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Characters / Marvel Comics: Doctor Doom
aka: Doctor Doom

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Doctor Doom

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7741449_7630716_25_variant.jpg
Click here to see him as The Infamous Iron Man

Alter Ego: Victor Von Doom

Notable Aliases: King Boss, Doombot, Rabum Alal, Infamous Iron Man

First Appearance: The Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962)

"I am Doom... Destroyer of worlds... What gods dare stand against me?"
— Doctor Doom, FF Vol. 1 #13, written by Jonathan Hickman

The Baron of Iron. The Master of Science and Sorcery. The Fantastic Four's Greatest Foe. Marvel's Most Diabolical Despot.

Doctor Victor Von Doom, better known as Doctor Doom, is a Marvel Universe supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Doom was introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in The Fantastic Four #5 (July, 1962) as the Arch-Enemy of the Fantastic Four.

Doom was born in the Fictional Country of Latveria, the son of Romani witch Cynthia Von Doom and a medical doctor named Werner von Doom. His community was persecuted by the aristocratic regime of Latveria, which played a part in getting Victor orphaned. In her quest for revenge against Latverian soldiers, his mother made a deal for power with Mephisto, but her actions backfired and her use of magic led the people of a village to burn her for being a witch, with Cynthia's soul damned to hell. His father Werner, years later, was summoned to treat the nephew of the Baron, and when the nephew couldn't be saved, Werner was blamed, and father and son were chased out of home, often travelling in harsh conditions. Werner was frozen protecting Victor from the elements and after being rescued died shortly after. On his father's death, Victor came across his parents' effects, and found a trunk of artifacts belonging to his mother that included her occult books and instruments. Sympathetic to his father's scientific bent and his mother's mystical bent, Doom began to combine both from an early age and sought to master both magic and technology. As a teenager, he became a Romani guerrilla revolutionary, building gadgets of unusual sophistication, subverting and dodging the Latverian government and its secret police, protecting his community and always being a step ahead of everyone.

Word of his exploits attracted a sponsorship from the US Government, who perhaps in an aim to subvert the Latverian government and build up a new client in Eastern Europe, offered the dashing young rebel an opportunity to study in America. On his arrival, Doom had a fateful meeting with Reed Richards, the only man on the planet whose intelligence could even approach Doom's, to whom he took an immediate dislike. Wishing to resurrect his dead mother, Doom constructed a device that could build a portal to Hell, intended to communicate with the dead and allow him to free her soul. When he was working on his calculations, Reed Richards walked into his room and noticed that they were slightly off and tried to warn him about the flaw in the machine, but Doom, angered at what he saw as an invasion of privacy, continued to work with disastrous results: The device exploded and damaged his face. Expelled from the university after the accident, Doom traveled the world until he collapsed on a Tibetan mountainside. Rescued by monks from a mysterious order, Victor quickly mastered the monks' secret disciplines, as well as metallurgy. Doom then forged himself a suit of Powered Armor, complete with a scowling mask, which he has used (with some modifications) since that day, and took the name Doctor Doom. Shortly afterwards, he led a revolution that toppled the reigning monarch of Latveria. Upon coming to power, he became a dictator and tyrant, ruling with an iron fist and using his status as head of state to expand his influence on a global scale. Doom's path was soon to once again cross that of Richards, this time along with Richards' family, who became his sworn enemies.

Starting from The Amazing Spider-Man #5 however, Doctor Doom began appearing in stories with other heroes, because of both his considerable popularity and his versatility. As many writers and fans note, Doctor Doom's rich character and complex origins allow him to fit in, and play off, almost any genre and against any hero. As such he's been consistently a Marvel-wide villain from his inception, making notable appearances as a villain and Foil for the likes of The Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Thor, Luke Cage, Squirrel Girl and more. He is a unique figure who can inhabit multiple corners of the Marvel Universe whether it be the mystical side, the cosmic side, the political-national side, and even the street-level. Doctor Doom can slip in almost any genre and any hero's story no matter the power level and you can always find a good reason to work him in.

Doom should not be confused with Dr. Travis Doom, or his cousin twice removed Doctor Bob Doom. Notably, he inspired the persona of the late, highly-influential cult rapper MF DOOM.

Read about him in his own voice here.

Notable Doctor Doom Stories:

  • Fantastic Four
    • #5 — His first appearance. By Lee and Kirby.
    • Fantastic Four Annual #2 — His Origins Episode whose details are mostly set in stone here. By Lee and Kirby.
    • #60 — Where Doom hijacks Silver Surfer's surfboard and Power Cosmic. By Lee and Kirby.
    • #258 — A famous episode that shows Latveria from his POV that established a more gray perspective on Doom. By John Byrne (story and art).
    • Vol. 2 #67-70 - "Unthinkable" by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo. Doom wears the flayed skin of his former lover as he takes down the Fantastic Four.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man (1963)
    • #5 — Spidey's first confrontation with Doctor Doom. Doom's first appearance as a villain outside the Fantastic Four and the beginning of his status as a Marvel-wide villain.
    • #349-350 — One of Spider-Man's greatest fights with Victor von Doom. By David Michelinie and Erik Larsen.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man (1999)
    • "Doomed Affairs" (TASM V.2 #49-50) — Captain America cameos when Peter and Mary Jane reunite at the Denver Airport where Doctor Doom is stranded and ambushed by anti-Doom Latverian terrorists, needing Spider-Man to save the day and his marriage at the same time.
    • Superman and Spider-Man (1981) — The Second Inter-Company Crossover between Spider-Man and Superman, has Doctor Doom play the main villain (teaming up with Parasite), and it was mainly envisioned by writer (and then EIC) Jim Shooter as an Excuse Plot for, in his words, pitting "[Marvel's] greatest villain" against "[DC's] greatest hero."
  • Luke Cage: Hero for Hire (#8-9) — Doom's chance meeting with Luke Cage, leads him to first employ him and then welch him, triggering a one-man invasion of Latveria when Luke comes to collect the $200 owed him.
  • Iron Man
    • #149-150 where Doom and Tony travel back to the Middle Ages and tackle Morgaine le Fay. Written by David Michelinie.
    • The Infamous Iron Man: After Secret Wars 2015, Doctor Doom decides to reform and adopts the mantle of Iron Man and try his hand at being a legitimate superhero for a while. Written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Alex Maleev.
  • Secret Wars (1984): He played a major role in the first crossover, serving in effect as the Villain Protagonist of the series as he manipulates heroes, villains, Galactus, all for a shot at godhood.
  • Secret Wars (2015): The culmination of The Avengers (Jonathan Hickman) and Hickman's run on Fantastic Four where Doom had played a prominent but essentially background role all to set up his shocking and dramatic return to the center of all things Marvel, when he ascends to becoming God-Emperor of the Multiverse.
  • Solo Doom Stories:
    • Astonishing Tales # 01-08. A series of eight 10-page stories which portrays Doctor Doom as a Villain Protagonist and a gray figure. By Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, and art by Wally Wood and Gene Colan.
    • Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment — Expanding on Astonishing Tales #8, Roger Stern and Mike Mignola team up Strange and Doom in an adventure as they visit hell to free the soul of Cynthia von Doom from Mephisto.
    • Doom2099 — At the end of the 21st century, the heroic age is over and the world is now a cyberpunk dystopia run by mega corporations. Doom is a man out of time, but the 20th century's great villain might just be the hero the last days of the 21st century need.
    • Emperor Doom — Doctor Doom uses Purple Man's powers to finally Take Over the World as the Avengers watch helplessly. Written by David Michelinie.
    • Books of Doom — An updated retelling of Doctor Doom's origins which also expands on parts of it considerably. Written by Ed Brubaker.
    • Doomwar — A 2010 Crisis Crossover, where Doctor Doom attempts to conquer Wakanda for it's Vibranium.
    • Doctor Doom — A 2019 solo series by Christopher Cantwell (showrunner of Halt and Catch Fire) and artist Salvador Larroca.

Adaptations

Film

Theme Park Attractions

Video Games

Western Animation

Doctor Doom is the Trope Namer for:

  • Actually a Doombot: invoked The name comes from the Doombots, the robotic decoys used by Doom to confuse heroes. Whenever a hero thinks they have defeated Doom, they will eventually discover it was simply one of his Doombots distracting them from what Doom was really doing. This is also used as an Author's Saving Throw whenever some writer has written Doom in a way that seems out of character, since it allows them to Retcon out those moments.

Doctor Doom provides examples of:

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  • 24-Hour Armor: Doom's armor includes built-in systems which sustain his vital functions, thus he is almost never seen without it.
  • Age Lift: Much like Mister Fantastic and The Thing, Doom in classic Marvel Universe is a middle-aged man. Also like them, some adaptions made him closer in age to the Storm siblings: Heroes Reborn depicts him as a younger man.
  • Alternate Company Equivalent: He is a supergenius, mostly focused on technology, with green as his main colour, is obsessed with proving that he is better than one man over any other goals and has a colossal ego. If Lex Luthor was a permanent head of state instead of a businessman, he would be Victor von Doom.
  • Alternate Self: Doom has several counterparts in The Multiverse:
    • The Marvel 2099 Doom, who took over the United States, and later gave his life to save the world from the menace of the Phalanx.
    • The Marvel 1602 Doom, who assassinated the Queen and was generally the Big Bad of the entire first series. Later, he kidnapped William Shakespeare because he wanted him to write about his travel to the end of the world.
    • Peter David's X-Factor Doom from the Summers Rebellion future - despite being somewhat weakened by age and circumstance, tied to a wheelchair and not completely in possession of his faculties, he was still more dangerous than the story's actual villains, and managed to evade capture by the mutants of that era when all was said and done.
    • A version of Doom in the Age of Apocalypse happened to be director of Eurasian Security, fighting alongside that world's versions of Anthony Stark, Donald Blake and Gwen Stacy.
    • In an old What If? story, the experiment to rescue Doom's mother from Hell (which ended with the device exploding and giving him the scarred face that required his trademark mask) instead went without a hitch, resulting in a universe where Doom becomes Earth's greatest hero and marries the love of his life. However, because of his actions, Doom earns the ire of Mephisto, who imposes on him a stringent Sadistic Choice...
    • Another What If? shows what would have happened if Doom had managed to keep the Beyonder's power, which results in him winning the Secret Wars, acquiring Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet, and dominating the cosmos. This attracts the attention of the Celestials, whom Doom eventually defeats in a war that destroys the planet. Using the last of his power, Doom recreates Earth and humanity with it before becoming mortal himself in order to lead them to greatness.
    • Yet another What Ifnote , Doom's travels in pursuit of mystic secrets in the Himalayas leads to him training under the Ancient One, which ultimately sees him become the Sorcerer Supreme (mostly due to lack of a better choice on the Ancient One's part). He is technically slain defeating Dormammu once and for all, but uses hidden technological devices to kidnap Dr. Strange and overwrite Strange's brainwaves with his own. The Watcher informs the reader that Doom will then become the Sorcerer Eternal by bodyjacking every potential replacement Sorcerer Supreme from then on.
    • Master Menace from the original Squadron Supreme is a Captain Ersatz of Doom. Some would suggest that the archenemy of Superman counterpart Hyperion would more accurately be regarded as a counterpart of Lex Luthor, but Menace clearly apes Doom's costume style.
    • Doom actually met the real Superman and Lex Luthor in Superman & Spider-Man #2. Being the Manipulative Bastard that he is, Superman could do nothing to him◊ since he resided in the embassy of Latveria and thus was under Latverian law. Doom also did this out in the open on the embassy's doorstep to Supes' face.
    • In Marvel Zombies, Doom, alone of everyone in the entire universe without exception, was able to resist the zombie infection by sheer willpower alone. Doom has more Heroic Willpower than that universe's version of CAPTAIN AMERICA.
    • Ultimate Marvel's Doctor Doom is an aristocrat named Victor Van Damme, who meddles with the teleportation experiment being performed by Reed Richards. This created the Ultimate Fantastic Four, and also transformed him into a demonic-looking being of living metal who is nigh invulnerable, can throw razor-sharp spines from his body and has a Breath Weapon of toxic fumes (which is supposedly based upon the fact his now-useless organs are rotting into liquid inside his body). His greatest scheme was snatching Richards' body, only to end up transferring back and taking a one-way portal through the world of Marvel Zombies. While it's unknown how he survived that fate, he did so, and is now part of the Future Foundation.
      • It's worth noting that Mary Storm, mother to the Invisible Woman and Human Torch, pretended to be Doom for a while, and that impostor's action led to Magneto executing his Ultimatum. The Thing then promptly killed off the impostor for his part in motivating Magneto into performing it.
      • A second Ultimate Doctor Doom has since reared his head; although also comparable to the Tomorrow Man in his motives, Ultimate Reed Richards has apparently taken Van Damme's place as the "Ultimate Doctor Doom." Naturally, it wasn't long before Richards tried to claim repentance, but this was in turn a ruse, as Richards soon revealed that he was a villain all along.
    • An alternate future version of Doom appeared in Fantastic Four: The End, where Doom had partially converted to a four-armed cybernetic form to make up for the wear and tear decades of battle had caused. Doom seemingly perished in a final confrontation that also claimed the lives of Richards and Storm's children Franklin and Valeria, finally leading to the destruction of the Fantastic Four. However, years later, it's revealed that Doom and the children had been pushed through a time warp with the powers of Franklin Richards, appearing in the midst of a massive alien invasion of Earth's solar system. Doom himself is drawn into the Negative Zone permanently, which he conquers after destroying Annihilus, and is greeted as a liberator by its inhabitants.
    • In the Marvel Apes universe, Doom's counterpart was a baboon. Mainstream Doom probably wouldn't be amused. Zombieverse Doom wasn't and unleashed zombies upon that world out of spite.
    • The modern Fantastic Four live action films had featured two very different versions of the Doctor Doom.
      • In the 2005 film, Doom was portrayed as a billionaire entrepreneur who has been a rival to Reed Richards ever since they were science colleagues in high school.
      • In the 2015 film, Doom was portrayed as an anti-social computer programmer and scientist that works for the Baxter Foundation and is mentored by Dr. Franklin Storm.
  • Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: Alternate Dooms tend to become cosmic beings, defenders of Earth, or both. That being said, only mainstream Doom at one point managed to be the ruler of (what was left of) the entire multiverse.
  • Always Second Best: To Reed Richards and Doctor Strange in the fields of science and magic, respectively. During the Secret Wars (2015) event, Doom eventually conceded that Reed Richards could and would have used the Beyonder's power far more effectively than Doom. This admission caused a sudden reversal in Doom's fortunes, as Owen Reese then decided to gift Richards with the power, and confirming what Doom said, as a parting gift, Reed Richards restored Doom's once ruined visage.◊
    • Oddly, while Doom is definitely the weaker mage to Doctor Strange, he's never shown the same gnawing inferiority complex about it, and even seems to consider Strange something of a friend. This seems to be in large part because not only was their main story together (Triumph and Torment) a team-up where Strange helped to rescue his mother, but in general, he rarely goes into conflict with Strange unless it involves the universe as a whole, since Strange handles mystic threats and Doom tends to ignore that side of things except as a tool.
    • In the field of armored combat, he's generally been shown to be somewhat below Iron Man. While Doom's armor and technology are highly advanced, he generally doesn't upgrade his own armor nearly as much as Tony does and despite regularly going up against strong opponents, definitely doesn't fight other armored, robotic foes on a regular basis like Iron Man does with Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and many others. The result is that while Doom has the advantage over Tony in magic and statecraft, Iron Man has the advantage over Doom in a pure armor-versus-armor fight if he gets up close and personal with Doom.
  • Amazon Brigade: The Black Swans, featured in New Avengers, are devout servants of Doom. Indeed, religiously so.
  • Amazon Chaser: Aside from the previously mentioned thing for Storm, Doom is also suggested to have a similar thing for Sue Storm, the Scarlet Witch and Morgan le Fay. Doom clearly has a thing for dangerous women.
  • And Now You Must Marry Me: Has proclaimed on occasion that he finds Storm worthy of becoming his consort, and has tried to force her to marry him more than once. (Another time, he simply decided to turn her into a trophy; one way or another, he has an odd thing for her.)
  • And Show It to You: During the Secret Wars (2015) event, Thanos sought to instruct Doom on the true nature of Godhood, delivering a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to him. Doom offered his rebuttal by applying this trope.
  • And Then What?:
    • Doom faces angst about this in Emperor Doom where he conquers the world and builds an utopia but gets bored with how monotonous and mundane existence is, and then also in Secret Wars 2015 where he became a God-Emperor and similarly found that boring too.
    • Reed Richards asks this of Doom several times whenever Doom's captured him again and is gloating about how he's going to kill Reed and destroy everything he holds dear. Doom has no proper answer, because the be-all-end-all of his existence is to cause Reed Richards as much anguish as possible. Unlike, say, the Joker however, Doom can't admit this (having convinced himself that he's doing it because he's superior to everyone else and deserves to rule the world... and that he's doing the world a favor since he's obviously the most qualified for the job) and so whenever Reed mentions this, Doom usually just starts screaming about college grudges and beating the snot out of Reed. Doom is kind of nuts.
  • Anti-Villain: When he cares to be, he can be a Noble Demon or a Well-Intentioned Extremist. Doom frequently does things for the "greater good", and also follows a code of honor.
  • Arch-Enemy:
    • The wrathful vengeance of Doctor Doom will never be sated! Never — until the earth runs red with the blood of that accursed REED RICHARDS!!
    • The rest of the Fantastic Four as well, to a lesser extent. After he crushed Doom's hands, the Thing also jumped pretty high on his list. Doom also has a villainous crush on the Invisible Woman, but also fears her as the team's most powerful member.
    • Doreen Green, AKA Squirrel Girl, is the only superhero that can consistently beat him, and actually beat him. It's more of a Friendly Enemy, since he's resigned to just let her do what she wants. Fighting her isn't worth the embarrassment of getting beaten up by a college student.
  • Badass Bookworm: Doom's intelligence is without question, and even without the Powered Armor Doom is still a formidable (albeit completely human) combatant; Doom has even killed a lion with his bare hands on one occasion (when stranded in the wild on an alternate Earth). While completely naked. And then Doom skinned it for meat and for sinew to make weapons. Then Doom wore its carcass as clothing and used its face to make a new mask.
  • Badass Boast: Doom spews these in his sleep. It's his true super power. But a truly classic one comes from FANTASTIC FOUR #258:
    Doom: No one rivals Doom! NO ONE! Doom is supreme! There is no power on Earth, no intellect in all creation to equal mine!!
    • Another one, when cracking down on political malcontents in Latveria who have assembled to protest against his tyranny. Doom releases a superweapon on them, then shouts at the fleeing survivors:
      Doom: Flee, you blind, gullible fools! Run for cover—but you shall find nowhere to hide! The power of Doom extends everywhere! EVERYWHERE!
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: The Mark Waid's Unthinkable prologue had Doom in a three piece suit and tie, wearing a silver mask, in search in of Valeria, his former childhood love.
    • After Secret Wars (2015), Doom took to dressing in a nice suit while under Bendis's pen in Iron Man.
  • Bad Boss: While Doom loves his country and his subjects, he treats anyone who works for him as expendable, and has no qualms about killing them himself, if it suits his current needs. Supervillains who work with Doom might find that their lives are a bit safer, but he usually treats them with as little respect as he treats his underlings.
  • Batman Gambit: Doom would have you believe all of Triumph and Torment was one.
  • Beauty to Beast: Doom was once a handsome man until an explosion disfigured Doom into a hideous shape, forcing him to be forever hidden behind a steel mask.
  • Believing Their Own Lies: Doom claims (and, seemingly, even believes) that his totalitarian rule is for the benefit of the governed.
    Doom: My loyal subjects, I have always considered you close to my heart. Indeed, I have always put your welfare even before my own. Why else would I construct my Servo-Units, if not to protect you? Why else would I make certain you are never permitted to stray beyond our borders, if not to help you avoid the possible perils that the outside world may bring? Too long has the world misjudged Doom. They have always considered me a despot... a dictator. But they do not know how I worry about you so.
  • Benevolent Boss: Depending on the Writer, like always. When written as a Noble Demon, he is very protective of his people, and rewards those who show loyalty. For example, Doom's heir is Kristoff Vernard. Who's that? The son of one of Doom's maids who died protecting him.
  • Benevolent Dictator: Zigzagged. He typically presents himself as one of these where Latveria is concerned, but whether or not he actually is tends to depends on who's writing him. At the very least Latveria is shown to have a surprisingly high standard of living with crime in particular all but eliminated thanks to Doom's armies of robots, but whether or not the average citizen genuinely likes him or not depends on the story.
  • Berserk Button: A quick way to get on Doctor Doom's bad side would be to mention Reed Richards's name within Doom's earshot. Or to imply that Reed is intelligent, let alone more intelligent than Doom is.
  • Better the Devil You Know: As much as Doom is a tyrant to the people of Latveria, whoever ends up taking his place ends up pulling a Meet the New Boss. A previous King of Latveria, Vladimir Fortunov, was a dictator who committed monstrous atrocities, including the murder of children and ethnic cleansing aimed at Roma. Doom, being descendant of Romani people, didn't tolerate any of it. Furthermore, when the Fantastic Four helped Prince Zorba depose Doom, they were so horrified at his resulting destructively murderous tyranny that they had to help Doom depose him for the sake of the people of Latveria, and they couldn't get rid of Doom next because Victor prepared too well against them to prevent that. Even Spider-Man — who accused Doom to his face of being a tyrant — admitted once that Latveria is better under his rule than anyone else's.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Typically, the laws of time-travel dictate that one cannot change the events of their own timeline. Doom considers himself, and actually is, beyond such petty constraints, and has invented the technology known as the Doomlock to break this rule. Of course, only Doom may use this technology.
  • Big Bad:
    • He could be considered this for the Marvel Universe as a whole; he's one of the setting's most prominent and iconic villains, and even though he usually is considered simply the Fantastic Four's nemesis, he has fought practically every major hero at one point or another, and is one of the few human villains in the Marvel Universe to be a major threat.
    • As it transpires, Doom is one of the main antagonists of The Avengers (Jonathan Hickman), the "Rabum Alal" responsible in part for the multiversal destruction Doom had sought to prevent.
  • Big Good: The willpower of Doom, and Doom alone, is the sole thing keeping Battleworld stable in Secret Wars. Not even the Fantastic Four could accomplish that! Of course, then the characters point out Doom's brainwashed the populace, manipulates them for his own thrills, and doesn't bother restoring their universes, which he could do.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: Simply killing Richards is not Doom's true goal; only when Richards is humiliated enough after Doom has brought his entire world down around him and he recognizes Doom's superiority will he die. Needless to say, this more than once led to his downfall.
  • Breakout Villain: Doom went from being the main villain of only the Fantastic Four to having battled virtually every mainstream hero in the Marvel Universe, and has even been featured in media adaptions not about the Fantastic Four. Indeed, he's so well known that non-comic readers often haven't even heard of the other, lesser enemies of the Fantastic Four.
  • Broken Ace: This is largely the point of Doctor Doom. He's a scientific genius to rival Reed Richards, a magical prodigy who approaches Doctor Strange in power, and physically fit enough that he can kill lions bare-handed; he rules a nation as semi-benevolent dictator, adheres to a code of always repaying his debts, has enough willpower to stare down the Purple Man without flinching, and wears a suit of armor on par with that sported by Iron Man. He could, in theory, be one of the Marvel Universe's greatest forces for good, because in power level you can pick almost any three superheroes and he's the equal of all of them. Unfortunately for the Marvel Universe, his egomania will never stop clouding his judgment. When Reed Richards pointed out a mistake in Doom's calculations, he spat in Reed's face, and when his experiment went wrong and scarred him, he blamed Reed rather than admit, even to himself, that he screwed up, and dedicated the rest of his life to a needless revenge for a nonexistent crime. His hideous scarring is his own fault because believing his good looks to already be ruined by the thin scar he had received, he donned the iron mask to his first suit of armor without waiting for it to cool first. His people fear him more than love him; he has no friends; most of his intellectual equals are superheroes who would be suspicious at an invitation to discuss something; he's a pariah on the international stage. All because of his swollen ego. Ultimately, deep down he’s an angry, bitter, vengeful man who can never admit a mistake, devotes all his brilliance and talents to showing up his old college rival, and once killed the only woman who ever loved him for just a little more power.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Once, a misshapen creature attacked Doom, claiming he had once used him as the subject of an experiment and declared himself "the man whose life you destroyed." Doom simply responded by saying that he shouldn't expect Doom to remember every life he has destroyed.
  • Byronic Hero: Doctor Doom fits all the tropes except for being a villain most of the time. In Infamous Iron Man where he goes legit and genuinely tries to be a hero, he plays it dead straight. Feared and rejected by society, an outsider, misunderstood, moody and yet dignified, principled and determined.
  • The Caligula: He's a comic book supervillain and the ruler of a country.
    Servant: But — what of my freedom, Sire? What of your promise?
    Doom: [grabs the man by the throat] You dare speak to me of promises? Have you forgotten that your very life is in my hands? Each breath you take — each moment you live — is only because I allow it!
  • Captain Patriotic: A rather twisted version of this regarding Latveria. The people of Latveria love him, and he won't let them forget it. EVER.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Subverted. The name he uses and manner in which he dresses at first glance gives the impression that he's making no bones about the fact that he's a supervillain, but he's so egotistical that he actually thinks of himself as a fair and wise ruler.
  • Characterization Click Moment:
    • Doom's first appearance makes no mention of any specific history with Reed Richards. It takes until Fantastic Four Annual #2 for this to show up properly.
    • Likewise, his status as despot of Latveria only makes an appearance in that publication's second story.
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • During the Kirby/Lee era, Doom was often depicted as a raving operatic despot rather than the benevolent and beloved autocrat towards his people that can be seen in the works of John Byrne and forth. Granted, raving operetta was Lee and Kirby's default style of characterization for villains, and going up a notch in this regard may have been the only way they saw of portraying Doom as the villain relative to the (in retrospect unusually) unsympathetic characterization that Reed Richards had in those days.
    • To exemplify: In one case, where Doom had rendered the Fantastic Four powerless and allowed them to live in a sort of house arrest in a little Latverian village, Doom's reaction to them managing to recover their powers and attempting escape was attempting to remotely activate the self-destruct mechanism for the village, that would kill not only the Fantastic Four, but also all the Latverian citizens therein. Moreover, it is stated that such self-destruct mechanisms are installed under all Latverian villages. Nowadays Doom, who is depicted as caring to some extent about all of Latveria, would never contemplate such a heinous act.
  • Classic Villain: Pride/Envy/Wrath and Ambition in all of their forms. Convinced that he is superior to everything on earth, he is obsessed with proving himself more intelligent than his arch-rival, Reed Richards and also with destroying Richards because he blames him for scarring his face. Aside from his vendetta with Richards, Doom is obsessed with world domination. Perhaps one of the more obvious contrasts, Doom sports a Badass Cape and Powered Armor compared to the relatively simple designs the Fantastic Four have in their uniforms.
  • Closet Geek: invoked Enough so to correct Spider-Man on an incorrect quotation of Star Trek: The Original Series as a bit of Casual Danger Dialogue.
  • Complexity Addiction: Doom is notorious for this, to the extent that more often than not it seems as if any given scheme was carried out by somebody that was Actually a Doombot and Doom himself almost appears to be in multiple places at the same time. Generally this does little to improve the overall results of his many conspiracies beyond giving the heroes (and sometimes other villains) a good workout. Doom's methods for killing Richards are perhaps not always the most... practical, but he certainly doesn't seems to see any point in defeating him in some mundane way that does not utterly and eternally prove his superiority over him.
    • Doom's use of this trope is best demonstrated in Triumph and Torment. He enters a contest for the title of Sorcerer Supreme against "Doctor Strange", which Strange of course wins. Something Strange didn't know is that the winner owed the second place contestant a favor, which in this case was Strange's help saving Doom's mother from Mephisto, something Strange would have helped with if Doom simply asked. But Doom was far too proud to ever ask someone.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: In Guardians of the Galaxy (2020), Doom, sensing some dangerous but unclear threat coming, attacks the team and beats the living daylights out of them, stealing Hulkling's body in the process. They defeat him by exploiting his ego, winding up with Doom stuck in Rocket Racoon's body (and vice-versa). Peter Quill notes they're in a bind. They can't kill him, because it probably wouldn't take, and they can't imprison him, because he'd definitely escape, so... Quill puts him on the team.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Doom has learned to prepare for anything when carrying out his plans, including backup plans not working the way he intended them to, though this is hardly "crazy" since such preparations often prove necessary, and if Doom's plan fails, you know the real reason why. Examples include raising a mystical barrier after his return from the Secret Wars (2015), knowing that Tony Stark would lash out at him for past grievances, and, should Doom ever expire, having his Doombots designed and programmed to continue his works in his stead. He even prepares for those from another continuity, as the Parasite◊ discovered the hard way.
  • Cult of Personality: Doom's loyal subjects love and worship their ruler, complete with great statues erected to his honor in every Latverian city and festivals in celebration of him. A lot of them are brainwashed, some prefer the devil they know, others fear him, but yes there are genuinely Latverians who do think Doctor Doom is a good ruler, and support his policies and ideas without any coercion whatsoever from Victor.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • One of his fights with Black Panther, when Doom easily Out-Gambitted and crippled T'Challa, requiring his sister Shuri to take the mantle up in his stead, though T'Challa paid Doom back for that in "Doomwar".
    • He delivers a brutal one to Spider-Man in ASM #350, unleashing all his magic and tech on him, shredding his costume and making him bleed. All Spider-Man could do to convince Doom to stave him off is to bargain with him (both of them were after a jewel thief who stole a valuable gem, which happens to be a Latverian artifact and a heirloom belonging to Doom's mother). Doom relented and gave Spidey 24 hours to find the thief, recover the artifact or he would kill both him and that thief. Spider-Man has fought and won against Juggernaut, Firelord and many other heavy-hitters but Doctor Doom is someone Spidey has yet to defeat in a straight fight in the main 616 continuity. Just about the only times Spider-Man can defeat, fight off, or get some sort of plot victory over Doom tends to happen in alternate continuities or animated shows.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: He's one of the smartest men in the world, but he wastes his resources on fighting a quartet of superheroes (among others) because he's angry that one of them is better than him.
    • It's repeatedly mentioned, though, that Doom's various high-tech inventions with more practical applications generate so much profit that Latveria's entire national economy would collapse without them. The problem is he's not satisfied with just that.
  • Cyberbullying: One Public Service Announcement had Doom of all people resorting to this, to cause strife among the Avengers. As the cops (presumably the same ones who booked Thanos) haul him off, he mwah-ha-ha's over how many more he'll get to corrupt if he ever gets his hands on a computer in prison.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: As mentioned above, his life has not been pleasant.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Depending on the Writer, Doom either has clever remarks at hand or has No Sense of Humor.
  • Deal with the Devil: Mephisto and Doom had a specific deal that allowed Doom to attempt to rescue his mother from Hell once a year, but each time he failed, the people of Latveria would hate him more and more. He eventually succeeded with some slight assistance from Doctor Strange, beating him at his own game! Though admittedly, with a very heavy price.
  • Deceased Parents Are the Best: The death of his mother, and the untimely demise of Doom's father, persecuted and hounded unto death by a local baron, persuaded Doom further down the path he has chosen.
  • Deducing the Secret Identity: Defied by Doctor Doom. He has the resources and intelligence that would make identifying most superheroes fairly easy, but he's outright dismissed the notion of taking that option. Part of it is his own awesome ego: dedicating resources to that kind of project would suggest that such costumed adventurers are enough of a threat to him that he'd need that kind of leverage, and he just can't accept that. note 
  • Demonic Possession: Not quite, but close. When Doom was dead (temporarily), he managed to use his Ovoid mind tricknote  and take over the bodies of the Fantastic Four, forcing Reed Richards to kill his best friend.
  • Depending on the Writer:
    • Does Doom care for his people, or are they simply mere implements of Doom's will, to be abused and discarded as Doom desires? Likewise, do the people of Latveria care for Doom, or do they merely fear his wrath? It is not entirely impossible to see examples of both at the same time.
    • Is Doom a man of honour and principle, or a posturing maniac who merely plays the part of a Noble Demon?
    • Whether Doom shows specific prejudices (such as racism, fantasic or otherwise), or just generally Hates Everyone Equally. The one constant is an aristocratic classism.
    • How scarred is his face? For example, an unofficial drawing by Kirby himself showed Doom only having the thinnest of scars. John Byrne's version clearly was more egregious just from the eye openings in the mask. Earth X hypothesized that Doom's scars are only mental. Secret Wars (2015) finally revealed a canon version of his face which looked akin to leprosy. Additionally, Byrne also created a compromise that's often used - namely, the accident gave him a small scar, but when he put on his mask for the first time, it hadn't cooled yet, and it gave him actual severe burns - Doom would rather be maimed under his mask than spend even a few more seconds with a tiny flaw for all to see, and it dovetails with the idea that most of Doom's problems are self-inflicted.
    • In general, Doom's general voice ranges from reserved, calculating, and articulate to ranting, mercurial, and pretentious. Consensus is that the first one is more intimidating, while the second is more fun.
  • Determinator: The only thing more impervious than Doom's armor is Doom's will.
  • Diplomatic Impunity: As the rightful sovereign of Latveria, superheroes hesitate to act against Doom when he is in the USA on diplomatic business; being the legitimate ruler of Latveria, he cannot be arrested for his crimes without causing a diplomatic incident.
  • Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: Doom uses the excuse that he finds Reed Richards responsible for the accident that caused his scarring as justification for hounding him. What's worse is that not only is Richards not guilty, but he actually tried to warn Doom, and Doom didn't listen.
  • Disintegration Chamber: Doom has these in his castle in Latveria, which he uses to execute anyone who violates Doom's law or irritates their liege. A throwaway line mentions these actually replaced the iron maiden that formerly did the same job for Doom's predecessors.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Keep in mind that all of his supervillain career is due to holding one man accountable for an accident that left him heavily scarred. In this case, however, the yearned-for retribution is really disproportionate, in that Reed didn't even do what Doom blames him for; in fact, not only is Reed not guilty, but he actually tried to warn Doom of flaws in Doom's calculations which had the potential for disaster if they weren't fixed. Doom went ahead with the experiment anyway, and when disaster happened as Reed predicted, Doom's ego couldn't let him admit fault and that Reed, in identifying Doom's error, was smarter than him. In response, he has attempted to kill/destroy/crush/annihilate/insert-grandiose-verb-here Reed and his entire family in various over-the-top ways on numerous occasions in vengeance, at one point possessing his daughter and trapping his son in Hell.
    • The disproportion is enhanced further in some tellings of this origin, which state that Doom was not even injured that seriously in the accident to start with. His injuries amounted to a small scar on his cheek, but Doom's vanity could not tolerate even such a minor blemish. He himself caused the horrific injuries by putting on his iconic metal face mask immediately after it had been forged without waiting for it to cool down first. So not only did Reed not cause the accident in the first place, he apparently had no connection with Doom's horrific injuries at all.
    • In Books of Doom, one of the tellings of said origin from Doom's perspective, Reed didn't even do that. He looked at Doom's notes and couldn't even make sense of them because Doom was blending magic and technology. He got the scar from Mephisto, the machine being designed to send him to Mephisto's realm so he could find his mother. Why he blames Reed isn't explored.
    • Matt Fraction's Fantastic Four revealed that Reed wasn't even responsible for Doom's accident. Ben Grimm, later the Thing, didn't like Doom's attitude, and he decided to purposefully sabotage the machine. So Doom's hatred of Reed is even more disproportionate.
  • Disappeared Dad: One of Doom's romantic dalliances with Morgan le Fay wound up producing a daughter. It's unclear if Doom knows this. Certainly, Morgan hasn't yet come after him demanding child support.
  • Domestic Abuse: In the sense that he's seen abusing his domestic servants.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Try to show pity towards Doom and be ready to receive one of his bombastic rebuttals, at best. For example: in Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, Doom takes advantage of a contest to put Strange in his debt and get his assistance in rescuing his mother's soul from Hell. While they are successful, Cynthia von Doom witnesses her son being a Manipulative Bastard, dresses him down, and escapes to Heaven without any chance of reconciliation. Strange, moved by pity, reaches out to Doom, but Doom coldly rebuffs him.
  • Doomy Dooms of Doom: It is right there in Doom's name, conveniently allowing him to claim that's what he shall bring to those that oppose him.
  • Doppelgänger Spin: Doom has an Image Projector that can create a lifelike projection of himself nearby, which he uses as a decoy to befuddle his opponents.
  • Do Wrong, Right: Thanks to time travel, Doom knows Kang will one day loot his tomb. Doom is more irritated that Kang just steals the equivalent of the lights instead of the wonderous technology or objects d'art Doom must surely have left behind than the fact Kang raided his tomb in the first place.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: Reed Richards once called Doom a slaver, and Doom's subjects, slaves. Doom, of course, understood why this comparison is not relevant in his own way.
    Doom: He dares compare me to a slave-owner?! History teaches us that slaves have been known to escape! But here, in my kingdom, none can escape! I am the master — they are the subjects — forevermore!
  • The Dreaded: Doom is a foe rightly feared, though not to the degree of more destructive menaces like the Red Skull, Galactus or Ultron, but since he can keep toe to toe with them, still rightfully dreaded given his intellect and ruthlessness. Even Daredevil, the Man Without Fear, had to muster his courage before an audience with the Doctor.
  • Driven by Envy: Although he'll never admit it, the reason Doom hates Reed Richards as passionately as he does is that he can't stand the fact that Reed is smarter, better, and more admired than him, and always manages to foil his schemes through superior intelligence. Doom finally does admit it in Secret Wars (2015). No sooner does he concede the point than Molecule Man strips Doom of his godlike powers and grants them to Reed.
  • Droit du Seigneur: Some writers have depicted Doom practicing the ius primae noctis with regards to the maidens of Latveria.
  • Dub Name Change:
    • In Spanish-speaking translations, Doom's name is changed to "Doctor Muerte" (Doctor Death). Other translations give him Doctor Destino (Doctor Destiny), which at least keeps the alliteration.
    • In French, he is known as "Docteur Fatalis", although older translations of the comics as well as the dubs of the 90's Marvel animated series (namely Fantastic Four: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and the first dub of The Incredible Hulk (1996)) kept his English name.
  • Eastward Endeavor: A rare villainous example. He travelled the world after getting expelled from university, ending up in Tibet, where he learnt the monks' secret disciplines and got his Powered Armor. The experience forged him into one of the most powerful and effective supervillains in the world, allowing him to conquer Latveria and eventually unleash his schemes on the Fantastic Four.
  • Egopolis: When Doom seized control of Latveria, the name of its capital was changed from Hassenstadt to Doomstadt, and other major towns followed suit.
  • Emperor Scientist: Almost as soon as he gained his advanced knowledge in science and wizardry, he conquered Latveria, and Latveria is an unparalleled technological utopia as a result.
  • Enemy Mine: The Fantastic Four and many other heroes have allied with Doom in order to save the world. On one occasion the Four even helped him reclaim Latveria, because his replacement was worse.
  • Entitled Bastard: In the famous "Unthinkable" arc of Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom used demonic possession to seize control over Reed's infant daughter Valeria, captured and tortured his family for days, and opened a portal to hell and threw his son into it. After Reed managed to save the day, he was able to trick Doom into insulting the demons who granted him his power boost, causing them to grab him and drag him into hell. After all this Doom still asked Reed to save him from an eternity of torment and claim he'd changed his ways but... it says a lot to how much suffering Doom had caused that Reed felt no guilt or shame at all in leaving him there to rot.
  • Equal-Opportunity Evil: All people, regardless of sex or class or color or creed are welcome in Latveria, so long as they first acknowledge Doom as their master.
  • Escaped from Hell: He fought his way out of Hell once, through he had help from the unexpected appearance of a certain hammer.
    Doctor Doom: There is Doom enough for everyone!
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Doom may be a bonafide supervillain, but his willingness to do whatever is necessary to free his mother from the clutches of Mephisto was a fundamental life-defining trait for decades, until Doom was finally victorious.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • Like Magneto, he refuses to have any association with the Red Skull due to Red Skull's Nazi ideology and Doom being of Romani descent.
    • During the Acts of Vengeance crossover event (where villains switched opponents in the belief that facing unfamiliar foes would be to their advantage), Doctor Doom is enraged when he learns that his lackey Typhoid Mary planned to murder the father of prepubescent heroes the Power Pack. He specifically notes he's aware of what such a loss can do to a young child, even admitting he sometimes wonders how he might have turned out if his own father had not died saving his life when he was still a child.
    • When he demanded the right to name Reed and Susan's daughter after delivering her, Doom noted that he wasn't nearly crass enough to name the girl after himself.
  • Everyone Went to School Together: Doom attended the same university as Reed Richards and Ben Grimm, both of whom would become members of the Fantastic Four. They didn't like each other as classmates. Likewise, Doom studied sorcery with the Aged Genghis, one of Doctor Strange's colleagues and instructors in the Mystic Arts.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Doom gets hit with this in the storyline where he saves Reed and Sue's second child. His price is that the baby girl must be named after his lost love, Valeria. Doom, a hardcore egotist with a compulsive need to be the best, thinks this reminder of inferiority will constantly grind away at Reed. Reed, for his part, doesn't give a crap, and is simply happy that his daughter is alive.
    • Doom gets hit with this again in Grant Morrison's mini-series "1-2-3-4", when he attempts to use an alien computer called the Prime Mover to play a four-dimensional chess game against Reed, thinking he can destroy the team's familial bonds. The key to Reed's outplaying Doom lies in that family connection:
      "My family are an equation. Alter one part of the equation and it no longer tells the truth. You failed from the start. You can no more change our essential nature than you can change E=MC2."
  • Evil Genius: Doom is extraordinarily intelligent in a variety of fields, including physics, engineering, cybernetics, biology, technology, engineering, chemistry, computer science and astrophysics. He's created time machines, devices that can give others powers, an army of perfectly functioning replica robots and was even able to cure Ben Grimm of his powers, something even Reed wasn't able to do. That's to say nothing of his skills as a tactician, strategist and manipulator and his skills with sorcery.
  • Evil Is Hammy: TREMBLE IN FEAR BEFORE DOOM'S TITANIC MONOLOGUES! Doom's ham-acting actually stems directly from the Pride that is at the root of his villainy: not only does he have to be the centre of attention at all times, but he's recording his words for posterity on top of that.
  • Evil Is Petty: A defining trait. Doom may act exactly like an Evil Overlord with delusions of grandeur and adhere to the appropriate conventions of nobility and respectability to go with it, but it doesn't change the fact that he's still an arrogant prick who's spent half his life obsessively trying to kill his old college pal Reed Richards for being smarter than he is and whose attempts to Take Over the World, overthrow governments, and gain supreme powers are all motivated by the desire to prove that he's smarter than Reed and rub it in his face. He's a Spoiled Brat who wants the chance to yell "nyah nyah nyah nyah!" at the object of his jealousy. This is directly contrasted to his bombastic, overblown persona as an aristocrat because that's how he imagines a great man to be.
  • Evil Overlord: Doom is a supervillain and overlord of Latveria, who plans to someday be overlord of all the Earth.
  • Evil Plan: Doom's schemes to rescue his mother may or may not be evil, his other schemes to conquer Earth are less ambiguously evil.
  • Evil Versus Evil: Doom must often duke it out with certain criminals, lunatics, and cosmic beings. These have included the Red Skull, the underwater warlord Krang, the demented Onslaught, and higher beings such as the Over-Mind and the Celestials. Virtually his first serial strip, published in Astonishing Tales #1-8 has Doom as a Villain Protagonist battling a bunch of villains as bad and often worse than him.
  • Evil Virtues: Ambition (wants to Take Over the World for its own good), Determination (stronger willpower than Captain America), Valour (responds to hordes of demons attacking him with "I will not go easy, and I will not go alone"), and Responsibility (when he's the reasonable and just ruler of Latveria).
  • Evil Will Fail: Doom is motivated by an intense egomania that drives him to attempt to conquer the world and kill that blasted Reed Richards, but that very egomania prevents him from recognizing his own mistakes and frequently leads to his own defeat.
  • The Evils of Free Will: Doom has stated that he thinks his destiny to eradicate what he perceives as the chaotic foolishness of mankind and create a perfectly ordered world under his iron-fisted rule.
  • Exact Words:
    • Doom prides himself on always keeping his word, but those he deals with had better pay very close attention to his phrasing, as he will keep his exact word. He may promise that he won't kill you, but that does not mean he can't order one of his Doombots to do it. However, Doom has had considerable character development of late, and didn't really have a good argument when someone pointed out that he was supposed to be above playing such silly word games. Now he adheres to the spirit of his promises and genuinely keeps his word...unless you're an asshole like the Red Skull, in which case he will keep his word in whatever way screws you over the most.
    • When Nancy Whitehead watched Doom betray Squirrel Girl this way (he promised to return her to her own time but neglected to mention whether she would be alive or dead), she was shocked that the great Doctor Doom would resort to "stupid baby word games" to get his way. (This was a time-traveling Doom from well before the above-mentioned character development.)
    • A good example comes from the 'Unthinkable' story-arc, where Doom has trapped Franklin Richards in Hell itself, and is clutching the infant Valeria Richards in his arms. He offers Reed a deal, surrender to him and he will 'release the child'. Reed agrees, thinking he means Franklin (with a magic television portal showing Franklin in Hell to convince Reed further), only for Doom to place Valeria on the ground in front of himself, as the cruel realisation sinks in for the heroes.
  • Expanding Thrown Weapon: One of his pieces of equipment is the Intensified Molecule Projector, which is small enough to be placed into one of his gauntlets. The projector allows Doom to launch molecules (the RPG Book "Machines of Doom #1" specifies these are synthetic molecules) at opponents. When these molecules come into contact with oxygen, they grow to the size of a large stone, making for dangerous projectiles. It's mentioned that the Projector isn't actually something built into his armour, rather it's optional equipment he can attach when he thinks he'll need it. Otherwise, it's not part of his armour's normal arsenal.
  • The Extremist Was Right: During The Avengers (Jonathan Hickman) and Secret Wars (2015) Doom's actions of destroying entire universes was actually meant to prevent a total reality collapse and he succeeded by taking it to a "mere" Class X-5 and creating a Battleworld where he rules the survivors as a God Emperor.
  • The Faceless: Doom had a long habit of remaining masked whenever possible, and happening not to face the readers when he was forced to unmask. In Secret Wars (2015) #3, Doom's scarred and ruined visage is shown to the audience. This was done in a tender moment between Doom and Susan Storm. However, it is suggested by some that such a display is merely an illusion, crafted by Doom to better gain sympathy from onlookers. When confronted with this, Doom, while finding this theory interesting, chooses not to comment further, either to confirm or deny the accuracy of it.
  • Facial Horror: Some variations of his origin have it so his face is horribly scarred, either by an experiment gone wrong or because he made the mad decision to force his still-burning hot mask onto his face, permanently fusing it to his skin.
  • Fairest of Them All: Doom is a rare male example of this trope, although it's only one aspect of the many-layered Green-Eyed Monster that drives his hatred for Reed Richards.
  • Fake Defector: Doom has used agents, such as Laszlo Chaloupek, who would pretend to be a "resistance fighters" and discover other people against Doom. A favorite tactic would be Laszlo setting a "trap" for Doom that would actually turn out to be on a resistance leader. However, during a time when Doom was not quite himself, he exposed Chaloupek to his "allies" and then had him executed.
  • Fantastic Racism: It doesn't come up often, and varies Depending on the Writer, but Doom is indicated to be prejudiced against mutants. In Secret Wars (2015), he dismisses mutants seeking help for their domain and calls them a blight on his world once they're gone. On the other hand, in Old Man Logan, Doom is stated to have created a safe haven for mutants in the far future, and other stories indicate that Latverian mutants are treated equally in his nation. During Secret Wars (1984) when the different groups suspect that Magneto would obviously support Doom, he reminded everyone that he would never support Victor simply for the fact that he knows that all Doom cares for is himself, leave alone fellow people or oppressed mutants. In X-Men / Fantastic Four, when he's all but asked this question directly by Xavier, Doom answers that he finds the notion of people being born with powers, and holding themselves as superior to others simply by virtue of that, deeply insulting, when he had to earn everything he had through study and power. In short, he finds the mere idea of mutants (who did nothing to earn the power they have) and their superior attitudes offensive to his world view as a purely Self-Made Man.
  • Fatal Flaw: Pride. Although Doom is a Chessmaster and Manipulative Bastard extraordinaire, his obscene arrogance always ends up being the one flaw in his plans. This even extends to his origin story, where the freak accident that disfigured him was due to him refusing to believe he made a miscalculation. And even then, Doom didn't learn a lesson and instead blamed Reed Richards.
  • A Father to His Men: He loves his subjects as a father would love his children and, so long as they are loyal and obedient, be willing to lay down his life to protect them. For them he would even forgo his vengeance against Richards, if only momentarily. Every Latverian is literate, healthy, educated, and financially secure, after all, how can Doom be worthy of a tyrant's throne if he cannot even look after the basic welfare of his people, much less build a strong country?
    • This does not however extend to any outside help Doom recruits. To them he is a Bad Boss who will sacrifice them on a whim when it suits him.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Doom can be generous, respectful and honorable, but that's just him behaving the way he thinks a great man is supposed to be like.
  • The Fettered: Again and again, Doom has been forced to choose between his final and total victory and his principles. Doom has chosen to remain true to his own principles.
  • Fiction 500: Even for a dictator, his resources seem limitless, and in real life, the economy of any first world country should have plummeted from all his expenses on his numerous ventures, let alone Latveria.
  • Fiery Redhead: Doctor Doom had a head of red hair as a young man and still does in the occasions when his face briefly repairs itself. And he's a man of rather hot temper and strong passion.
  • First-Name Basis:
    • He's on first name basis with each member of the Fantastic Four, except, naturally, for Reed Richards. He naturally uses the proper forms (i.e. "Susan", "Jonathon", "Benjamin") rather than the friendlier short forms ("Sue/Susie", "Johnny", "Ben").
    • He's also one of the few who addresses Kang by his given name of Nathaniel, though it's not a sign of camaraderie or respect, but rather Victor's contempt for him.
  • Foil: Ra's al Ghul might be considered an Alternate Company Equivalent. Doom is less magnanimous in defeat, however.
  • Fond Memories That Could Have Been: During the Acts of Vengeance crossover event, Doom admitted occasionally wondering how his life might have turned out if his father had not frozen to death in a valiant attempt to save Doom's life as a child. Perhaps he might have become a great healer like his father, happily married to his childhood sweetheart Valeria. In the end, he dismisses such thoughts because they're pointless: what's done is done, and Doom can only go forward.
  • Forgot About His Powers: Many, many times, Doom has lost fights because he didn't bother using his magic.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip:
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: From a man of humble origins spent among simple Romani to the ruler of his home country and somebody who can go toe to toe with Physical Gods.
  • Future Me Scares Me: Subverted in that in various encounters with his future selves, he was less scared of them rather than he found them lacking. However, in one incident, Doom learned he was fated to travel to medieval Europe, where he'll establish himself as the Baron of Iron, producing anachronistic technologies with ease. Doom was suitably impressed by his future-self's resourcefulness.

    G to L 
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Long before Tony Stark constructed his armor, Doom did fashion his own in a cave, from less than scraps, along with a fully functioning nuclear-powered jetpack.
  • The Generalissimo: As ruler of Latveria Doom is effectively a tinpot dictator, albeit one capable of backing up all of his threats and boasts.
  • Genius Bruiser: In addition to his obvious brilliance, his armor gives him enhanced physical abilities and superhuman strength and he's a very well-trained fighter who can go toe to toe and even defeat expert fighters like Black Panther and Taskmaster even without his armor.
  • Genuine Human Hide: In Doom's darkest hour, he made a pact with a cabal of demons to give him unlimited magical power, at the cost of his lover Valeria's life and soul, crafting a new suit out of her flesh.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser: During one of their many battles, he and Richards managed to finish their last, unfinished chess game, which they had memorized since college.
  • A God Am I: Doom is the unsurpassed master and monarch of this trope. Even when he is not empowered, Doom's pride has him see himself above gods, and that even they should show him respect. Consequently, Doom seeks out such beings so that he can usurp their powers. "I want that power. By right, it is mine. For ultimate power is the ultimate destiny of Doom!" And, in fact, Victor von Doom has come within a fraction of a hair's width of securing Real Ultimate Power™ several times in the past. He has built a siphoning device that has allowed him to successfully steal not only the Power Cosmic of the Silver Surfer and Galactus but also The Beyonder's apparently omnipotent abilities in the course of the Secret Wars (1984) story arc, as well as that of a renegade watcher. Naturally, he is beaten in the end once again, but still...
    Doom: No one rivals Doom! There is no power on Earth, no intellect in all creation, to equal mine!
    • After Mark Millar's run he gained god-like powers at a level strong enough to kill a Watcher. Other writers immediately ignored this.
    • In the Chaos Engine series of novels, Doom rebuilt the siphoning device and used it on Roma, Guardian of the Omniverse to try to claim her throne. The titular Chaos Engine itself was a (faulty) Cosmic Cube that granted Doom whatever he wished within its power — he used it to Take Over the World, rewrite historynote , and secretly use Mind Control on Magneto to make him into a genocidal monster to be his new Arch-Enemy (after he finally defeated that accursed Richards) because Victory Is Boring. He did not quite claim godhood... but, apart from making himself King of the Earth, he did think he had the right to kill everyone on the planet when he realized that the Cube was killing him.
    • And ultimately, all of that was just a warmup for Secret Wars (2015), where Doom succeeds in the biggest, most absolute way possible: saving the entire Marvel Multiverse from falling into oblivion, putting all the broken pieces together into one sole existence, and placing himself at its head as its God-Emperor. Forget ruling just a single universe, Doom now rules literally EVERYTHING EVER that exists in Marvel. Kneel before Doom, indeed.
    • Doom's God complex is impressive enough that he can use it to No-Sell mind control. Other people exist for Doom to order about, not the other way around.
    • When Doom is perceived as "mistaken" in his godhood, Doom stated that being a God is simply beneath him.
    • In #700, when brooding over his repeated failure to successfully use time travel to rescue Valeria without it somehow backfiring, Doom comes to the conclusion that he has already somehow achieved his best possible world, and muses that this is either because he is the chosen favourite of some kind of godlike entity, or because he is flawed. Literally the only reason he rejects the former possibility is because it would required accepting that there is something or one in the universe that is ultimately greater than he is.
  • God-Emperor: In Secret Wars (2015), Doom gains god-like power and makes his own world, Latverion, better known as "Battleworld". Further, he rescues virtually everyone who had perished by the Incursions, something the greatest minds failed to do. Even Richards had to admit the success.
  • Godhood Seeker: Victor von Doom has an ego worthy of a god, but he's aware that — while he may be one of the most-powerful sorcerers in the world — he is still only human. However, he is more than happy to steal the power of cosmic entities for himself whenever the opportunity presents itself.
  • Grand Theft Me: One of Doom's many abilities, which he learned from aliens and have used to escape death and imprisonment on occasion. Richards speculates the reason he does not use this more often is because of his vanity.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: This is the reason Doom hates Mr. Fantastic. He can't stand the fact that Reed Richards is smarter than him, and has beaten Doom every time he has tried to kill Reed and/or Take Over the World. In addition to those few extra IQ points, Reed also has everything else Doom doesn't have, from worldwide respect all the way down to unmarred good looks.
  • Happiness Is Mandatory: Doom's rule in Latveria has him taking a personal interest in the happiness of every one of his loyal subjects.
    Doom [to a servant] But, why so glum, my loyal one? You know the penalty for looking discontented!
    Servant [quickly assumes a big, albeit slightly sickly-looking smile] Y-Yes, Excellency!
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: Doom devoted much of his life to the study of sorcery, only to find Doctor Strange, who only studied it for a few months, far surpass him. As you might expect, Doom did not take this information well.
  • Has a Type: Doom is an Amazon Chaser. Many of the women he's tried to wed over the years have been smart and dangerous, and usually fight back when he won't take "no" for an answer.
  • The Heavy: Plays this in many stores in the fantastic four but also in other series.
  • Heel Realization: Has one twice; first when he destroys the Beyonders, realizing that he doesn't have what it takes to rebuild the multiverse and that Reed could have done it better, and a second time after Reed restores everything and heals his face. It didn't stick, naturally, but the fact it lasted at all is astounding.
  • Hell Has New Management: When Doom was dragged down to Hell, Richards was desperate to revive him because he knew that he would become its new lord. Let's just say that he inadvertently insulted Doom's competence by saying it would've taken weeks for Doom to do so.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Boris, an old friend of Doom's parents and Doom's most loyal servant, is one of the handful of people to have earned Doom's genuine trust. And this is even after Doom skinned Boris's granddaughter...
  • Hijacked by Ganon: When Doom's 'master', the Marquis of Death, seemingly deposed him and attempted to defeat the Fantastic Four himself, he did not realize that his new 'apprentice' was actually Doom, having survived his attempts and prepared vengeance. In the end, it was Doom who dealt the final blow to the ill-fated Marquis.
  • His Own Worst Enemy: Frequently the greatest obstacle to Doctor Doom's victories is Doom himself. His Complexity Addiction means that many times he might defeated his enemies, his desire to prove his own superiority lets them grasp victory from the jaws of defeat. On top of that his desire for enemies to battle means he can't be satsified if he does beat all his enemies.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • When he stole the Silver Surfer's power, he only lost due to Richards tricking him into running into the barrier Galactus set up to keep him from leaving Earth.
    • During Unthinkable, when Doom made a deal to gain the level of sorcerous skill he would have attained if he'd spent the last few years studying magic rather than science, he decided to taunt Reed by sticking him in a library of magic books, certain that Reed would never be able to get his head around magic to do anything to him. While Reed needed lessons from Doctor Strange to do anything, the fact remains that he only made contact with Strange because of the books Doom had provided for him.
      • In the same story, the demons that gave Doom his enhanced magical powers made it clear that such abilities were given only by their whims, and that Doom's power was ultimately theirs; Doom dismissed the notion that was he was subservient to anyone and spun it so that the demons might be considered his "partners", which they seemed to accept. In the ensuing battle with Mr. Fantastic, Reed was able to admit how little he knew about magic, and that he was only holding his own in the fight because he had accepted help from Dr. Strange; Doom sneered at this and claimed that he was superior because he didn't accept help from anyone. Turns out that demons don't like it when someone takes credit for their work, and they quickly took back that which they had given; if Doom had held back the gloating for just a little longer, he might have actually won.
    • Secret Wars (2015), Doom finally admitted that Reed could have done a better job putting reality back together than he did. It caused the Molecule Man to take away the power Doom was using.
  • Hologram: Doom's Hologram Projector can project images transmitted from a Doombot or other minion, allowing Doom to watch his opponents from afar.
  • Honor Before Reason: A large part of Doom's character. He will never destroy a weakened opponent (he considers such tactics beneath a mind such as his) and will always repay a debt to people who helped him, even heroes (he owed Captain America for saving his life, so he saved his).
  • Honorary Uncle: His god-daughter Valeria Richards, whom he personally delivered, calls him "Uncle Doom".
  • Humans Are Special: Though it's subtle, and doesn't come up very often, Doom is indicated to put a great deal of stock in human ingenuity and spirit as part of being a Self-Made Man, and is dismissive of groups like mutants, who are born with their powers. He even says as much in X-Men / Fantastic Four, where he points out to Professor X that simply being born with powers doesn't automatically make mutants superior, and that normal humans can do just as much as mutants with enough effort. He even claims that far from being the "next stage of human evolution" as many mutants claim, the real reason mutants are present is to challenge humanity to advance.
  • Humongous Mecha: Doom once created one, The Doomsman, to destroy the Fantastic Four.
  • Iconic Outfit: The Mask, the green surcoat hood and cape, the metal armor, complete with golden clasps and chain, is one of the most famous, stylish, and enduring costume designs in comics. One that has been changed and altered little since his first appearance.
  • Iconic Item: That goblet Doom always keeps on hand, adding to his medieval shtick. Doom's Time Travel Platform is also quite an iconic gadget and device and frequently used in later stories by writers in the wider-verse.
  • I Gave My Word: He always keeps his word, though one should pay crucial attention to the exact words.
    • Depending on the Writer. Sometimes Doom will break his word like he did with Namor in Emperor Doom. Doctor Doom promised Namor rule of the oceans in exchange for helping with his scheme to mind control the planet. Doom would later turn on Namor and reduce him to a mind controlled slave like the rest of the world for no reason other than because he felt like it.
  • Ignored Epiphany: The same willpower that allowed Doctor Doom to resist the Red Skull's Hate Wave in AXIS also meant he was able to deny the revelations about himself the Truth Wave that was unleashed to counter the Hate Wave forced upon him (in the Axis tie-in issues of Loki: Agent of Asgard). The literal bonafide Truth smacked Doom in the face... and he refused to accept it. That's either impressive or sad. Maybe both.
  • I Hate Past Me: During a time-travel incident, the Doom of 2023 meets the Doom of the 1960s, who lacks even the small amounts of Character Development 'our' Doom has gone through. Doom's inner monologue is filled with disgust at the sight of a lesser Doom daring to command him.
  • I Just Want to Be Loved: It seems that one of the first things Doom tends to do when ascending to new heights is set himself with one fetching wench or another (Scarlet Witch in Avengers: The Children's Crusade, Morgan Le Fay in New Avengers, and Susan Storm in...well, countless Alternate Universes and adaptations), to the point that it wouldn't be a surprise if some character finds Doom on a dating website.
  • I Just Want to Be You: It does not go uncommented on by Reed during Secret Wars that, after installing himself as God-Emperor of his own world, Doom married a version of Sue Storm. Resentment? Jealousy? Whatever do you mean? Doom insists they did so of their own free will.
  • I Know Your True Name: During a time when Iron Man was trying to keep a secret identity, a shared time travel adventure caused Doom to learn he was really Tony Stark, a fact he informed Tony of. Just as Tony began to panic, both their memories were wiped by the means they'd used to time travel.
  • Immortality Seeker:
    • As Thanos treats Death as a person he can court, Doom seems to treat age as a person he can defeat.
      Doctor Doom: As Doom will defeat all enemies, even age itself.
    • There are times where he seems to be in a melancholy mood regarding it, though, Depending on the Writer, but he'll snap out of it soon enough.
      Doctor Doom: My years already feel like eons. I fear the eons themselves cannot be endured.
    • It should be pointed out that Doom himself is also very, very wary about the price of immortality. During one adventure with Iron Man when they were sent to the future, he encountered his future counterpart. Seeing the decrepit figure who'd resorted to keeping himself alive by replacing much of his body with machines and wired to a life support system, Doom slew his future self and swore that while he did seek power, he'd always be careful of the price he'd have to pay.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: This has often been suggested about Doom. Mark Waid wondered if his need to be a ruler who's feared and revered is just trying to forget that as a boy he was penniless and miserable. And that his bitterness and hatred toward Reed Richards comes from the fact that he knows, deep down, that the machine that exploded and burned his face really was due to his own miscalculation and he's just bitter Reed spotted the flaw that he missed (and also that he was too stubborn to listen to his advice). At the end of Secret Wars (2015), he finally got over it and admitted that Richards was smarter than him. And then immediately tried to kill him for it, so there really would be no one superior to Doom.
  • Informed Attribute: Moments where the audience is told Doom's motives for world domination are completely selfless. The number of times Doom has shown he's more interested in pursuing his grudge against Reed Richards than actually helping people undermines that.
  • Insanity Immunity: It seems that Doom's belief that he has an innate right to rule means that he needs neither technology nor sorcery to protect himself from any effort at mind control, as Doom considers that he cannot be made to obey: that is the function of all other beings. He's looked Killgrave in the eye and ignored his mind-control powers with no ill effect.
  • Insufferable Genius: Doom is renowned for his villainous arrogance. His original enmity with Reed Richards came about because he refused to consider the possibility that he could make an error, then, when the machine blew up in his face (literally), he concluded that Richards had sabotaged it.
    • On several occasions, it's been plainly stated that Doom is more than smart enough to easily figure out the secret identities of every hero in the Marvel Universe. Fortunately, his arrogance means he doesn't give a crap who any of them are under their masks and isn't going to waste time on it.
  • In the Hood: To be frank, a hood over a helmet does not help Doom's peripheral vision. Still, Doom seems to have grown used to it.
  • Intrinsic Vow: Doom's Hypnoticon device can put hypnotic commands in the minds of others. If a command goes against the victim's morals they'll try to resist it and thwart Doom's will, but they will fail.
  • Invincible Villain: When you start in the Silver Age with the ability to make undetectable robot duplicates and believably justify always having a successful escape plan, then add in a rather sketchy form of diplomatic immunity, and then give decades to amass raw Popularity Power amongst comic readers and writers, the end result is this. The willingness with which Doom authors will retcon away any defeat of Doom's as being either Actually A Doom Bot or Just as Planned has resulted in Doom having one of the biggest string of victories of any Marvel villain, and an appropriate reputation as a Memetic Badass In-Universe and out. One of the reasons Squirrel Girl has such a cult following is the fact she managed to be one of the few people to ever hand Doom a defeat that wasn't retconned.
  • I Owe You My Life: Doom is not without gratitude to those who have managed eliminate a threat to Doom before he could. On one occasion, Doom was visiting the United States, and despite being personally protected by Captain America, he came under attack, yet was saved by Spider-Man. Of course, when he told Spider-Man that he would repay him for saving his life one day, he rejected the offer, and they had this exchange:
    Doctor Doom: It is my understanding that you took it upon yourself to prevent harm from befalling me.
    Spider-Man: You mean did I save your sorry butt? Yeah. I did. I'm not happy about it, but I did it.
    Doctor Doom: Nonetheless, I owe you a debt, and—
    Spider-Man: Keep it. The reason those guys came after you, the reason all this happened, is that you are a tyrant, and I can't wait for the day when I can turn on CNN and watch you trying to defend yourself in front of a jury in The Hague. So take your thanks and stick it.
    Doctor Doom: It is well that I owe you a debt, because I would kill anyone else who spoke those words to me.
  • I Reject Your Reality: Doctor Doom lives in a world in which he is the hero and Reed Richards is responsible for nearly everything bad in his life, starting with his scarred face. It was Doom's own fault that the machine exploded scarring his face, but admitting that would mean admitting that Reed (who tried to warn him about the calculation errors) is smarter than him. Doom's ego is too huge to ever allow that, so he came up with the delusion that Reed "sabotaged" his machine. Case in point: in AXIS the bonafide truth smacked him in the face thanks to the truth wave, created by Valeria Richards and Loki to combat the Red Skull's Hate Plague, and he rejected both! Which is either impressive or sad. Maybe both.
  • Irisless Eye Mask of Mystery: In all its forms, Doom's mask constantly averts this trope. His mask has a heads-up display both within the lenses and surrounding them. Not only are his irises visible whenever he's roughly facing the viewer, but also some of the damaged tissue around his eyes, an allusion to the horrific accident that left his face badly disfigured.
  • Irrational Hatred: Doctor Doom has built his entire career as a supervillain around spiting his old college pal Reed Richards for a freak lab accident that left him disfigured. Reed didn't actually cause the accident or anything. In fact, he actually tried to warn Doom that his calculations had errors that could lead to disaster before the experiment began. Doom just ignored him out of arrogance. Doom's subsequently decided that Reed obviously sabotaged the experiment, and spends every waking moment since then trying to destroy Reed, his friends, and family because, otherwise, he'd have to admit Reed was simply smarter than him and that he made a mistake.
    • That said, he may be closer to the mark than he knows. Ben Grimm admitted (in a sort of last will video, played when he was thought dead) that he messed with the wiring of Doom's device because he was upset with Doom's treatment of his friend Reed. He has since harbored a secret fear that he may be responsible for Doctor Doom's becoming a scarred villain.
  • It's All About Me: The man even goes as far as to rename the capital of Latveria after himself. Heck, when he was in control of Counter-Earth, he renamed the planet after himself. Doom firmly believes that the world functions as Doom says it does and anyone who claims otherwise is a liar or a fool.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: A villainous version. Doom might resent, envy, and try to sabotage and murder Reed, but he can bring himself to respect him to a degree. Meanwhile, he utterly detests Ben Grimm for their spats during their university days, how the hero defeated him by crushing his gauntlets during "The Battle of the Baxter Building", and the way his mutated personage dares strut around trying to have a happy, fulfilling life (and finding great success at it) while Victor can't bring himself to stop hiding behind his mask.
  • Jerkass: While being a villain makes this a given, at times he's also this even to other villains. For example, he once called the Leader to gloat that Stark and Richards sent the Hulk into space, thus cheating him of the chance to finally defeat Banner, just for the sake of being a Troll.
  • Jet Pack: Doom deploys either a Jet Pack or rocket boots, depending on his whim.
  • Joker Immunity: Partly justified in that Doom actually has diplomatic immunity due to being ruler of a country. At times on official visits to the United States, he has been escorted by Captain America, even though he battled him many times in the past. However, there have been numerous instances where Doom has seemingly been Killed Off for Real only to return later. Once subject to Lampshade Hanging during a time when Doom was trapped in Hell: Richards knew it was only a matter of time before he ended up running the place, and plotted to transport him to a prison of his own making before he inevitably escaped on his own (which he did, of course).
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: Doom is no fool. To quote an old maxim, "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day." This is one of the major factors that makes him such an effective villain for the Marvel universe as a whole: he generally avoids unnecessary risk.
    • One fine example is his very first battle with Spider-Man in the fifth issue of Spidey's original series. He had the wallcrawler on the ropes and came close to killing him, but then caught sight of the Fantasticar approaching. Realizing he couldn't fight both Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four (especially when he was unprepared for them), he fled.
    • Another example is when he battled the Avengers over a powerful supercomputer. Vision, realizing the risk of letting either Doom or the US Government (who'd tasked the Avengers with recovering the computer in the first place) have the computer, destroyed it instead. When he realized what had happened, Doom disengaged from his battle with the other Avengers to confirm the loss of the computer, then cursed the Vision and swore revenge before simply flying away. Further battle no longer served any purpose.
    • However, even Doom can forget this when dealing with matters of the heart: following a fight with the Hulk, he refused at the time to admit that he had lost, even though the only thing keeping Hulk from killing Doom was Doom's childhood sweetheart Valeria, as she reminded him of Betty Ross.
  • Large Ham: Doom not only refers to himself in the third person, he can also speak IN CAPITALS when necessary. Doom can also speak with BOLD STYLIZED ITALICS when the situation warrants it. Which is to say, whenever Doom pleases to do so. TREMBLE IN FEAR BEFORE DOOM'S TITANIC MONOLOGUES!
  • Light Is Not Good: In Avengers: The Children's Crusade, Doom becomes the perfect white-robed savior with holy powers after the life energy is transferred during an "accident" in the spell to restore mutantkind's powers. And again as God-Emperor Doom, where he's willing to destroy entire lives on a whim.
  • Living Legend: Doom is one, having enforced a nebulous image of himself using his exploits and robots. As he notes to Loki in Loki: Agent of Asgard:
    Doom: If I am ever defeated or dishonored— If I ever act in ways unworthy of myself... If I ever die... The word goes out: 'It must have been a Doombot'...Doom cannot fit in such small containers. I am not my body. Not my mind. I am... I am the old trunk, filled with ancient mysteries. I am the explosion in the college laboratory. I am the mask that burns with the fires of vengeance. I am the legend that unites this nation. I am the story of Doom.
  • Loophole Abuse: Doom is fond of doing this. His pride generally prevents him from breaking his word outright, but breaking the spirit of it is fair game. Once, Doctor Doom trapped poor Franklin in Hell, and while holding baby Valeria, promised Reed he'd release his child if he surrendered. Reed complied, and Doom promptly... put Valeria down.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: This trope came irresistibly when he found himself pausing to rescue his lover Valeria during a confrontation with the Hulk. And because he was thus distracted, the Hulk was able to grapple him and nearly crush him before Valeria, who reminded the brute of Betty Ross, convinced him to let him go.

    M to R 
  • Mad Scientist: A scientist that uses his profession to try to conquer the Earth, and then some.
  • Magical Romani: He's the son of a Romani woman and a Sorcerous Overlord. Apparently, he took after his mother in that respect.
  • Magitek: Doom is one of the few residents of the Marvel Universe who possesses the skill and genius required to combine sorcery and super-science. This is sometimes used to emphasize his Always Second Best statusnote , and other times used to emphasize just how amazing Doom really is, by demonstrating how it allows him to find solutions that a specialist wouldn't be able to use or even conceive ofnote .
  • Make My Monster Grow: Doom assumed giant form in Secret Wars and Avengers: The Children's Crusade.
  • Masking the Deformity: Doctor Doom provides one of the most famous non-Phantom examples, and also an interesting example of Playing with a Trope. In some variations of his backstory, he was horribly burned by an experiment gone wrong, leading him to cover his face; in others, his injury is incredibly minor, but he covers it anyway due to vanity. In the most famous variation, he suffered a minor scratch from an experiment gone wrong, and in his desperation to cover it, donned a still hot, newly forged mask, horribly burning his face.
  • Meaningful Name: The name "Victor" means "conqueror" in Latin, which Doom no doubt would find quite apropos.
  • Minor Injury Overreaction: One Fantastic Four comic alleged that the disfigurement that Doom received in trying to rescue his mother from Hell was actually a relatively minor scar, but he saw it as horribly devastating due to his vanity. What truly damaged Doom's face was when he had his original suit of armor forged and impatiently decided to put the still red-hot metal mask on.
  • Misplaced Retribution: Often there are those who blame Doom for their own failings or flaws. Morgana Le Fay, whom Doom once courted, found cause to blame Doom for his regrettable absence from her chambers, believing Doom had willingly spurned her company. In truth, Doom had been waylaid and arrested by Iron Man.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Doom himself will somewhat lampshade this by conceding that he has never completed an academic doctorate, but awarded himself the title once he took over Latveria, considering himself the smartest man on the planet (and he is indeed one of the smartest), and of course, he cares little for anybody else's opinion.
  • Moral Pragmatist: In the Alternate Timeline of Earth-1191, Doom had become older and unsound in mind and body—by Doom's standards. He was still vastly superior to all other beings. Still, Doom chose to help the heroes simply because it allowed him to stretch his still-impeccable intellect and retain mental lucidity for greater periods of time. It was made known in no uncertain terms, however, that if he ever became healthy again, Doom would once again put the world under his iron fist.
  • Moral Sociopathy: Doctor Doom subscribes to a personal code of honour that concerns always keeping his word, repaying any debt he owes to another, looking after the welfare of the people of Latveria, working to eradicate poverty, famine, disease, and war via world domination, and ruthlessly avenging any and every insult to his character, real or imagined. Depending on his mood (and, thus, Depending on the Writer), he can abuse the hell out of all of these — Exact Words, Revenge Before Reason, Disproportionate Retribution, Evil Is Petty, Ungrateful Bastard, It's All About Me, and a serious Lack of Empathy are all characteristics of the man that his code doesn't get in the way of, and Latveria is sometimes depicted as a brutally efficient Police State. As his worst, Cold-Blooded Torture, Would Hurt a Child, and mass-murder are all fair game.
  • Morality Pet: Valeria is certainly the only person to have a calming effect on Doom. Though even that can have its limits.
  • Mundane Solution: Once, Tony Stark used a special program to make the world forget he was also Iron Man. In a later confrontation, Doom revealed he still remembered, causing Stark to demand to know what sort of mystical spell or incredibly advanced technology Doom used to retain this memory. Doom stated that he simply wrote it down on a piece of paper.
  • My Greatest Failure:
    • When attempting to activate a machine that would hopefully allow him to communicate with his dead mother, it instead exploded and horribly burned his face. Doom quickly but incorrectly pinned the blame on Reed Richards, arrogantly believing that he sabotaged Doom's machine through his "spite" and "incompetence."
    • Retconned so that the exploding machine just gave Doom a medium scar on his cheek, which he saw as a huge blemish. When he later had the mystic monks forge a suit of armor for him, he was too impatient to wait for the faceplate to cool before putting it on, and the red-hot metal against his face caused its disfiguration.
    • Retconned again to say that the machine functioned exactly as intended, and the demon Mephisto (who held his mother's soul) lashed out at Doom, causing the device's catastrophic malfunction. Doom could always feel the demon's claws on his face as was constantly plagued by taunting nightmares, and was eager/impatient to put on the armor because he had it enchanted to block those feelings.
  • Myopic Conqueror: He once successfully conquered the entire planet. After a little while, he grew bored and allowed old governments to restore control. Then he took it all over again.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Well, for what else would somebody name themselves "Doctor Doom"?
  • Narcissist: Doom holds his own value to an unhealthy degree and sees himself as perfect. Reed became his nemesis because he blamed him for the accident which scarred his perfect face. Taken even further in some versions of his origin, where the scarring is fairly minor, but he insists on putting on his famous mask before it's finished cooling, due to his need to "conceal" the imperfection.
  • Never My Fault: The entire basis of Doctor Doom's vendetta against the Fantastic Four is that he is unable to accept that Reed Richards was actually right when warning him of a critical error in his calculations during an experiment Doom was conducting. Doom dismissed Reed's warnings as jealousy, only for the experiment to blow up in his face. The idea that Richards was correct — and therefore, in Doom's eyes, smarter than him — was so abhorrent to Doom that he concluded that Reed had deliberately sabotaged Doom's experiment, and so has attempted to creatively kill Richards and his family on numerous occasions. Even more jarring is that the retcon shows that Doom really was right and Richards was indeed wrong: the machine worked perfectly. It blew up because Doom used it to take a peek into Hell. With Doom it's more "Always Reed Richards' Fault".
  • Never Recycle Your Schemes: Doom thinks that only lesser minds repeat themselves to accomplish their goals. Considering that one of the reasons he's actually given up rule of the world is because he actually enjoys the challenge, it could be seen that his preference for not rehashing his schemes is an extension of this. Sure, he could improve on an old plan and correct whatever weak point caused it to fail before, but that's not as challenging as making a brand new one.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot:
    • His costume and aesthetic is a mix of medieval and modern. He wears a Renaissance cape and hood, green surcoat, golden clasps and medieval belt over futuristic armor and tech. He lives in a medieval castle and a Mitteleuropean country that looks like a land from the Middle Ages but is actually technologically advanced beyond many first world nations. He combines the medieval, with the modern, and the cosmic.
    • A storyline involving The Mighty Thor had him upping the ante by creating zombie cyborg Asgardians, and creating a suit of armor from Asgardian magic that he modeled after the Destroyer, though it proved a poor imitation and was destroyed by Thor. Luckily for him, Doom had a teleportation device set up in case of that outcome.
  • Noble Demon: Depending on the Writer, but he usually is depicted as having redeeming qualities and a sense of honor. Doom is a man of his word, and keeps his promises, even to his enemies. For example, when talking with Spider-Man in "Doomed Affairs" (ASM #50, V.2) after the latter has assisted Doom in dealing with an assassination attempt, he told Spider-Man that he would repay him for saving his life one day, and when he rejected the offer, Doom stated that he immediately repaid the debt by not killing him for his ingratitude. It is not surprising then that he does make few promises, or that he very carefully words those promises which he does make.
  • No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Ran into this Emperor Doom. His plan to mind control the Earth succeeded, and Doom found that a plan that allowed him to take over the world so easily with no resistance to his rule left him feeling that Victory Is Boring.
    • Similarly, in Supervillain Team Up he successfully takes over the world without anyone even realizing it, but frees Magneto to oppose him because he feels someone of Magneto's caliber at least deserves the chance to challenge him.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's been accused of this, since for all his talk about making the world a better place, he's more interested in his vendetta with Reed Richards and propping his own ego. On top of this Doom has abandoned uncontested rule of the world because it leaves him with no challenges left both times he's achieved it. While he did save reality in Secret Wars (2015) the world he created and ruled over afterwards was plagued by the myriad of supervillains from the different universes and Doom did nothing to stop them unless they directly challenged him or his authority, even though his infinite power would allow him to do so easily, all while enforcing his rule with an iron fist. Doctor Doom saved reality, but the comic points to there being nothing noble about his intentions to do so for world conquest.
  • No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine:
    • Doom has been known to show mercy to his guests. In fact, he provides the page image (from Fantastic Four #87, 1969). In that scene, Crystal and Sue are trying to escape Doom's castle, only to run right into the dictator's personal dining room. Despite the fact that he was trying to kill them before, he now treats them as honored guests. Even Evil Has Standards, especially when it comes to getting three square meals apparently.
    • In an issue of Uncanny X-Men, he has some of the X-Men dining with him. They know he's putting on a show, and he knows they know, but both he and Storm find themselves having too much fun regardless. Until Ororo sneaks off and Doom has to end the pretense.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: He's Romani, but adaptions often give him an American accent, and in one instance a British one.
  • "Not So Different" Remark:
    • When he can put aside his irrational jealousy of him, he and Richards occasionally have moments such as this. As the two most intelligent people on Earth, they find it a relief to engage in a conversation without having to simplify their discourse.
    • In his famous confrontation with Luke Cage, Doctor Doom notes that Luke is just like Victor was when he was young, a poor struggling minority kid pushing back against a prejudiced world that was oppressing him.
    • Doom's confrontation with Iron Man in Mighty Avengers revealed an interesting fact — their armors use the same (or almost identical) software. Stark is not the only one who can achieve such feats of technological innovation, though even Doom has to grant Stark some credit for that.
  • Not That Kind of Doctor: It should probably be pointed out Doom's title of 'Doctor' is one he gave himself. He is not a medical doctor of any kind. Most of his expertise lies in magic and technology.
  • Obviously Evil: Seriously, his real, legal surname, is Doom.
    • But hey, he was born with that. Of course, there's also his skull-esque facemask, his green cloak, Slouch of Villainy, and tendency to go on long-winded rants. And it’s not just that his surname is Doom... he constantly refers to himself as such. Doom clearly does not care how evil he appears, sounds, or acts.
  • Odd Friendship: With Namor the Sub-Mariner, the King of Atlantis. In addition to being allies who both fight the Fantastic Four, they are both rulers of powerful nations, both have similar attitudes to who they consider beneath them, and both desire the same woman, Susan Storm. This is why Doom was so offended by Namor neglecting to invite him into his Illuminati when the 2015 Secret Wars incursions started to destroy the Multiverse.
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Of course. Doom has taken part in part nearly every form of science one can think of, and many one could not.
  • One-Winged Angel: Doom has assumed extra powerful forms on occasion.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Doom considers himself the only one worthy of destroying Richards. Though he couldn't care less about the rest of the rest of the Fantastic Four.
    • In Onslaught we see this extends to kidnapping Franklin. Doom initially doesn't care about Onslaught's rampage, but he does care that he kidnapped Franklin. Doom feels that only he is allowed to kidnap Reed's son.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • An incident involving the musclebound "Hero for Hire" Luke Cage saw Luke lay hands upon Doom over a mere two hundred dollars, that ended with Doom not only thanking Cage for rendering some small assistance with another matter, but also bemused Doom enough to laugh.
    • When Doom escaped Hell by grabbing onto the passing Mjlonir, he took it as a sign he was worthy to wield the mighty weapon. He succeded in reaching it despite the Fantastic Four trying to stop him, only find that he wasn't worthy to lift the hammer. This caused Doctor Doom, the villain who is infamous for blaming everyone but himself to admit he was wrong about being worthy to lift it.
    • Upon taking the omnipotence of the Beyonders and creating Battleworld from the remains of the destroyed Multiverse, God Emperor Doom eventually privately confesses to Sue that he's starting to doubt himself and is starting to see himself as the flaw in this new world. Even before this, Sue had actually managed to get him to show mercy and spare prisoners. Contrast this to the Doom of old, who saw his actions as flawless and would never show mercy on someone's insistence.
  • Opening a Can of Clones: Any defeat of him can be handwaved as Actually a Doombot. There have even been claims that the real Doctor Doom has never actually appeared in Marvel Comics.
  • Papa Wolf: Doom was vital in helping Susan Storm give birth to her and Richards's daughter, the condition being that he'll be able to name her. Doom christened her Valeria, and announced that anyone who tried to hurt her would have to answer to him. Nobody dares. He's like this to his adoptive son, too.
  • The Paranoiac: Doctor Doom is the archetypal paranoid narcissist, and his creator Jack Kirby has even occasionally referred to him as a paranoid. The absolute monarch of the tiny nation of Latveria where he has fostered a cult of personality around himself, Doom frequently refers to himself in the third person, accepts zero responsibility for any of his mistakes and failures, and is completely convinced that the reason the Fantastic Four are fighting him is because their leader Reed (and everyone else, but especially Reed) is and always had been insanely jealous of Doom's own "superior" brilliance. Doom is, at the heart, terrified of the idea he's not as good as he thinks he is, and desperately covers it up with blustering reaffirmation of his own superiority. "Do not question Doom! Do not gaze upon the face of Doom! Do not dare to slander Doom out of your petty jealousy! Doom is superior!", etc. In Astonishing Tales #2-3, when meeting Ramona who reminds him of his beloved Valeria, Doom reflects to himself that a good part of his life is pretending to be tougher and smarter than he really is, and always making sure he can back up the boast.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • Master artist Jack Kirby once painted a poster depicting Captain America, Spider-Man and Thor giving toys to impoverished children. However, it has surfaced that the original sketch for the poster depicted Doom himself, dispensing toys alongside the others.
    • As a show of benevolence, Doom once raised the young Cassandra Lang from the dead. As to why Doom had not done so sooner, only Doom knows.
    • When his defenses accidentally shot down Santa Claus, Doom delivered presents in Santa's stead.
    • While it's part of his needling Ben Grimm for being Forced to Watch as Johnny made his Last Stand at the gate of the Negative Zone, he makes a point of acknowledging that Johnny - who he usually holds in contempt - died valiantly.
    • He also helps Sue give birth to Valeria - and while it's partly to screw with Reed, to make a point of succeeding where he could not, he holds a deep and genuine affection for Valeria, and has made it known that anyone who tries to hurt her answers to him.
    • After the events of M-Day, Hank McCoy's desperation for a cure brings him to Latveria, hoping to ask Doom for help. He knows full well that this is a deal with the devil for even a crumb of information, but every single other person he went to had nothing. But once he lands, not only does Doom waive the usual headache outsiders would suffer to gain an audiance with him, he cuts to the chase and explains that his own studies have found nothing he could use to fix the catastrophe, much less take advantage of it. He lets Hank stay the night, wishes him and the remaining mutant population luck, and sends him home without further harassment.
  • Physical God:
    • Doom has been a god, creating an entire universe via an Infinity Gauntlet, recovered from a deceased counterpart of Richards. However, he soon found being a god beneath him (which avoids the subject of how his creations got sick of him, overthrew him, and kicked him out of their universe at the first opportunity).
    • In Secret Wars (2015), Doom has become a God again, to save the shattered fragments of The Multiverse. Serving in this capacity for eight years, Doom admitted a degree of doubt and uncertainty.
  • Planet Baron: Doom has successfully conquered Earth twice using Mind Control both times, subjugating all governments and instituting healthcare and income equality for everyone, then gave it up out of boredom and let the former governments take over again. He has also conquered an alternate version of Earth created by Franklin Richards. Such feats technically allows him to lay claim to such a title, and he could easily do it again if he desired.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain:
    • There have been events in the past where Doom's dialogue relates racist and sexist sentiments. Of course, one can chalk it up to malfunctioning Doombots.
    • There was one instance where a younger Doom used phrenology to insult Ben Grimm.
  • Popularity Power: As powerful as he is, Doom can still be an example of this. As once such example, Doom was once shown defeating Ghost Rider with a single punch — when such mundane attacks are normally meaningless to a spirit.
    • Indeed, Doom himself has been the beneficiary of this, as the character's sheer popularity has resulted in him being steadily upgraded and presented more positively over the years. The ultimate effect has been to take Doom from a Too Clever by Half tyrant with a god-complex to him being presented as actually being right that he would make a better ruler for the world.
  • Power Creep, Power Seep: The depiction of his skills in the mystic arts was initially presented as rudimentary, but later depictions escalated it to where he has bested magic-based characters including Morgan La Fey - no rank amateur, mind you - using only magic. Some sources have stated that he would have taken the title of Sorcerer Supreme if Doctor Strange hadn't gotten it first.
  • Power Fantasy: In Dark Reign, right after the first meeting of The Cabal, he imagines how he will inevitably kill or enslave all his new allies in the near future. Showing to be no stranger to kink either, he was also shown intending to enslave Emma Frost and the female avatar of Loki.
  • The Power of Hate: In Mark Millar's Fantastic Four run, upon getting his heart turned to stone, his blood turned into acid and then dumped into the waters of the Pliocene era to be megalodon food by the Marquis of Death, Victor somehow survived and lived millions of years thanks to the sheer hatred he held for his former master. Even with Doom's badassery and comic book weirdness, this stretched the disbelief way too far, and so it was retconned in Dark Avengers that the time-displaced Thunderbolts saved him.
  • Power Parasite: Doom once held the power of the Beyonder in his hands. Indeed, he wrestled it from his grasp with his single remaining hand, after being dismembered in his one-man assault against the entity. However, Doom was forced to relinquish the power in order to prevent the destruction of the universe due to his servant Klaw and the interference of Captain America.
  • Powered Armor: His battlesuit and its full array of Magitek capabilities. Needless to say, it makes for an interesting showdown when he's fighting Iron Man. Indeed, while the armor was one of Doom's first inventions (aside from Stark's, it's arguably the most famous example of this trope), it has been upgraded and improved several times over the years; no matter how powerful its technology is, it can always be better. Doom also has other versions, including armor for underwater and outer space combat.
  • Pride: Pride is the defining trait of Doctor Doom. The accident that damaged his face happened because he was too arrogant to believe Reed Richards had found an error in his calculations. The minor scar Doom received he saw as horribly disfiguring due to his vanity, and in desperation to hide it he ended up really messing his face up. He was unable to even admit to himself of his mistake in either instance. His supervillain-sized lust for power is rooted in his belief that he should be second to no one, particularly Richards. This is also why he always rebuffs others' attempts to rehabilitate him. He just can't accept the pity and sympathy of others. Doom views himself as insuperable, and many setbacks have occurred as a result of letting that belief get in the way of more immediate concerns.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Is sometimes portrayed as this, especially when Richards is concerned.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: Regarding Doom's mother's soul. He saved her from Mephisto's grip, but sacrificed her love to do it.
  • Ragnarök Proofing: Doom's designs are built to withstand the ravages of time. In at least one potential future, the last of his Doombots endured beyond his own passing, hundreds of years into the future.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil:
    • He once rescued Sue Storm from this fate at the hands of a duplicate of himself from another world.
    • In other stories, Doom is depicted as abusing his royal station to legally take advantage of the young women of Latveria against their will, and in such comics this is obviously portrayed as an especially vile act of villainy.
  • Rasputinian Death: The Marquis of Death burned Doom, delivered a serious Mind Screw to break his will, turned his blood into acid and his heart to stone, and sent him back in time, right into the jaws of a giant, prehistoric shark. Doom survived.
  • Real Men Can Cook: Doom is, by his own account at least, a Supreme Chef, though given his position and attitude he rarely shows this to anyone.
  • Reed Richards Is Useless:
    • With the massive number of threats to destroy all live on Earth, or the Earth itself, once could think that Doom could be more proactive in trying to stop them, both because he's shown to care about Latverians and because if the Earth is destroyed, there wouldn't be anything to conquer (not to mention that it would finally finish him off), including such instances as Ultron wiping out a nearby European nation. He could have responded to him faster than the heroes did, Latveria being a neighboring country.
    • Some, like the Invisible Woman, have also said that there are far better things that Doom could be doing that than trying to kill Reed Richards, Storm herself has pointed this out when he was helping her friend Shadowcat.
    • He was once on the giving end of one when he pointed out to Tony Stark that if he truly wished to help the infirm children at the hospital he was visiting, he would do better to simply find cures for their ailments. He's a scientist. Granted, a roboticist, but still.
  • Repressive, but Efficient: Latveria may be ruled by the iron fist of Doom, but it is prosperous. There is no crime, no poverty, no disease, and some stories imply nobody even needs to work (for anyone other than Doom, of course) as Doom has robot servants do everything. There are also no prisons save for a small shack, because all prospective prisoners are executed by beheading and the remains are sent to a crematorium. Latveria also tends to go to hell anytime Doom is removed from power, and the Fantastic Four have even helped him return to his throne — even if they helped remove him in the first place — because they agree that he is a better ruler than his replacements.
  • The Resenter: Doom greatly resents his Arch-Enemy Reed Richards. The reasons for his blinding hatred of Reed are numerous, twisted, personal, and all-around batshit insane, but what has kept it running for two decades in-universe (and five in real life) is a constant dose of this trope. Reed has everything Doom doesn't quite have: a family, loyal friends, public acknowledgement, admiration from people who aren't brainwashed subjects of his own dictatorship, good looks (which Doom once had, and blames Richards for their destruction), acknowledgment as a hero, and most important of all, a handful more IQ points, which he has used to defeat Doom and foil his plans time and time again. In short, Doom cannot stand the fact that Reed is always just one teensy bit better than him at everything.
  • The Rival: Reed Richards. Sometimes Iron Man, sometimes Black Panther. Sometimes Magneto.
  • Rival Turned Evil: Doom and Reed Richards are probably one of the most straightforward examples of this trope. The catalyst for Doom turning evil was an incident where Reed pointed out a flaw in one of Doom's projects when they were both classmates in grad school rivaling for the spot of top student, and Doom, thinking Reed was just jealous, ignored him, only for the project to blow up in his face, disfiguring him and getting him expelled. Doom was so infuriated by the idea that that infernal Richards had bested him that he rejected that version of reality, blamed Reed for the accident, and dedicated himself to destroying Reed's life in "revenge".note 
    • The "rivalry" part of their relationship (in addition to the blinding, obsessive vendetta) is still in full force, as the reasons for all of Doom's evil plans to Take Over the World, gain cosmic power, topple governments, decimate the superhero community, and rain death and destruction upon all oppose him can eventually be traced back to his desire to get one over on his old college pal. (He'll even delay killing Reed to make him admit Doom is better than he is.)
  • Robot Master: The Doombots may be the most elaborate and complex robotic creations of Doom, but he has made others over the years, including entire robotic armies. Far more reliable and easier to replace than human soldiers (who can be prone to be cowardly when facing enemies of the superhuman variety). Doom has also made robotic duplicates of others, including a super-strong android in the shape of Ben Grimm. (This one followed Doom's commands.)
  • Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Has fought so many of the Marvel Universe's major heroes that he practically inverts the trope. At first, he was the Arch-Enemy of the Fantastic Four, but over time he has become a major thorn in every major Marvel hero's side. Spider-Man, The Avengers, Iron Man, you name them. Doctor Doom's first appearance as a villain outside the FF was in The Amazing Spider-Man #5 where he tries to recruit Spider-Man only to accidentally, and in Peter's view hilariously, kidnap Flash Thompson in a Spider-Suit instead.
  • Roguish Romani: He's a Romani, and before he graduated to an Omnidisciplinary Scientist and Sorcerous Overlord, he made a living as a con-man.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Indeed, as ruler of Latveria, even if what Doom usually does is evil.
  • Rule of Three: Three goals have defined Doom's career: One, utterly defeat his rival Reed Richards; two, conquer the entire world; and three, rescue his mother's soul from Mephisto. (Doom has completed the third goal after gaining aid in the mystic arts from Doctor Strange. Vengeance against Mephisto is still pending - the demon is... problematic.)
  • Ruritania: Latveria is the most notable example of one in Marvel Comics.

    S to Z 
  • Scars Are Forever: They're not. He could heal the scars on his face if he wanted to, but he keeps them as a reminder of his vendetta against Richards. As of Secret Wars (2015), that is no longer the case, as at the end of that story, Reed heals his face, which gives Doom a new lease on life. Unfortunately, Doom would be re-scarred by the Hood in revenge for turning hero to begin with.
  • Scars Are Ugly: So ashamed by the small scar he gets in his failed attempt at making a Hellgate, he traveled to Tibet where a temple of monks built him his iconic suit of armor, further disfiguring him when he put on his iconic metal mask while it was still red-hot out of the forge. He gets better, though.
  • Science Wizard: Doom can rival if not match Reed Richards in just about any form of science and is also a powerful sorcerer.
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them!:
    The Law of Latveria is Doom.
    • A specific example comes to mind when, in one story, his subjects demanded that he obey an ancient law and step down as ruler of Latveria in favor of Prince Zorba. Doom's reaction was less than gracious:
      Doom: You believe laws written on paper are more powerful than my ultimate weapons? To think I've wasted my energies trying to be fair with you savages! But no more! You've brought your destruction upon yourselves!
  • The Scrooge: He's so tight-fisted he refused to give Luke Cage payment for services rendered, a mere two hundred American dollars. Luke was pretty upset about that.
  • Secondary Color Nemesis: Doom wears a deep green cloak and hood, in contrast with the blue bodysuits of the Fantastic Four.
  • Second Place Is for Losers: This is basically Doom's fatal flaw. Yes, he's a brilliant scientist, a powerful sorcerer, and the ruler of a successful nation... but because there's always someone who is better than him at each of those things (Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, Reed Richards, Black Panther, and especially Reed Richards) his ego does not allow him to leave well enough alone. Never mind that his rivals only best him in one field each, being merely a Master of All just isn't good enough for him. (Though he does seem broadly content to accept a silver medal from Strange.)
    • One of the only people he doesn't hold this against is Bruce Banner, having brudgingly admitted that Banner understands radiation better than him. Though seeing what happened to his life would be enough to stave off any envy.
  • Secret Public Identity: Everyone knows who he is (what with him being European royalty and all), and considering his status as an Omnidisciplinary Scientist, he more than earns his title. Although since he was expelled from college, so it's more like an honorary degree.
  • Self-Imposed Exile: Doom began as a foreign student at New York University, where his research into arcane transdimensional physics blew up his dorm room, for which Doom was expelled. He returned in shame to Europe, trekking to a lonely monastery, where he studied mysticism and forged his iconic armor. Doom then returned to his homeland of Latveria, deposed the ruling monarchs, and became the most dangerous man on Earth.
  • Self-Made Man: From Latverian peasant to Latverian ruler. Really, Doom ascended from the lowest of low, and became one of Marvel's most prominent, dangerous and feared villains to ever live, and did so through hard work and intensive studying of every field imaginable. Even when it comes to his powers, none of them are inherent to his body, but everything from his advanced science to powerful sorcery are things that he learned, not received.
  • Serious Business: It is Doom's desire for all the children of Latveria to receive a Good Night's Sleep. And Doom's will is law.
  • Shadow Dictator: In the very early days of his reign, the fact that Doom ruled Latveria was a secret, with Latverian diplomats dismissing any investigation as rumor and hearsay. Of course, once the Fantastic Four found out, this secret no longer mattered.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: After she finally brought her father back and got reunited with her former lover, Doom killed Cassandra Lang, Kristoff Vernard's former best friend.
  • Silence, You Fool!: ALL THE TIME!
  • Skyward Scream: "RICHAAAAARDS!!!"
  • Sinister Surveillance: Sometimes implied to have covert as well as overt observation within Latveria. In Doomwar T'Challa exposits how Doom spied on his country to organize a coup by bugging his people with nanotech through their food. This turned every citizen and confidant into a spy, and T'Challa couldn't examine them closely because of self-destruct mechanism that activated when the feed is cut.
  • Slouch of Villainy: Doom has a tendency to engage in this many times throughout the years.
  • Sorcerous Overlord: Considered something around the third most skilled wizard in the Marvel Universe, Doctor Strange being one of the few to outrank him.
  • The Starscream:
    • To Norman Osborn during Dark Reign.
    • Doom himself had employed a certain Doktor Hauptmann who bore a grudge against Doom for killing his brother.
    • There was also Dr. Bram Velsing, a Latverian scientist Doom employed many years ago, with the nerve to refer to him as "a grotesque mockery" and plot to usurp his throne. Doom spared his life, but he paid for his insult dearly; he had an iron mask much like Doom's own permanently grafted to his face to conceal his good looks forever. He later became known as the Dreadknight, and spent most of his time opposing Iron Man. (Although, his desire to rule Latveria was never slaked, apparently; Doom learned that when Doom was absent due to the crisis with Onslaught, he attempted to take over, but he and his loyalists were foiled by Spider-Man and Silver Sable.)
  • Strong and Skilled: His armor gives him superhuman strength and he's a very skilled martial artist, able to even take on the likes of Daredevil and Black Panther in a straight battle.
  • Strong as They Need to Be: Even putting aside his Popularity Power, Doom's power varies depending on the plot. Sometimes he's been able to easily knock out the Hulk, while when fighting the Fantastic Four he's generally shown to be physically weaker than The Thing. And even when we're not comparing how he does against the FF compared to other heroes, his level of power can vary just as much. He can be so durable and strong that the Hulk hitting him in a fight like in the aformentioned comparison doesn't seem to hurt him in the least. Then in other stories, Iron Man (who, for the uninitiated, is not in the same strength class as Hulk) can legitimately stagger and hurt Doom with his physical blows if he gets up close and personal with him.
  • Stupid Evil:
  • Superhero Packing Heat: While Doom wields powers both vast and manifold, he still carries a regular gun, for dispatching whom he considers nuisances not worthy of his full attention.
  • Superman Stays Out of Gotham: When it comes to threats to the entire world, Doom prefers to let the heroes justify their name, which is probably why in many a Bad Future he's depicted as being deceased.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: It is inevitable, when his intelligence eclipses that of everyone around his.
  • Steven Ulysses Perhero: He's called Victor Von Doom. It has been joked that he never had a chance of journeying down a different path in life due this.
  • Take Our Word for It:
    • Marvel never showed his face in the comics. However, many horrified reactions are shown.
    • Finally averted during Secret Wars (2015). The horror of Doom's scarred visage have been shown in a tender moment between Susan Storm and him.
  • Take Over the World: He has in fact succeeded at least twice. To say nothing of the time he essentially took over the universe during Secret Wars (2015).
  • Taught by Experience: Doom learns from his mistakes. For instance, Iron Man once tried to trespass into his castle with stealth armor making him invisible, not realizing that he had long equipped his security systems to detect such intruders such as Susan Richards with her invisibility powers.
  • Tautological Templar: Doom is always right. ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!! This, in a nutshell, sums up everything about Doctor Doom's character; he sincerely believes he's the smartest man in the world, a veritable god, and that his brilliance means he deserves to rule over the world.
  • Tempting Fate: Doom once held the Hulk in a field of force which he claimed nothing in the cosmos could possibly penetrate. Once he stated this to his face, he tore it asunder readily.
  • Theory of Narrative Causality: Doom ascribes to this theory. Doom's life is the story of Doom, and if one day Doom's story should end? Then it shall be because Doom wishes it to end.
  • There Was a Door: Seems that being a supervillain in a powered armor made Doom stop caring about doors.
  • Thinking Out Loud: He does this a lot. In Secret Wars (1984), Klaw calls him out on it, asking if Doom is taping himself. Doom then reveals that he actually has a recording device in his armor because "Every utterance of Doom must be recorded for posterity!"
  • Third-Person Person: Doom does have a habit of indulging in this. However, in recent years he has since ceased with this particular habit.
  • Time Travel: Doom was the first Earthling to invent a working device that could accomplish time travel.
  • Tin Tyrant: Encases himself within armor and is the ultimate master of Latveria.
  • To Hell and Back: One of Doom's great victories was the rescue of his mother's soul from Mephisto's realm.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: It amuses Doom to watch Richards squirm in the fetters of international law in regards to Doom's Diplomatic Impunity.
  • Too Clever by Half: This is Doom's original, definitive flaw. Make no mistake, Doom's intelligence is truly great... but his ego surpasses even that. The core of his rivalry with Richards lays in Doom's ego causing him to be scarred by a mistake he made in his calculations, which he refused to double check even after Richards commented that it didn't look right, leaving him with a permanent reminder of one time that he had been wrong. More than once, Doom's ego has sabotaged his plans, although he always claims that his defeat was actually a case of Just as Planned.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Trying to maintain an entire world in the role of God Emperor seemed to have softened Doom's demeanor. However, don't believe for a moment that Doom has lost any of his ruthless prowess for this change. When it became apparent that Jonathan Storm was going to oppose him, he was made to be the Sun for his world.
  • Uncertified Expert: He attended college in upstate New York alongside Reed Richards. Doom's experiments in transdimensional shifting blew up his dorm room and got him expelled before he'd attained a degree. Nevertheless, Doom's raw intellect has transformed feudal Latveria into a showpiece of Europe. Further, Doom studied the arcane arts, seeking to free his Roma witch mother's soul from the lower netherworld. He has accomplished this with help from Doctor Strange, who privately conceded that Doom is qualified to become a Sorcerer Supreme, despite never having trained under a master mage.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Doom has often lashed out at people saving him because Doom refuses to admit he ever needed assistance from anyone. Such weakness is beneath Doom! For example, during Dark Avengers vol 2., he's saved from a pack of sharks by the Thunderbolts (who don't recognize him since he's also been set on fire). As soon as he's recovered enough, he sabotages their base to send them into the far future because he doesn't want anyone to know such a bunch of lowly criminals saved him. He's even the page image — after a hypnotist accidentally causes Doom to realize he's been brainwashed into thinking he's killed Reed Richards, the hypnotist expects a reward. Doom's response:
    Doctor Doom: Gratitude?? Such weak words are not for Doctor Doom! Here is your reward! [slaps him] Be grateful I do not put you to death for knowing how I have been tricked!
  • Unreliable Narrator: In the Books of Doom story, due to it being one of his many Doombots.
  • The Usurper: Doom replaced certain members of the royal family and had others killed in order to take the throne from the Duchy it was under. The fact that the Duchy was a repressive dictatorship considered by the populace to be worse than Doom's, makes it hard for The Remnant to pull off Rightful King Returns. Indeed, the Latverian Underground when dealing with Prince Rudolfo in Astonishing Tales realize bitterly that he will likely be just as bad, if not worse than Doctor Doom who at least tries to justify his tyranny by claims of merit rather than birthright.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: Doom has a moral imperative to Take Over the World; he genuinely believes that he can solve all of humanity's self-made problems and made them all things of the past once he is recognized as the sole sovereign ruler who alone has the wisdom to create such a paradise. In Doomwar, the Panther God recognizes that Doom's cause in this is just.
  • Vetinari Job Security: Most Latverians actually support Doom's rule over their country - some because they're hardcore loyalists, many because he's the best ruler they've got, and switching to anyone else would be disastrous. In a longrunnning storyline in the early 1980s, Doom was even overthrown by Zorba Fortunov, scion of the old deposed royal family - who then promptly ran the country into the ground. The only thing that elevated Latveria's economy out of Third World status were Doom's high-tech inventions, which generated so much profit that the Latverians stopped paying taxes at all. As soon as Doom was deposed the national economy collapsed, taxes skyrocketed, and mass street protests broke out demanding that Doom be restored to power.
  • Victory Is Boring: At least twice has Doom suffered this, both in the Emperor Doom graphic novel with the Purple Man, where Doom finds that ruling the entire world involves too much paperwork; and upon seizing control of the false Earth created by Nathaniel Richards (by using Doom's unmatched willpower to override the world-computer at its heart) Doom willingly returned to ruling his native Latveria after conquering an entire planet.
  • Villain Ball: Though Doom is one of the most competent and intelligent villains in fiction, he is occasionally prone to this.
    • While Doom could have simply used the cosmic cube in Fantastic Four World's Greatest Comic Magazine to wish for all the power that Doom needed (perhaps even internalizing the Cube's might as lesser intellects like Thanos and Red Skull had done), he preferred to use it to steal Galactus' cosmic might... which also caused him to inherit Galactus' hunger, which caused him to devour a planet that he sought at first to rule.
    • There was also that "Freaky Friday" Flip mentioned above.
    • The other "Freaky Friday" Flip story mentioned above also involved a firm grasp of the ball, by Doom, but more so on the part of the Fantastic Four themselves. Doom's way of getting them to willingly shrink themselves? Promising it would give them a power boost... even after they have been regrown back to full size. He compares it to how the dinosaurs would have survived extinction, and become the dominant lifeforms on the planet (meaning "perform the moon landing") if their bodies hadn't grown so big in comparison to their brains. This is accepted as an explanation by everyone else on the team.
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left: In the event that a story makes it clear that is truly Doom in it and not Actually a Doombot, be sure that he'll have an escape plan ready if events do not transpire exactly as originally envisioned.
  • Villain Opening Scene: invoked The buildup to the arc leading into the 500th issue is a single issue dedicated to Doom.
  • Villainous Vow: Doom, has made two solemn oaths: 1) to destroy Reed Richards and his teammates for having sabotaged Doom's college project (Reed did no such thing); and 2) free the soul of his Romani witch mother from the infernal realm. Doom has actually succeeded in the latter, having bested Mephisto and his hellish horde in combat (he had help from Doctor Strange).
  • Villain Protagonist: Occasionally, Doom has been thrust into such a role, most notably his short-lived feature Astonishing Tales, published in the early 1970s, where in the first eight issues 10-page stories (published as a double feature with Ka-Zar), writers showed Doctor Doom ruling Latveria while battling political enemies, Red Skull, and Mephisto. Most of these stories rank with the hook of Doom being A Lighter Shade of Black next to royalists like Rudolfo, scary aliens like the Faceless One, Mephisto who ran hell, and Red Skull who was a Nazi. The one instance where Doom fought a good guy was T'Challa, the Black Panther who was the Hero Antagonist.
  • Villain Team-Up: Doom has made countless alliances with lesser villains who thought themselves Doom's equal. Discrediting or destroying them is generally part of Doom's plan from the beginning - after all, they are villains.
  • Villainous Rescue:
    • When Shadowcat, a member of the X-Men, was very grievously injured and on the verge of death after a battle with the villainous Marauders, the X-Men asked Reed Richards to heal her. When Richards was unable to do so, Doom restored Shadowcat to life. Although Doom stated that he didn't care whether such a meager being to his eyes such as Miss Pryde lives or dies, it was worthwhile simply to demonstrate Richards' chronic inferiority.
    • On another occasion, an alternate universe Doom rescued a Fantastic Four formed of Ghost Rider, the Hulk, Wolverine and Spider-Man from being slain by their enemies. Again, Doom didn't care whether they lived or died: the issue is that Doom alone has the right to destroy the Fantastic Four, whoever they may be.
  • Villainous Valour: As noted above, Doom will depart when the odds aren't in his favor, but Doom is no coward: if flight is not an option, he will fight to his last breath against even the most powerful foe.
  • Visionary Villain: From Doom's perspective, the heroes' struggle only delays the day of Doom's worldwide utopia - even if others would decry it as a tyranny.
  • The Von Trope Family: His name is Victor Von Doom, which incidentally is either pure Lee-Kirby Hollywood History or Doom's grandiloquent Delusions of Eloquence. As a Roma, Victor has no actual aristocratic lineage leave alone a family that merits inclusion in the Almanach de Gotha.
  • Wanting Is Better Than Having: Occurs in the Emperor Doom graphic novel, where Doom conquered the world, only to relinquish it back after considering that ruling it would waste his time with mundane details.
  • Weak, but Skilled: Though one of the most prolific geniuses in Marveldom, he is still lacking compared to scientific powerhouses like Reed Richards and has been called a mid-tier sorcerer compared to the likes of Doctor Strange, limited by his unwillingness to submit to supernatural powers over his own pride. To compensate, he uses both in tandem to overcome his shortcomings in both fields while using guile to get the drop on superior practitioners.
  • We Can Rule Together: He has tried to offer this to some heroes and other. Never to Richards of course:
    • He originally tried to recruit Spider-Man to his side and still offers it to him from time to time. Peter, being an anti-totalitarian, always tells him to get stuffed. In Spider-Man / Human Torch, Peter uses this to distract Doom so that Torch can escape.
    • He has also extended offers to Luke Cage, to Doctor Strange, and Black Panther. And of course in a Marvel/DC crossover with Superman:
    Doctor Doom: You and I are THE MIGHTIEST beings on this planet! I choose TO EXERT my power to impose my will upon the world. You choose not to! And yet, even THAT choice does indeed AFFECT the lives of every man, woman and child on earth, CONDEMNING them, in fact, to POVERTY, DISEASE, FAMINE... AND to the hideous suffering they inflict upon one another! You cannot escape it, Superman! YOU Dictate the fate of mankind... one way or the other.
    Superman: I know! But what can I do? Seize power and try to remake the world into a utopia? That would put me in a class with men like Hitler ... and you.
    Doctor Doom: You misjudge me, Superman. I am no raging Fuehrer, wringing hatred from misfit followers! My kingdom is a place of peace and contentment! You must visit Latveria - you are always welcome!
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist:
    • In another reality, when Doom has conquered Earth, Doom has rid the Earth of all hunger, disease, war, poverty and inequality, and united the world as one in peace and prosperity under Doom's rule.
    • Best summarized by this quote:
    Doom: Imagine—I now possess the power to end hunger! To abolish disease! To eliminate crime! To establish a perfectly content, perfectly ordered world—all under the benevolence of my iron will!
  • Wham Episode: In the final pages of Invincible Iron Man #1, he was revealed to have survived the 2015 Secret Wars. Readers could be forgiven, this time, for not understanding the significance of this, as the finale of the Secret Wars was still pending when his survival was made evident. Also, the readers, and Iron Man, could be forgiven for not recognizing Doom right away, as it has been some time since Doom was outside of his armor and whole.
  • What You Are in the Dark: A vicious example shows up in "What If Doctor Doom became a Super Hero?" Denied his Start of Darkness when he actually listens to roommate Reed's advice concerning his astral projection machine, Doom becomes a much more benevolent man. Freeing his mother's soul, liberating his country and becoming its King, achieving renown as an international hero, and even reuniting with his childhood love Valeria, this version of Victor seems in every way the gleaming savior mainstream Doom has always said he'd be if life hadn't dealt him so bad a hand. And then Mephisto interrupts his wedding by kidnapping the people of Latveria and hands Doom a Curb-Stomp Battle after toying with him. Given the choice between dying at Mephisto's hands or surrendering the soul of his bride to be, Victor declares "The World must not be denied Doom!", sacrificing Valeria to save himself. To his credit, he does spend the rest of his life doing a yearly battle with the forces of Hell to save Valeria, but the fact remains that even in a world where he has suffered no tragedy he could not overcome, Doctor Doom is still a selfish egomaniac who will put himself ahead of those he claims to protect.
    • Emperor Doom presented that for all of Doom's talk about how much better the world be under him, he cares far more about conquering the world than actually ruling it, ultimately deciding to allow the Avengers to overthrow him because of how dull being the uncontested ruler of the world was.
    • Secret Wars (2015) once again saw Doctor Doom rule the world and despite his infinite power, he chose to be an uncaring tyrant who only values maintaining his own rule and did nothing to stop the myriad of supervillains plaguing Battle World unless they challenged him like Thanos did.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He has emerged triumphant from conflicts with Physical Gods - yet he possesses no method of defeating Squirrel Girl, and his most viable tactic against her is an escape pod.
  • Wicked Cultured: Truly, Doom is a man of wealth and taste. He once confided to Tony Stark he owns five Renoirs. Well, four since he had one burned. It offended him.
  • With Friends Like These...: Doom counts Namor among the few beings worthy of his friendship. They find themselves frequently allying with each other. Many find this strange since their team-ups often end with one of them betraying the other, but Doom said that he had his friendship, not his trust. Doom doesn't need to explain his tastes... especially if the writers are too lazy to explain them.
    • As an example of this strange friendship, on one occasion when Namor had to lead his Atlanteans to seek refuge, Doom not only offered safe haven in Latveria, he made it a point to personally greet the refugees. He even addressed Namor as "old friend."
  • Wolverine Publicity: Thanks to his status as the Breakout Villain of the Marvel Universe, Doom would frequently appear not just in the Fantastic Four, but other heroes' titles and even his own series.
  • Worf Had the Flu: As Doom loathes to admit it, he too suffered from the accursed Orthomyxovirus known as influenza before he could get a chance to face the one called Solarman before he disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
  • World's Smartest Man: Aside from his Arch-Enemy Reed Richards, Doctor Doom is the other contender for this title. Even when he isn't, Doom will be repeatedly trying to prove himself worthy of this claim but tends to get foiled by Reed.
  • Worthy Opponent:
    • In addition to Richards, there is also his wife, Susan, whom recognizes that nowadays has to be dealt with carefully considering her formidable mastery of the various applictions of her powers.
    • In an alternate future where mankind had been invaded by Martians, Doom cast the shield of Captain America into space, out of respect for his skills, as well as a desire to ensure such a weapon did not fall into Martian tendrils.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Doom showed no hesitation in trying to murder the Hulk's young son, Skaar, and at the end of Avengers: The Children's Crusade, Doom killed young Cassie Lang. On the other hand, doom shall fall on anyone who, while in the presence of Doom, attempts to harm one of Latveria's children (or Reed Richards' offspring. Especially Valeria).
  • Wrestler of Beasts: Doom once fought and killed a lion while unarmed and naked. The moment provides the page image for the trope.
  • Xanatos Gambit: His plans are designed to benefit him regardless of whether they succeed or fail, due to a hidden plan that is fulfilled by the foiling of the first.
  • Yandere: He's this to the entire population of Latveria. Doom protects his people from all oppression and exploitation, even from their own. However, should any of them wish to leave his protection, he will NOT be happy.
    Doom: [to a would-be Latverian defector] Have I not told you how I dearly love my subjects? Did you think I would allow a single one to leave this realm?
  • You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Doom could have been anything he wanted to be: globally respected Nobel Prize winning scientist; billionaire entrepreneur; internationally renowned superhero; wise, all-powerful archmage; the heroic rebel who freed Latveria; or even all of them. He chose not to. It's been pointed out that if Doom really wanted to prove he was better than Mr. Fantastic and be beloved the world over, he could just solve all the problems Reed hasn't been able to.
  • You Fool!: Expect him to call his enemies this a lot.
  • You're Just Jealous: Reed Richards tried to warn Doom about a mistake in an experimental setup; Doom decided that Richards was trying to hold him back out of jealousy and ignored the warning. The experiment proceeded to literally blow up in Doom's face, scarring his features (and his ego). Unable to admit that he could have possibly been wrong, Doom decided that it must have been someone else's fault; namely, Reed's. His entire vendetta against the Fantastic Four started with this.
    • As for what keeps it going, Doom continues to blame Reed Richards for everything that has gone wrong with his life. He justifies his belief by insisting that Reed is envious of Doom's genius. It is, of course, Doom who is bitterly envious of Reed, and Reed mentioning this usually sends Doom into an Unstoppable Rage involving a lot of stretchy torture, since deep down, Doom knows it's true too.

    Doombots 

Doombots

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6e8e6bae_0b7d_4939_a67e_fb03d8791204.jpeg

First Appearance: The Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962)

The Doombots are robots created by Doctor Doom (above). Usually show up singly to impersonate Doom but are sometimes used in multiple numbers as armies for Doom.

  • Actually a Doombot: Trope Namer, of course.
  • Confusion Fu: Doom is well aware of the confusion that the previous trope causes in his enemies, and encourages it. It's a handy way to cover any of his actual defeats, for one thing.
    Doom: My robots often confuse my foes - I may be a robot now, speaking these words. How would you know? How would I?
  • Crazy-Prepared: Fun fact - Doom has prepared it so that if, by some unthinkable circumstance he should actually die for real (bah!), his Doombots are programmed to carry on in his stead.
  • Felony Misdemeanour: Damaging a Doombot is a capitol offense in Latervia; you damaged the face of DOOM, which is treason.
  • Large Ham: They're programmed with copies of Doom's inimitable personality, bombast included.
  • Mooks: Often, they'll serve as Doom's soldiers.
  • Retcon: They have traditionally been used as a retroactive escape clause for some of Doctor Doom's more humiliating defeats. Or just appearances that an author disagrees with (for example, the fight between Chris Claremont and John Byrne over whether Arcade really got away with lighting a match on Doom's armor, or it was a Doombot. Which was it? Only Doom alone will ever know).
  • Superpowered Robot Meter Maids: Sometimes some Doombots are shown working in surprisingly menial tasks around Latveria, like airport security.

Alternative Title(s): Doctor Doom

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