Victor Von Doom: Doctor Doom Appreciation 2019

[Iron Maiden]

Loving all the new covers! We got this one made into a poster. I put my order in a couple of weeks ago, but I think it's coming out in January? I like it, but I wish they had done the Bianchi one.

I forgot about that. That one is pretty cool, with Doom standing over the pile of bones. Does Marvel do any cover you request or just recent stuff?

[Iron Maiden]

Agreed, Iron Maiden. There was hardly any interaction between the two, even though they were in close proximity to one another. But still a very interesting four-issue team-up written by the underrated Bill Mantlo.

Bill Mantlo was a very versatile writer for Marvel. I think he might have also written another Doom story I like but have to check. It's a shame he has had such a hard life for the past few decades.

[megatillo]

I'm enjoying a lot of the recent Doom appearances but have a gripe: since when can mere bullets or mercenary-grade weaponry penetrate Doom's armor? It's happened 3 times recently, twice in the Doom series and once in the recent ASM. His armor can defend himself against godlike beings, a host of energies, magic, and has a forcefield (although that hasn't been used in years)...yet he is vulnerable to snipers? That just doesn't feel plausible. If it was that easy, Iron Man in his comparable armor would have been taken out years ago! Granted, the ASM shot was from special Shield weaponry but still seems like it should take a lot more than that to breach high tech armor.

[Iron Maiden]

I'm enjoying a lot of the recent Doom appearances but have a gripe: since when can mere bullets or mercenary-grade weaponry penetrate Doom's armor? It's happened 3 times recently, twice in the Doom series and once in the recent ASM. His armor can defend himself against godlike beings, a host of energies, magic, and has a forcefield (although that hasn't been used in years)...yet he is vulnerable to snipers? That just doesn't feel plausible. If it was that easy, Iron Man in his comparable armor would have been taken out years ago! Granted, the ASM shot was from special Shield weaponry but still seems like it should take a lot more than that to breach high tech armor.

I totally agree with this. I'd be OK with it if we found out that there was something modified in the weaponry that was being used. there was an old issue of SVTU when Doom survived a small nuke at close range so ordinary weapons should make a dent. Taskmaster is bound to have something way above black market stuff. I'm not a firearms expert but seems to me comic book science should be used here and it should be something high velocity with some kind of extra strength metal piercing bullet as the ammunition.

[ImperiusWrecked]

I totally agree with this. I'd be OK with it if we found out that there was something modified in the weaponry that was being used. there was an old issue of SVTU when Doom survived a small nuke at close range so ordinary weapons should make a dent. Taskmaster is bound to have something way above black market stuff. I'm not a firearms expert but seems to me comic book science should be used here and it should be something high velocity with some kind of extra strength metal piercing bullet as the ammunition.

Another thought could be that the mask Morgan pulled was meant to be weak/unreliable, I definitely don't trust her and even though she was crying over his body it could be a misdirection?

[Iron Maiden]

Another thought could be that the mask Morgan pulled was meant to be weak/unreliable, I definitely don't trust her and even though she was crying over his body it could be a misdirection?

I was thinking the same thing.. if it is one of Doom's old mask, it may have been tampered with. Could "Morgan" even be another misdirection by Mephisto? A facsimile like he did of Cynthia von Doom?

[JudicatorPrime]

Another thought could be that the mask Morgan pulled was meant to be weak/unreliable, I definitely don't trust her and even though she was crying over his body it could be a misdirection?

I thought Morgan gave him a face plate, but not necessarily the full helm? There's also no telling where/when in time/space she pulled it from. It's possible she pulled it from a past version or an alternate dimension that had much weaker armor plate. That said, Taskmaster seemed very confident that the munitions that he used would pierce the armor and get the job done. Doom is entirely too dangerous a foe to go after him without having a magic bullet, so to speak.

[MichaelC]

I thought Morgan gave him a face plate, but not necessarily the full helm? There's also no telling where/when in time/space she pulled it from. It's possible she pulled it from a past version or an alternate dimension that had much weaker armor plate. That said, Taskmaster seemed very confident that the munitions that he used would pierce the armor and get the job done. Doom is entirely too dangerous a foe to go after him without having a magic bullet, so to speak.

That sort of thing is a personal pet-peeve of mine: the way spy characters always seem to have magic bullets that prepmasters like Reed Richards and Tony Stark don't.

[Iron Maiden]

I can see a specialist like Taskmaster and Agent Zero having some stuff that is illegal and banned by many governments. I'm going back to a guy like the Terrible Tinkerer who was providing stuff to supervillains when he was working with Lucia von Bardas in Bendis's Secret War mini. The Mad Thinker has been known to come up with stuff from time to time . As for Stark and Richards, I don't see them creating lethal weaponry as a rule. They'd rather capture or contain.

Going back to Agent Zero, where he was able to get a couple of shots that struck the armor. The first shot got him in the shoulder and we do see some bleeding. I'm a bit skeptical about that one. I have read that in the RW cases of body armor used by police and the armor that the bullet is stopped but you can still have injuries. But Doom should have armor that is superior to what is classified as level IV body armor. Assuming that Agent Zero has some special high velocity ammunition, it may be possible that the bullet or whatever projectile he was using could have made enough contact to cause a minor injury. Doom doesn't look the worse for it later on. And it could be that some parts of the body armor aren't as bulky to allow for mobility. But this is Doom...he should be working on that flaw! There appears to be a shot to the head on the next page that does land on the faceplate but there is no effect from that one. And Agent Zero is at point blank range.

[Ravin' Ray]

Y'all might want to head over to the latest posts of the X-Men/ Fantastic Four #1 thread cause a few folks are trashing Doom like he's no threat to Krakoa. Just read the ASM and 2009 Alpha issues too.

[Coatl]

I think that Doom armors could be like Iron Man armors, not all had the same level of power and he is using them depending of what enemy he is expecting to face. That could be the reason sometimes he is able to face celestial stuff an others his armor can be ripped part for beings like She-Hulk.

Still I think that his base armor should be able to stand most kind of common ammunition and energy attacks so a regular shot shouldn't be able to trespass, I went to the theory that all the people who is attacking Doom is using some kind of special ammunition, specially Taskmaster who is expected to investigate his targets and come prepared for him.

Also I'm kind of sure that what Morgana passed to Doom was a Mask not a helmet so any non frontal attack should have passed anyway.

[SuperiorIronman]

She hands him a mask but Victor has a full helm before he's shot.

We're not sure where the mask specifically comes from and so it's durability would be in question. A Doombot's mask would make sense given they can be particularly weak given we have seen Doombots get blown apart (relative to superhero gear). I feel like its entirely possible that was the case and it just wasn't up to par with Victor's own suits despite his ability to use them if need be.
We also know that the variations in the art are also depicted as alternate suits Victor has. So he could have any number of suits that have varying degrees of durability. Another way of explaining it is that while the face-plate was his, he was provided with the rest of the helm.

[Iron Maiden]

She hands him a mask but Victor has a full helm before he's shot.

We're not sure where the mask specifically comes from and so it's durability would be in question. A Doombot's mask would make sense given they can be particularly weak given we have seen Doombots get blown apart (relative to superhero gear). I feel like its entirely possible that was the case and it just wasn't up to par with Victor's own suits despite his ability to use them if need be.
We also know that the variations in the art are also depicted as alternate suits Victor has. So he could have any number of suits that have varying degrees of durability. Another way of explaining it is that while the face-plate was his, he was provided with the rest of the helm.

That is another possibility too. Seeing as he expected to be taken into custody he may not have been in a fully powered armor and instead was in something more ceremonial . After all, you don't want to give away any knowledge of what kind of tech you have.

[Kintor]

Y'all might want to head over to the latest posts of the X-Men/ Fantastic Four #1 thread cause a few folks are trashing Doom like he's no threat to Krakoa. Just read the ASM and 2009 Alpha issues too.

Thanks for the heads up. Think I'll pay that thread a visit.

[Iron Maiden]

Thanks for the heads up. Think I'll pay that thread a visit.

I did also. Dredging up a Steve Englehart story from 50 years ago isn't much of an argument.