Doctor Doom Is An Actual Monster (But I Love Him For It)

Doctor Doom is one of my favorite supervillains of all time. There’s always been something about Doctor Doom that I’ve loved. Doom works so well because not only is he a dangerous threat with a flair for the dramatic, but because he has an amazing backstory and attitude. Doom is instantly compelling every time he appears on any comic page; his bombastic third person dialogue, his regal bearing that can quickly melt away to rage, and his amazing costume have made him the cream of the villainous crop.

Doctor Doom is getting massive push right now, one which started last summer, with the one-two punch of him becoming the Sorcerer Supreme at the end of Blood Hunt and Marvel Studios revealing that Robert Downey Jr. is going to play the villain in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. He’s had his own Fortnite event and is the main villain of Marvel Rivals. Doom is hot right now, and that means fans have been searching the Internet for information on the character. This has led to a lot of memes that show Doom in a rather positive light, leading to a lot of fans misunderstanding what Doom is. I don’t love Doctor Doom because he’s often right; I love him because he’s a monster.

Doctor Doom Is a Complicated Villain, Which Is Why It’s So Easy to Misunderstand Him

Like many early Marvel villains, Doom was, in the beginning, something of a cliche. He was a bombastic villain who wanted to take over the world and destroy the Fantastic Four. Doctor Doom was defined by his hatred of Reed Richards, partly blaming him for his failures. This is the key to Doom right here — Doom cannot conceive of a world where he can make mistakes or isn’t the best. This is the thing that it feels like so many newer fans miss about Doom and it’s the main thing that makes him into a monster. Doom will go to any lengths to make sure that everyone knows that he’s the best.

One of the things I love about Doom is that in many ways, he really is the best person to run the world. Doom makes sure that everyone in Latveria loves him. He shares his wealth with his people, makes sure that they are taken care of in every way, and gives them a life that most real world Americans would be extremely jealous of. This is actually a big part of the first issue of One World Under Doom, Marvel’s current event book. Doom is able to take over control of the UN and demands that the countries of the world give their people socialized healthcare, better education, and loads of other benefits that Latverians have. Doom is able to take control of Hydra and turn them to the public good. However, the Avengers ruin his ruse, revealing that Doom killed Baron Zemo and used a LMD to make him order Hydra to help Doom’s new world order. Doom then does something that the heroes would never do — working with his Doctor Doom tyrannosaurus counterpart (Fantastic Four and One World Under Doom are brilliant, you guys), he slaughters Hydra, ending the legacy of the Nazis (well, for now; Hydra has been “destroyed” many times).

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This isn’t the first time Doom set out to “save” the world. There was also Secret Wars (2015), where Doom saved the multiverse from the Incursions, recreating the surviving universes into a Battleworld controlled by God Emperor Doom. One World Under Doom, like many of the more popular Doctor Doom memes and Doom comic pages that are released, is definitely playing into Doom’s reputation for caring for his people and being right, but that’s not who Doom is. Superheroes are selfless; they save the day not for praise, but to help protect the world. Doom is not selfless. When Doom saves the world, he does it so that he can demand loyalty and worship; anyone who doesn’t is dealt with. This is the core of Doom.

Doom has done a lot of great things in the Marvel Universe. He’s a tragic character, one whose mother was stolen from him by Mephisto and whose father died protecting him from the former ruler of Latveria known as the Baron. Doctor Doom freed Latveria from tyranny, and paid it back with a softer tyranny. Doom tries to free his mother’s soul every year, and he helped deliver Valeria Richards, treating her almost like a daughter. Doom genuinely believes in helping people, albeit as long as they give him the credit he deserves. However, Doom is also a character who hates Reed Richards because Reed pointed out a mistake in Doom’s math. Doom is a character who sacrificed the woman he loved in order to get power to fight the Fantastic Four, wearing her skin as armor. God Emperor Doom killed Doctor Strange, who had helped him establish his new multiversal order, in order to keep him quiet about things Doom didn’t want anyone to know. Doom is complex, and a big part of that complexity is that of a monster.

Doctor Doom’s Monstrous Side Is Why He’s Such A Great Villain

Reading a good Doctor Doom comic is so much fun. I loved every single second of reading One World Under Doom #1, relishing every speech from my favorite Marvel villain, and I loved seeing Doom outsmarting the Avengers and Fantastic Four. Seriously, go read that book; it’s fun and compelling, showing off some of Doom’s coolest moments. However, the whole time I was reading the book, I knew that there was nothing altruistic in Doom’s actions. That’s what makes the story so great; I can’t wait to see the twist that shows the monstrous reason that Doom is doing all of this or what terrible thing he’s hiding.

That’s why Doom is the best. You can root for Doom and love him for his good traits, but you always know that eventually the worm will turn and Doom will reveal his true motivations. Doom’s nature as a monster is his most important character trait. Doom can definitely be an altruistic character, one who helps people even more than the other heroes. That’s not all that interesting in reality, though. Good guy Doom only goes so far. It’s the monstrous side of the character that truly makes Doom special. Doom is a great representation of the duality of humanity; he’s someone who can love and care about people, genuinely desiring to help people, yet he’s also a vain egomaniac who believes that he’s the best and that everything he does is a reason to worship him. It’s easy to forget that Doom is monster at times, especially when he starts talking about socialized medicine and education and protections for workers and the poor. However, what makes those story work is Doom’s selfish, evil motives for things. Doom stories are great not because we agree with him; Doom stories are great because he’s a compelling monster, swinging wildly between being the best person possible and an insanity that could cost millions their lives.

What do you think? Let us know you all your thoughts about Doctor Doom in our comment section!