Doctor Doom
Doctor Victor von Doom is an inventor, sorcerer and leader of the fictional nation of Latveria.
In the comics: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Doctor Victor von Doom debuted in The Fantastic Four #5 in July 1962. Victor is the son of Cynthia von Doom – a Latverian witch who was murdered while Victor was a child. His father was skilled in medicine, but was marked for death when he failed to save the wife of the Latverian tribe leader. Victor’s father died while escaping, and the orphaned boy swore revenge – learning to combine his mother’s sorcery with his father’s technical knowledge with such success that he was invited to study in the United States. Crossing paths with, and clashing with, Reed Richards, Victor created a machine capable of communicating with the dead – but the explosion that followed caused him severe facial disfigurement.
In the movies: In 2005’s Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom is a billionaire scientist and love rival of Reed Richards. Doom is exposed to a cosmic dust cloud which begins to transform him into an organic-metallic being – prompting him to use a mask and cloak to hide his growing disfigurement. In 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom is revived by his interaction with the energy of the Surfer, and manipulates the superhero team. Doctor Doom will feature as the antagonist in the upcoming Fantastic Four – released on August 7th, 2015 – in which he will appear as Victor Domashev – an anti-social programmer who is a former friend of the superhero team.
Powers: Doctor Doom is a scientific genius who can perform energy projection, create protective shields, summon demons, replicate the powers of other beings, transfer consciousness, and exert control over technology. He is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and wears self-supporting armour.
Enemies: The character is the arch-nemesis of the Fantastic Four, but Doctor Doom has also clashed with the Avengers, Black Panther, the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Hank Pym and She-Hulk, among others.
Casting: In animation, Doctor Doom has been voiced by Joseph Sirola, John Stephenson, Ralph James, John Vernon, Neil Ross, Simon Templeman, Tom Kane, Paul Dobson, Charlie Adler, Christopher Britton, Lex Lang and Maurice LaMarche. In live-action feature films, Doctor Doom has previously been portrayed by Julian McMahon, while the forthcoming The Fantastic Four will see him played by Toby Kebbell.