We’ve Reached a Critical Level of Doctor Doom and Marvel Needs to Slow Down

Doctor Doom is about to make his big Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, played by Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. Marvel Studios announced the casting in July of 2024 and since then, Doom has been one of the biggest things at Marvel. As we get closer to Avengers: Doomsday, more has been revealed about this new version of the Latverian (I’m going to call it here – this isn’t actually Victor Von Doom, it’s Tony Stark having taken his place to fight the Incursions) monarch and his place in the MCU’s multiverse. Meanwhile, in the comics, Marvel has been gearing up for Doom in the MCU for the last few years. MCU synergy has long been one of the names of the game for Marvel Comics and they’ve gone to another level for Doctor Doom.

Doctor Doom is one of Marvel’s greatest villains. He’s become a fan-favorite bad guy, a complicated man that can be used in any kind of story. Doom can be Marvel’s greatest monster but he can also be one of the publisher’s most tragic characters, a man cursed to a terrible existence because he can’t get out of his own way. Since RDJ was announced as Doom, the villain has become one of the most important characters in the Marvel Universe, reaching new levels of impact. We’re in something of a golden age of Doom and as a Doctor Doom megafan, I’m eating very well. However, as great as right now can be, we’ve reached levels of Doom saturation that could be detrimental to the future of the character.

There Is Such a Thing as Too Much Doom Apparently

Doctor Doom has long been one of Marvel’s most beloved villains. Introduced as the ultimate Fantastic Four villain, he’s been defined by his hatred of Reed Richards, his ego leading him to ever-escalating attacks against the First Family of the Marvel Universe. Over the years, his origin was greatly expanded upon, leading to the idea of Doom as a more tragic character. Stories like “Doomquest”, Doctor Strange/Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment (which Marvel just reprinted again with a Peach Momoko cover) and Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars showed that he was a great character to throw at other heroes and since then, we’ve seen him all over the Marvel Universe.

We’ve gotten Doom as a good guy in Infamous Iron Man and Marvel 2-In-One (Vol. 2), Doom as heroic manipulator in New Avengers (Vol. 3) and Secret Wars, and the paternal Doom of any story that puts him and Valeria Richards together. We’ve seen him face off against the Avengers and the X-Men, battling the greatest heroes of the Marvel Universe. Since the 2024 RDJ announcement, Marvel has taken pushing the villain to another level. Marvel Rivals and Fortnite both were heavily Doom-centric at the time and in the comics he was made him an even bigger focus than ever, starting with Blood Hunt, which ended with him becoming Sorcerer Supreme, leading into One World Under Doom, an event book that cast Doom as the benevolent ruler of the planet.

Currently, the villain is appearing in Captain America (Vol. 14), where he’s battling Mephisto in Hell with Captain America. Doomquest is a 12-issue series that follows him on one of his schemes to destroy his enemies through time travel, giving readers a monthly dose of doom. Challenges of Doom is a series of interrelated one-shots pitting him against the greatest heroes around. Black Panther/Namor: Doomed sees the two allies end up going up against him in Hell, revealing that he’s going to take over Mephisto’s place in the Marvel Universe at the end of “Hell’s Angel” in Cap. There are four monthly Doom books at this point, and that’s before we get to books that are using ideas from One World Under Doom or any of the other Doom books; the newest volume of Avengers wouldn’t exist without One World.

That’s a lot of Doctor Doom, and there were times when I dreamed about getting this much quality Doom content – Marvel has their A-list talents like Al Ewing, Ryan North, Chip Zdarsky, and Jonathan Hickman writing Doom stories. He’s become a focus like never before, but I can’t help but feel sort of cold about the whole thing. One World Under Doom is a perfect example of why I’m nervous; the book started out great, but then it had to make sure to remind you that Doom was evil and became sort of predictable. “Hell’s Angel” has been awesome so far, showing the softer side of the character, but we’ve already learned that he’s just going to take Mephisto’s place in the end.

One of the things that I’ve noticed about a lot of the current Doom stories is that they start off with an interesting premise for the character – socialist icon Doom in One World, for example, or the more pensive, thoughtful Doom of “Hell’s Angel” – and then just make it into a standard Doom story. That’s been the problem with this push of the villain since the beginning; they’re stories that seem like they’re going to say something new about the character or lead to some kind of growth, but they merely go back to the way things were.

This is a problem with writing villains as main characters. Change is anathema, in a lot of ways, to superhero comics. Main characters have to be able to change a little bit, but villains are characters who are made to never change. Their entire point is that they don’t learn from the all beating they’ve took, so you can’t really make them people willing to look at themselves and see the problems. There’s really only one direction you can take a villain and that’s make them better people, but there’s a limit to that because you need to keep them as villains. This is the current Doom problem and it’s one that all of these books coming out right now are going to highlight.

You can’t change Doctor Doom. You can’t make him a more heroic version of the character long term, because then you lose one of the best villains in comics. You can have him learn a lesson, but you’re never going to change the character permanently. None of these stories are going to change him in any kind of way that counts and it’s going to sour fans on him. He’s not only overexposed, but he’s starring in a lot of books that are just treading the same ground. It’s a recipe for ruining a character for an entire generation.

Marvel Is Going to Burn Out Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom going to the MCU was always going to be a big deal and it was always going to lead to a lot of Doom comics. We’re probably going to be getting at least one more Doom event comic, possibly to coincide with Avengers: Secret Wars, and loads of more solo projects starring the character between now and them. While these stories can be a lot of fun for fans of the character, it’s plain to see that they’ve overexposed him and it’s going to lead to disaster.

All of these stories do the same thing – they start out with a rather novel Doom plot and then end up becoming the same Doom stories we’ve been reading for decades. Maybe if Marvel was willing to allow creators to change the villain in some big, obvious ways, this push would work out in the long run, but at this point, it just feels like a standard MCU synergy taken to the Nth degree. No character should be this exposed, not even a character as iconic and beloved as Doom.

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