At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, it was revealed that Robert Downey Jr will be taking on the Doctor Doom mantle. This shocking reveal brought joy to a lot of Marvel fanatics, as the death of Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame seemed like the last time the actor would show up in the franchise.
Now the MCU legend will play an entirely new role in the franchise, not as a hero, but as a villain that a lot of people know nothing about.
In this article, we’ll explore what Doctor Doom is all about. Much like Iron Man is a force to reckon with in the MCU, Victor Von Doom is also a formidable character in the comics. But what is it about this character that makes him a huge threat to the Multiverse?
What are Doctor Doom’s Powers?
If you watched the 2005 Fantastic Four film, you're very much aware of a certain Victor Von Doom. Serving as the movie's main villain, he was a hard shell to crack for the First Family. In this film, we see that Victor Von Doom AKA Doctor Doom mutated into organic metal and gained the ability to produce electricity.
From this movie, it’s easy to conclude that Doctor Doom can create electricity, and he has a metallic body. Well if you base your mind on then you undermine the skills of Victor Von Doom. To better understand Victor Von Doom’s powers, we need to head into Marvel's comic universe. From here we discover that Victor Von Doom is more than just an electricity-producing villain but a powerful sorcerer and scientist.
Yes, Victor Von Doom is a fine blend of two things that don’t work hand in hand, science and magic. This character in the Marvel universe started as a sorcerer and then progressed to become a genius scientist filled with the desire to get back a loved one he lost. This desire led Victor Von Doom to become one of the greatest villains that the Marvel Universe has come to know.
History of Victor Von Doom
The existence of the character Victor Von Doom appeared back in 1962 as he featured in The Fantastic Four comic. However, to better understand the story behind the existence of Victor Von Doom, you’ll need to delve into the “Books Of Doom” comic series. From this comic series, we’ll see the birth of Victor, his parents, and how his mother dabbling into the black arts led to her death and kick-started Victor’s path to a life of villainy.
Mephisto, a demon from the depths of hell, caused the death of Victor’s mother and imprisoned her soul for eternity. In a bid to free his mother’s soul, Victor also learned the Black Arts and also grew to love and excel in science. His achievements in this field earned him recognition by the government, a lab, and proper education in the United States.
While studying and working in the United States, Victor created a time portal as well as a machine to help get his mother back from Mephisto. This latter achievement he called the synthesis between his “mother's magic and the science he dreamed of as a youth”. The usage of this machine is what turned Victor into Doctor Doom as most comic fans know him.
The accident gave a once-perfect Victor a scarred face, hence leading him to put on the iconic mask his character is known for. So we now see the magical and scientific side of Victor Von Doom, but what about his combat side, you may ask? Well, Victor Von Doom proceeded to train with monks and become their leader.
The monks in question helped build Doctor Doom’s suit, a blend of science and magic. After getting his suit ready and completely putting it on, Victor Von Doom proclaims himself Doctor Doom. From here onwards, Doctor Doom proceeds to show his intellectual, scientific, and magical abilities in the Marvel Comic Universe.
What to Expect From Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday
The history of Victor Von Doom from the Marvel Comic Universe shows that the Victor Von Doom we meet in Fantastic Four is not what we’ll get in Doomsday. Doctor Doom in Marvel Avengers: Doomsday, played by Robert Downey Jr, will come with a different set of powers. Here are some of the powers that we can expect Doctor Doom to wield in this coming film:
- Combat.
- Strength.
- Infrared vision.
- A big brain.
- Flight.
- Sorcerer: Master of the Mystic Arts.
- Mind Transference.
- Teleportation.
- Dimensional travel.
- A nice and shiny metallic suit.
Possibly the coming Fantastic Four movie to launch next year will give us our first introduction to this villain. This might then lead to the Marvel Avengers: Doomsday movie, where we’ll get to see Doctor Doom in full action. More details on this villain making yet another entry into the Marvel Universe will surface in the coming weeks.