerate.
Mary Shelley's gothic romantic thriller not only takes place in the general area of the Master's homeland, in the mysterious and dark Balkan mountains, but the ambitious and internally driven Doctor Frankenstein is also a tinkerer in things best left undone, an outcast from the rigid intellectual circles of proper society, and yet a man who wants to save the humans with his greater vision. He is not a chained to any false moral guidelines of his era. Truly a remarkable man, to whom the Master is reluctantly indebted.
H. G. Well's marvelous character from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea who is the scourge of the seven seas with his technological terror beneath the waves, the mighty Nautilus, is at once a man of great depth and passion, as is my Master. A learned scholar, poet, and musician, who was also an outcast from the narrow minded colleagues of his era, Captain Nemo struggled only to save his beloved oceans from exploitation and destruction at the hands of man. He was an extraordinary inventor and scientist, an explorer of worlds feared by even the most experienced of seamen, and a leader of men as well.
11. NAMOR, the Mighty Sub-Mariner
Though my Lord would not dare admit it, he and Namor share many traits, the most obvious of which is their nationalistic pride and passion, their desire to do whatever necessary to protect their homeland and their countrymen. They are both kings, both rulers of stalwart fortitude and unnerving conviction. Men of great personal strength. They have been allies against their common foe, the Fantastic Four. And they have been enemies as well. As my countrymen often say, two Lions cannot rule together.
The wicked witch of many an Arthurian tale, Morgana LeFey shares with the Master the touch of black magic that he uses only when technology fails him. Magic and ambition, and a dark cloud of evil tidings that follows wherever she goes. Morgana, who seduced her half-brother Arthur and bore the child that would one day slay him, the evil Mordred, shares none of the Master's sense of honor, however.
13. GENGHIS KAHN, ADOLF HITLER, JOSEF STALIN, and ATILLA the HUN.
I hesitate to use these hated names from history, but failure to do so would only engender derision and scorn. So I mention them for comparative purposes only. One embodies the wild spirit of a warrior born and a conqueror; a scourge to the civilized nation of the west, used as a threat to small children to get them to sleep at night and to eat their vegetables; a plunderer who rules and conquers by fear. The Master shares these traits, but stops short of wanton destruction and death of innocents where it serves no purpose. The same is true for the second, who rallied a nation of severe depression into a nearly unstoppable machine with a voice of madness and a horrifically racist intent. The Master too, is a man capable of genocide should the greater good warrant it, but he understands that the fear of such a threat is far more valuable than the acting on it. Also, do not forget that the gypsies of the my lord's tribe were among those herded into pens and exterminated at places like Auschwitz and Dachau. The Master has studied the ways of Hitler, but he stops short of practicing such uncontrolled madness. Stalin is the dark soldier of repression, the secretive assassin and schemer who was crippled by fears of treason and dissent, and crushed his opponents without compunction or remorse. The Master is also one who knows the value of fear as a motivator. But he himself is without fear, and would not cower in a gilded tower feeding on the platitudes of his loyal minions. Atilla the Hun's name was used for centuries as the bogeyman for western Europe, the scary man who would just as soon eat out your heart. A brilliant strategist in an uncivilized time, Atilla used his resources wisely and capitalized on his fame, raiding and plundering, and demanding money to prevent him from raiding and plundering. However, he grew rich and indulged in great excesses, even while honing an army that was the envy of Rome herself. Atilla was eventually done in by his own insatiable taste for life, dying on his wedding night in the bed of his young bride.
"What?" you say! "Surely you jest! How could this be! John Wayne is a Hero!" Well, the American actor of popular film has often portrayed a character of less than spotless reputation. But the tall, larger than life Wayne bears more than a passing physical resemblance to Lord Doom. He was also a character who entered a room with power and grace, instantly noticed by all. He could beguile with charm, and dispatch his enemies with gun or fist. He was often a loner, but a man who drew other men to follow him as well. He embodies the spirit of a man who intends to get his own way through the force of his will and the strength of his back. Plus he kicked the tar out of anyone who got in his way. The Master is partial to Red River, The Quiet Man, and The Man who Shot Liberty Valance.
Alexander Dumas' story of royal intrigue and betrayal. I haven't read this yet (at least, not recently, it's been a loooonnnnggg time . . .), so I will refrain from commenting on the specifics. But there is a tragedy here that the Master shares, although he would never admit the extent to which it scars him. The title alone is one that conjures a frightening image of great tragedy.
Last updated on April 26, 1999 by DS.