Alternate versions of Doctor Doom

This is a list of alternate versions of Doctor Doom from Marvel Comics' Multiverse.

In mainstream comic continuity

*Victor von Doom is a disfigured super-genius. Doom creates a suit of power armor and various inventions in his efforts of world domination and the destruction of Reed Richards.
*Kristoff Vernard is the adopted son and heir-apparent to Victor von Doom. Following the apparent murder of Dr. Doom by Terrax, Doom's robots took Kristoff, and brainwashed him, also implanting him with Doom's mental patterns and detailed memories. Vernard believes himself to be the original Dr. Doom, and assumes the role, ambitions, and responsibilities of the Latverian ruler.

Alternate universe depictions

1602

In Neil Gaiman's alternate-universe tale, "Marvel 1602", Dr. Doom is "Count Otto von Doom", also known as "Otto the Handsome". A mastermind genius of physics and even genetics, Von Doom keeps the Four of the Fantastick imprisoned in his castle, continually tapping Richard Reed for knowledge. The Four eventually escape during an attack on Doom's castle by the other heroes of the time, which also leads to the scarring of his face.

Otto von Doom returns in "1602: The Fantastick Four", in which he plans to visit a city beyond the edge of the world, believing they have knowledge that could restore his face. He kidnaps William Shakespeare to record these events.

2099

Doom (Victor Von Doom) is a Marvel Comics anti-hero featured in the Marvel 2099 comic book "Doom 2099". The character is based on Doctor Doom, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The comic was written by John Francis Moore for its first two years and by Warren Ellis for its third.

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse, Victor von Doom is an agent of the Human High Council and the Head of Security. His facial scar is the result of a mutant uprising in Latveria. Like his 616 counterpart, Von Doom remains a ruthless and ambitious man, though he does not express his counterpart's goal to rule the world and destroy all mutants.

"The End"

In Alan Davis' mini-series, , Dr. Doom appears as a four-armed cyborg with little of his humanity left. Doom breaks during the "mutant wars" and is now a killing machine, focused on the deaths of the Fantastic Four. He engages in final battle with the Four and is killed in an explosion when his powers react with those of Franklin and Valeria Richards. Doom is later revealed alive and conquers the Negative Zone after killing Annihilus and obtaining his power rod and immortality.

House of M

In the recent House of M continuity, Doom is still the ruler of Latveria, but his mother is still alive, he is married to Valeria, and he has adopted Kristoff. Reed Richards' test flight still encounters cosmic radiation, but rather than empowering Reed, Sue and John Jameson, who went up instead of Johnny Storm, the radiation kills them. Ben Grimm survives, but his intelligence appears to be reduced. This inspires Doom to create a Four of his own, consisting of himself, the It (Grimm), the Invincible Woman (Valeria), and the Inhuman Torch (Kristoff). Due to Doom's arrogance and his brutality towards Grimm, the It betrays the team, Valeria and Kristoff are killed, his mother kidnapped, and Doom is left broken and humiliated.

MC2

In the Fantastic Five series, Doom is revealed to be held captive by the Sub-Mariner for ten years, after the destruction of Atlantis. Doom manages to escape, and uses the same device he once employed to imbue Terrax with the Power Cosmic on himself. He imbues this same power on his Doombots, and attempts to take over the world. Reed Richards challenges Doom to a psychic duel, using a device that will send the loser's mind to the Crossroads of Infinity. The two are so evenly matched that both are sent to the Crossroads, leaving their bodies as empty shells.

Iron Man

In an alternate future set in 2093, where a reborn King Arthur rules a renewed Camelot aided by Merlin, Doom and Iron Man are drawn to the future to oppose a plan to destroy most of Earth's population. While Iron Man confronts his descendent- wielding Excalibur in order to even the odds against his foe's upgraded armor- Doom meets his future double, who relies on technology to extend his lifespan and has allied with the future Iron Man in order to use his mobility to complete his plan. Doom rejects his future self by pointing out that he would never do such a thing, for even if he seeks power, he always watches the cost of it, and knows that nothing he seeks could be worth such an affront to his dignity. He then kills the older Doom. [ "Iron Man" #250 ]

Marvel Zombies

In this version Doom is still ruler of Latveria. Doom has fortified his castle to defend against the superheroes, and takes in refugees for the purpose of repopulating the planet once the situation is resolved. To the disgust of his allies, it is revealed Doom has only chosen the hardiest breeding stock of the Latverian survivors, there are no elderly people or children. [ Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness #4] Doom is forced to slay one of his allies, the mutant Dazzler, when a zombie prisoner, the Enchantress, infects her.

Doom constructs a makeshift portal to allow the refugees escape to another reality. Despite his defenses, a zombie super-army breaks through. With only himself and Ash Williams remaining, he reveals he has been infected by the virus, and cannot go through the portal himself. Though tempted to eat Ash, he resists, allowing the man to escape, even giving him the ability to choose one of many realities. As Ash escapes through it, Doom destroys the device, trapped with the zombies.

He is later seen in New York, as a zombie. ["Marvel Zombies" #1 - 8 (2003)] .

Mutant X

In the Mutant X universe, Doom is a superhero and leader of his own super-team.

=

Doctor Doom appeared in #4 of the spin-off comic from the TV series, where he attempted to execute the Avengers and Black Knight.

Combat Colin

Doctor Doom made a, presumably non-canon, appearance in Marvel UK's "Combat Colin" strip. A superheroes convention is attacked by the robotic Steamroller Man. After Combat Colin and his sidekick Semi-Automatic Steve defeat the robot, its controller is revealed to be Doctor Doom, who explains that after years of being defeated by American superheroes he thought (wrongly) he could stand a chance against some incompetent Brits. The final panel shows Doom back in his lair, surrounded by newspaper cuttings detailing his past defeats and wondering how he would do in a fight with Thomas the Tank Engine.

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Doctor Doom is Victor Van Damme, a direct descendant of Vlad Tepes Dracula. Victor is introduced as part of the Baxter Building, a government think-tank of young geniuses, which counts among its students Reed Richards and Susan Storm. Van Damme is responsible for the seeming destruction of the Ultimate universe in "Ultimatum". He works to help Reed Richards develop a teleporter to the "N-Zone," but reprograms its coordinates without telling anyone. This causes the accident that gave the Ultimate Fantastic Four their powers, though Victor maintains that the original Richards programming was so bad that even he couldn't fix it, and that it was this that led to the accident. Van Damme is caught in the same accident, and his flesh was changed into a metallic hide (with a somewhat reduced ability to perceive tactile sensations and pain), clawed hands, his legs transmogrified into demonic goat-hooved legs, and he re-appeared on Earth in Copenhagen. Initially, he assumes that he himself was the only one who had been transformed by the accident, later denouncing Reed as the 'freak' during their initial confrontation.

For a time, he is the charismatic leader of a small micronation called "Free State", "Freezone", or "The Keep", a Permanent Autonomous Zone located in Copenhagen, Denmark, where citizens lived without rent in a shanty town under squatter's rights, and were given free comforts and necessities in exchange for loyalty to Van Damme. There, a dragon tattoo was given to new settlers, incorporating microfibers that interfaced with the brain and acting as a mind control device. However, the Fantastic Four eventually freed them from Doom's control during their first battle, and all subsequently left.

During the Namor fiasco, the mother of Sue and Johnny Storm returned to New York. After the adventure, it was revealed that she possesses a similar dragon tattoo.

After the collapse of the Keep, Van Damme returned to Latveria, and in six months turned the country around. Latveria went from being a Third World nation to the ninth-richest country in the world. While seemingly happy, the citizens of Latveria are bearers of Doom's Dragon tattoos. He is revered by the citizens, who refer to him as "the good doctor".

In the same story arc, he switches bodies with Reed Richards in order to gain a life he felt was rightfully his, though leaving Reed with the wealth and control of Latveria; in his own form of honor, he felt this made him better than Reed. This turned out to be part of his scheme to gain recognition by doing what Reed couldn't do. Specifically, saving Johnny Storm's life from an alien parasite. Doom absorbs the parasite but it attempts to posess his mind. Reed, having studied Doom's magical texts, returns to New York to battle the concurrent threat of the alternate universe zombie Fantastic Four. Reed is willing to lose himself in the dimensions to erase the zombie threat but Doom switches their bodies back and does so. His last request is to be remembered as the one who saved the world. however this was not granted.

He has since reappeared in issue six of Ultimate Power, a crossover between the "Ultimate Universe" and the universe of the revamped Squadron Supreme, seemingly intent on taking over the Supremeverse. In issue eight it is revealed to be simply a Doombot (the first seen in the Ultimate Marvel continuity). The real Dr.Doom is later seen in Ultimates 3 as the one controling Ultron. It is noted however, that, starting in "Frightful" and through his "Ultimate Power" and "Ultimates 3" appearances, his 'goat legs' as well as organic metal skin is not present, but resembles his regular 616 counterpart exactly. As to why his former look has been abandoned is yet to be revealed.

Powers and abilities

Ultimate Doom is a scientific genius, though unlike Richards he approaches science as an art rather than as a system. While the Fantastic Four's powers are compared to the four classical Greek elements, Doom has attained the power of one of the additional Chinese elements, metal - his body is almost completely solid metal, possessing no discrete internal organs, somewhat similar to Colossus (though Doom cannot switch back to a flesh-and-blood form). In his first post-transformation encounter with the Fantastic Four, he expelled the remains of his internal organs as a poisonous gas. It is unknown if he is still able to do this. He can grow and fling porcupine-like volleys of metal spikes from his forearms, and also possesses a regenerative power, but he cannot heal any wound caused by his own body. Thus, the scar Reed made on Doom's face remains, because it was done with one of his own spikes. Doom exhibits super strength as well, as he is able to break the arms off the zombie version of Ben Grimm. ["Ultimate Fantastic Four" #30-31] The creature Doom summoned selected his body as the most powerful it could find, passing up Thor and Thing.

The Ultimate Universe's Doom is also an accomplished sorcerer. Richards discovers that Johnny did not get the life form inside him from the Negative Zone. Rather, Victor "summoned" the creature inside Johnny. Later, Doom used sorcery to exchange minds with Richards. ["Ultimate Fantastic Four" #30-31]

Warlock

On the original Counter Earth, Victor Von Doom is a genius, but not a villain. He appears in the original "Warlock" series. Von Doom's armor is now represented only by the metallic mask and the green hood/cape is gone.

=What If?=

In "What if Doctor Doom had Become the Thing?", Recounting his college days, Doom actually listens to Reed when he tells him of the flaw in his machine. Doom becomes Reed's friend after this, although he is later revealed to be just using him for his ideas. During the construction of Reed's rocket, Doom notices the flaw in the shielding, but tells no-one, instead creating armor to protect himself. However, the armor actually absorbs and amplifies the cosmic rays, turning Doom into the Thing. Donning a cloth covering and the mask of his armor, he tries to kill Reed, believing him to be at fault. During the fight, Doom causes Ben Grimm to be outside during a gamma bomb testing. The ensuing radiation exposure turns Ben into a hulk-like being who, calling himself "Grimm", beats back Doom, forcing him to flee. ["What If Doctor Doom Had Become the Thing?" #1]

In "What If Doctor Doom Were Sorcerer Supreme?" A young Victor Von Doom does not stay with the hidden sect of monks in the Himalayas but continues on to find the Ancient One. The Ancient One immediately sees Doom's vast potential and hopes that by taking him on as a student he can teach Doom humility and channel his talent away from evil. Doom's fellow student, Mordo, is threatened by Doom's vastly superior talent and plans to kill off the competition. Doom easily turns the table on Mordo and plants a small bomb in his skull as insurance against further treachery. The Ancient One fears that Doom is growning into a dangerous power and so decides to conclude their relationship by taking Doom to the Mephisto's realm to rescue Doom's mother.

References

ee also

*Doctor Doom in other media

External links

* [http://www.angelfire.com/planet/doctordoom/app6.html Doom Covers]
* [http://www.geocities.com/latvaria2099/doom_index.html Doom 2099 Fan Site]