Line #22 YMMV/DoctorDoom


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2	* AssPull: ''ComicBook/{{Doomwar}}'' stated the Doom had seen many possible futures and the only one where humanity survived was under his rule, with the Panther God confirming he wasn't making it up. While it has been shown that Doom could make the world a better place the idea has been demonstrated in the past, these futures only work if you throw out the fact that Doom has in the past shown no interest in [[VictoryIsBoring ruling the world if his rule is unopposed.]]
3	* AwesomeEgo: Doom is no mere boaster, he has shown himself to be worthy of some of the things that he praises himself for. His crowning moment must be how, for [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 a time]], Doom was ruler of what remained of several universes.
4	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuldXSIobTQ theme]] Capcom made for their fighting game, ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes''. ''VideoGame/MarvelvsCapcom3'' uses a very fitting and ominous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObxGUEkzF_o remix]] of said theme for him. They also made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alYhrEwijC8 a victory theme for him]] in ''Marvel Super Heroes''.
5	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Doom is quite certainly one of Marvel's most polarizing characters, for some he's a cool MagnificentBastard and one of Marvel's best villain for others he's an overrated InvincibleVillain, and Marvel's most [[CharacterShilling shilled character]].
6	** Another crowd of fans likes Doctor Doom in some storylines but feels dislikes how he's handled when writers like him too much and his PopularityPower and CharacterShilling kicks in.
7	* CantUnHearIt: Fans tend to read Doctor Doom's lines and revelations from just about anywhere in the voice of Creator/LexLang, Creator/JulianMcMahon, Creator/SimonTempleman, or Creator/PaulDobson (along with maybe Creator/MauriceLaMarche).
8	* CommonKnowledge:
9	** Doom is often thought of and presented as someone who has superpowers, originating from the same accident that powered his nemesis team, the ComicBook/FantasticFour. In actual fact, Doom's origins have little to do with the team — he did attend college with Reed Richards before his rise to dictator of Latveria, and that's where his hatred of Reed began, but much of Doom's story happened separately before menacing the family. Doom was born a peasant of Romani heritage in the fictional Latveria, before toppling a corrupt dictator and becoming a dictator himself, albeit not a personally corrupt one but still quite tyrannical and authoritarian. In regards to his powers, Doom isn't technically considered superhuman. He's primarily a brilliant scientist and genius, who is a political, legal, criminal and military mastermind, and powerful sorcerer who blends magic with science through the use of {{Magitek}}, and wearing armor that can stand up to {{Physical God}}s while wielding enough power to take out some of Marvel's biggest heavy-hitters. This misconception arises from adaptations such as ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' and ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' that gave him AdaptationalOriginConnection with the Fantastic Four.
10	** Also, Doom is often thought of a strictly an enemy of the Fantastic Four, as all adaptations of the team will portray Doom in such a manner. While he ''did'' debut off the pages of the team and is still essentially their most well-known enemy, with Reed Richards remaining his ArchEnemy, it'd be more accurate to refer to Doom as the BigBad to the Marvel Universe as a whole. His versatile skillset in magic/politics/science/military means that he's menaced the Avengers, Iron Man, the X-Men, Doctor Strange, Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man and Black Panther[[note]]being a fellow tech-magnate ruler of a nation who also originated in the pages of Fantastic Four before spinning out, they actually have been known as "frenemies"[[/note]], among many others.
11	* CompleteMonster: Not usually, but it does happen:
12	** In [[Film/TheFantasticFour the Roger Corman film]]: he was once a friend of Reed Richards who was nearly killed and crippled by an experiment gone wrong. In vengeance, Doom spent the next ten years plotting the death of Reed and anyone associated with him. When the titular team gains their powers, Doom captures them and plots to drain them. In order to steal a diamond to power a [[EnergyWeapon laser beam]], Doom massacres the Jeweler's gang and takes Alicia Masters as a hostage. Giving the Four an ultimatum of either surrendering to him or have New York City be destroyed by the laser, Doom starts a painful process to drain their powers, and plans to execute Alicia just to torment Ben Grimm. When they escape, Doom fires the laser at New York and confronts Reed once last time. Defeated, Doom lets himself fall just to rid Reed of the satisfaction of saving him.
13	** In the {{novelization}}s of ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' & ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'', by Creator/PeterDavid & Daniel Josephs respectively, Victor Von Doom is portrayed as [[AdaptationalVillainy nothing like his regular incarnations]], but rather a complete psychopath with [[AGodAmI delusions of godhood]]. Having a petty hatred of Reed Richards for not being as smart as him, Doom first attempts to leave his own fiancée, Sue Storm, to die alongside Reed and others to [[DirtyCoward save his own skin]]. After gaining metallic skin and electromagnetic abilities, Doom murders his doctor for trying to tell others of his "condition", and later murders a business partner for insulting him. By the end of the first novel, Doom's true personality has come into full display, as he attempts to sadistically freeze Reed to death. In the second novel, Doom allies with Reed and rest of the Fantastic Four to stop the titular Silver Surfer; it is quickly revealed that it was a ploy on Doom's part to steal the Surfer's power, which he immediately uses to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath gruesomely kill]] an army general and numerous soldiers. In the end, as Gah Lak Tus arrives and begins destroying the Earth, Doom, rather than stop Gah Lak Tus with his power, only laughs as the world slowly starts to die around him, proclaiming he longer needs the Earth or anyone else, [[ItsAllAboutMe just himself]].
14	** In ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'': He [[AdaptationalVillainy lacks the redeeming qualities of his original comic counterpart]]. [[CreateYourOwnHero Responsible for the incident that led to Fantastic Four getting their powers]], Doom later switched bodies with Reed Richards to ruin his reputation, to the point of deciding to overload the power core of Fantastic Four's base to destroy everything within several city blocks. Afterwards [[FrameUp framing Reed]] for supposedly "experimenting on his friends", Doom tried to use his inventions to unleash the energy of the Negative Zone upon New York, which threatened to kill thousands. In his most ambitious scheme, Doom stole Annihilus's power source and brought it to Earth, threatening to destroy the entire universe, solely so he could use it to conquer and destroy everything he sees. Despite losing the way of controlling the power source, Doom still clung to it, not caring that it was close to wiping out all life in the cosmos.
15	** In ''[[Film/FantasticFour2015 FANT4STIC]]'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Victor Von Doom]] is a gifted young genius who worked for the government to develop a device that would be capable of transporting people across dimensions. After joining with Reed Richards, Johnny Storm, and Sue Storm, he was able to finish and together with them he traveled in an alien dimension where, after an accident, he gained superhuman powers. Desiring to [[InTheirOwnImage create his own world]] in that dimension, Victor was not happy when government agents retrieve him, and thus slaughtered many of the scientists and soldiers in the base, including [[YouKilledMyFather Johnny's father]], before planning to use the teleporter to create a black hole on Earth and destroy the entire planet, solely out of [[AGodAmI God complex]] and [[MisanthropeSupreme hatred for humanity]].
16	** ''ComicBook/Marvel1602'': [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Count Otto "The Handsome" von Doom]] is the narcissistic ruler of Latveria, and the ancestor of [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Victor Von Doom]], but lacking any of the latter's positive qualities. Obsessed with his self-aggrandizement, Otto believes that his supposed genius and handsome face entitle him to [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]]. Using the [[PeopleFarms birthing pens]] he inherited from his father, Otto breeds up armies of brainwashed vulture flier assassins and craven dwarfed servants to do his bidding, keeps the crew of the ''Fantastick'' imprisoned in specially made prison cells, sends killers after Sir Nicholas Fury and [[WouldHurtAChild Virginia Dare]], and has Queen Elizabeth I murdered lest her agents beat his to the Templar treasure he covets. In the sequel, he murders his lover, Natasha, plots to sell Susan and Jonathan Storm to Numenor of Bensaylum and his cousin as sex slaves--after hypnotizing them into killing Richard Reed and Benjamin Grimm--and finally betrays Numenor, murdering him and sinking the city of Bensaylum beneath the waves. Utterly vain and innately treacherous, Count Otto and his ego left a trail of ruined lives in their wake.
17	* CreatorsPet: DependingOnTheWriter. Some writers who really love Doom to the point where they will go out of their way to make him look good while making the universe bend over backwards for him. Creator/JonathanHickman is particularly infamous for this. This also extends towards writers giving Doom wins that he doesn't deserve or hasn't earned in any meaningful way, such as the time he defeated Taskmaster while he was mostly unarmored (save for the mask) and didn't use magic or high-tech weaponry to pick up the win in ''Dr. Doom'' #4. Considering how for most of his comic book career, Doom has never really been known for being an unarmed martial artist/combatant who battles skilled fighters out-of-armor, his victory over someone who basically specializes in that field can be a serious moment of scrutiny towards [[RunningTheAsylum those who write for Doom]].
18	* DracoInLeatherPants: Innumerable readers seem to see Doom for the pragmatic, confident, brilliant ruler that he boasts he is, while ignoring the '''myriad''' of atrocities he has committed.
19	* EvilIsCool: Many comic fans find themselves impressed with Doom's costume, power and intelligence. He is often called, "the greatest villain in comics".
20	* FountainOfMemes: Doctor Doom's counterpart in the 2005 duology is the most quotable.
21	* FridgeBrilliance: Doom's face is hideously scarred because of an experiment that literally blew up in his face back in college. The experiment itself was a machine to let Doom contact hell, and it's often explained that Doom, due to his outrageous arrogance, ignored a flaw in the design which Reed pointed out to him, and it was this flaw that led to the machine's failure. However... Doom is an incredibly smart man, always has been and always will be. Yes, he's arrogant to the point of stupidity, constantly shooting himself in the foot through the sheer size of his ego, but even he is smart enough to notice a blatant design flaw. So what if the machine actually worked? It's revealed in a later story that Doom's mother is trapped in Hell, full of fire and brimstone. And what happened when Doom activated his machine? He got blasted in the face by a cloud of searing flames. What if the machine, that we've all thought for years malfunctioned, actually worked '''perfectly'''...?
22	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
23	** [[Creator/StanLee His creator]] once called him his favorite villain. Even if Doom would object to his terminology "villain", he would have nonetheless respected the fact that Mr. Lee did appreciate him.
24	** No matter how you feel about Doom, him marching into hell and saving his mother's soul is heartwarming.
25	** Sure, he's killed people, ruined lives, terrorized millions, but he once saved the life of Sue Richards and her unborn daughter during childbirth, and ever since then, Doom's been considered Valeria Richards' godfather, and he's been nothing but kind and indulging towards her. She may be smarter than him ''and'' her father, but Doom treats Valeria with kindness and respect, and paves a way for her future.
26	* HilariousInHindsight: In the 1981 compilation movie ''Doctor Doom Conquers the World'', Doom's first words are "Of course." This echoes the words of [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic a certain Internet reviewer]] and [[Film/StreetFighter a certain less-successful fellow would-be conqueror of the world]].
27	* HoYay: Many readers look at Doom's relationship with Richards and Doom's self-righteous hatred and obsession with him as merely a crude mask for sexual desire.
28	* HypeBacklash: Much like fellow uber-MemeticBadass ComicBook/SquirrelGirl, the rabidity of Doom's fanbase and the way that authors seem to bend over backwards to retcon any defeat of Doom, not to mention the amount of CharacterShilling he gets, has led to a devout group of Marvel fans who can't ''stand'' him.
29	* MagnificentBastard:
30	** Creator/MarvelComics: Doctor Doom has been Marvel's go-to BigBad since the 1960s, and with good cause. An EvilSorcerer, MadScientist, and tyrannical despot, Doom is respected and feared throughout Marvel's supervillain community, with both a Norse God and the Devil seeing him as someone to step lightly around. While many villains want to TakeOverTheWorld, Doom is one of the few who can actually pull it off, and at times he's reached well beyond even that goal, grasping for godhood with both hands. Capable of punching well out of his weight class, Victor Von Doom is the most dangerous man in the Marvel Universe and always bears watching.
31	** Marvel Animated Universe: Doctor Victor Von Doom is the ruler of Latveria and a master of both science and the mystic arts. After losing his parents under a tyrannical regime and being disfigured in a horrific lab accident, Doom declared he would bring peace to the world under his iron fist. He feuded with the WesternAnimation/{{Fantastic Four\|The Animated Series}} on numerous occasions and was the one who destroyed their headquarters at the Baxter Building. Doom has twice stolen the powers of the Silver Surfer and tricked the Hulk into nearly killing the Thing. [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1996 When the UN ordered him to be tried for war crimes]], Doom trapped Washington D.C. under a force field and forced the Hulk to destroy the entire capital. Doom was the most successful villain [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries during the Secret Wars]] and transformed the territories he conquered into utopias free from conflict or strive. Managing to even steal the powers of the almighty Beyonder, Doctor Doom has proven he has one of the most cunning and audacious minds in the Marvel Animated Universe.
32	** ''VideoGame/MarvelHeroes'': Doctor Doom is the ruler of Latveria, and the first BigBad of the story. Hacking into Tony Stark's archives, Doom discovers the existence of the Cosmic Cube, and seeks to harness its reality-warping powers for himself. Doom employs various supervillains to keep the heroes occupied while he continues with his plans behind the scenes, [[PlayingBothSides using both sides]] to gather various powerful artifacts for him. Once he has gathered all the artifacts, Doom promptly destroys them to ensure that they would not be used against him. He also employs Mister Sinister to clone the mutant Bishop, utilising the mutant's energy absorption powers as a conduit to safely harness the Cube's energy. With the Cube's powers, Doom intends to reshape the world [[InTheirOwnImage in his own image]]. Returning from his defeat, Doom exposes the Skrull's secret invasion of Earth and forms an EnemyMine with the heroes to stop them. A cold and taciturn schemer, Doom always stayed one step ahead of the heroes, and came close to attaining the power he had long sought.
33	** ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'': Doctor Doom is the charismatic leader of the [[LegionOfDoom Masters of Evil]]. Before the events of the game, Doom stole top secret information from ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} on how to deal with Asgard should it ever become a threat. Doom then refined the plan as a way to steal the All-Father Odin's godly powers for himself. Through a series of clever diversionary tactics, Doom constantly stays one step ahead of the heroes as he gathers all the necessary tools he needs to defeat Odin. Colluding with the God of Mischief Loki, Doom successfully conquers Asgard and defeats Odin in battle. Not wanting to share Odin's power with his lieutenants, Doom implements a series of {{Uriah Gambit}}s to have the heroes take out his lieutenants for him. He quickly consolidates his control over the entire world, using his newfound powers to crush any form of resistance, and brainwashing the remainder of Earth's heroes into his loyal servants. A brilliant mastermind who managed to ascend to godhood, Doom establishes himself as a truly diabolical genius.
34	** ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': Doctor Doom is [[EvilOverlord the tyrannical ruler of Latveria]] and the Arch-Enemy of the Fantastic Four. Upon learning that the Skrulls were infiltrating humanity, Doom went to work to find a way to detect and expose the alien threat to his rule. To get the data he needed, Doom sent an army of Doombots to kidnap the Wasp and the Invisible Woman, whom he suspected of being Skrull agents. His Doombots attacked both the Baxter Building and Avengers Mansion to distract both teams while his targets were brought back to Latveria. When the two teams launched an assault on his castle, [[RankScalesWithAsskicking Doom effortlessly held his own in the fight]] and [[CurbStompBattle defeated all the heroes without breaking a sweat.]] After getting the data he needed from the Skrull who replaced Invisible Woman, Doom developed a computer chip that would reveal the Skrulls' true forms. He then delivered the chip to Tony Stark so he could stop the invasion; all while claiming such a task was beneath him. Proving instrumental in stopping the Skrull invasion, Doctor Doom's skills and intellect were more than a match for the Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
35	* MainstreamObscurity: Despite being considered Marvel's number one BigBad, being hailed by comic book fans/critics as being one of the best comic villains alive, and getting plenty of CharacterShilling from various writers, Doom hasn't quite made an impact on a mainstream audience's mind the same way other villains like The Joker, Lex Luthor, Magneto, or Thanos have, despite having starred in several cinematic adaptations of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour''. A big reason for this is that the various cinematic versions of Doom are seen as being seriously lacking in some way and the general consensus is that with only a few exceptions, many incarnations of Dr. Doom in both the television and movie medium have failed to fully capture the character's complexity and tragic persona. As such, Doom can be seen as occupying that awkward niche of being highly praised by comic book fans but at the same time, a mainstream audience might not see the big deal with Dr. Doom based on cinematic and television adaptations of the character that they've seen.
36	* MemeticBadass: Doom is one of the few people who can give Franchise/{{Batman}} a run for his money in this camp.
37	* MemeticLoser: Some fans emphasize his pride and pettiness particularly with him blaming Reed Richards for everything even though Richards has nothing do with anything.
38	* {{Narm}}:
39	** It's doubtful that Creator/HannaBarbera could have picked a cheesier-sounding man to voice him in [[WesternAnimation/TheFantasticFour1967 the Fantastic Four's first animated series]].
40	** The [[Film/FantasticFour2015 2015 cinematic adaptation]] reduced him to a whining StrawNihilist programmer, who later turns into a [[NightmareRetardant glowing green mannequin wrapped in trash bags]].
41	* NeverLiveItDown:
42	** The time that Doctor Doom was defeated by ComicBook/SquirrelGirl; the ultimate scheming badass of the Marvel Universe got owned by someone who was essentially a joke. And the losses was never retconned as being ActuallyADoombot due to the obscurity and ridiculousness of the story, allowed Squirrel Girl to become a popular MemeticBadass.
43	** The scene of him ''crying'' in response to 9/11 is universally reviled knowing he's routinely been shown to do as bad if not worse.
44	* NightmareFuel: With his SuperScience and [[BlackMagic Literal Magic]], Doom has resources for policing, supervising and [[MindRape brainwashing]] his peons that make [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Oceania's]] Thought Police look like [[PoliceAreUseless bumbling Clouseaus]]. At least some versions of Latveria are consequently ''very'' dystopian, with ''every citizen'' living in perpetual fear, knowing that BigBrotherIsWatching all they do. As with real totalitarian dictatorships like North Korea, it's often far from clear how much of Doom's all-pervasive personality cult is genuine admiration by the people of their leader and how much it is enforced through terror. Made doubly worse by the fact that some depictions of Doom are not {{Noble Demon}}s, or even just generic evil overlords, but [[TheCaligula narcissistic psychopaths]] who seemingly ''enjoy'' abusing this surveillance and people control technology to torment their hapless subjects. In such stories, Doom will often subject his servants to violent [[DomesticAbuse verbal and physical abuse]], suddenly [[{{Gaslighting}} change the rules]] on them or feed them to his wild robots on a whim. The most creepy versions basically subject the Latverians collectively to a sort of nationwide RomanticizedAbuse -- including literal rape of at least some of the women.
45	** Doom's face just before he kills his Utopian self in his 2019 series. He's looking at his hand, his entire face completely shrouded in darkness with only his irises visible. A chilling hint of what he's about to do, the darkness that Doom has embraced...
46	* RootingForTheEmpire: Dr. Doom's charisma, cool, and compelling story makes it easy for fans to root for him or at least not feel too bad when their favorite hero gets outdone by him. This also applies in stories where he fights Reed, between a poor Romani peasant kid immigrant who is a literal SelfMadeMan and a middle-class academic who's living UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, it's hard not to find Doom the more sympathetic and relatable character.
47	* TearJerker: The end to "Triumph and Torment". Doctor Doom suceeded in finally saving his mother's soul from ComicBook/{{Mephisto}}, but she saw Doom attempt to barter the soul of ComicBook/DoctorStrange in exchange for hers (whether or not Doom was actually planning that was up in the air). Doom never got the chance to explain he had actually gave Strange a means to escape Mephisto. Even Strange felt bad for him at the end.
48	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The Spanish-community is quite divisive when it comes to translations. Doom's name was translated to "Muerte" (Death), and while that name was accepted in Spain for many decades, the Latin American community despises the translation, even bashing the ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'' Mexican dub for using said translation, adding it to another pile of off-putting translations coming from Spain.
49	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: In an inverse of the above mentioned RootingForTheEmpire, Doom's critics have reacted to attempts to pass Doom's desire for world domination this way. No matter how much writers try to say Doom's intentions are selfless, none of it changes that he's spent years of life pursuing a [[EvilIsPetty petty grudge]] against Reed Richards, showing he cares more about that than actually helping people. That is without the '''long''' list of other acts committed for equally petty reasons.

Context YMMV / DoctorDoom