The 12 Days of Santa Doom

[Iron Maiden]

I believe it was also used in FF #200 for the showdown with Richards.

You are partly right. Doom did have another property that was briefly seen in FF #193. It was a mansion that served as an HQ and lab complex for a Cynthian Associates. When the FF had to split up in FF #190-191, Reed needed a job. Sue went to work on a movie financed by Namor and Reed took a job at Cynthian Associates. If Reed had known that Doom's mother's name was Cynthia, he might have caught on to the real owner of the company

[Iron Maiden]

On the Fourth Day of Christmas Santa Doom gave to me....
Four French Chefs
Three Bengal Tigers
And a Throne Made from Agard's World Tree

This fellow was seen as part of Doom's house staff a couple of times. His first appearance was in Fantastic Four #87 and is in the center of the picture. The next time he appears in John Byrne's all Doom issue FF #258, he is given the name of Pierre. There are some who say that George Lucas made an homage to Doom in the Empire Strikes back when an action sequence ends with the heroes ending up in a dining room with Darth Vader at the head of the table. In the FF issue, The Fantastic Four are in the middle of a battle with Doom in their first trip to Latveria when Sue and Crystal get separated from the guys and wind up inside of a lavishly set up dining room.

Ever since Jack Kirby drew the surprising splash page in FF #87, there have been many scenes where Doom has a dinner party with his foes. The most recent one had a most unexpected guest in Conan the Barbarian in Savage Avengers #8

Hope you like this one Abe! Doesn't it seem like any time there is a French chef in a story of movie, his name has to be Pierre?

[Ravin' Ray]

Ever since Jack Kirby drew the surprising splash page in FF #87, there have been many scenes where Doom has a dinner party with his foes.

Ah yes, and even allies! Off the top of my head I can remember Reed, Namor, Sif-Loki, Storm, and both the FF and X-Men. Still remember how Sue turned down Doom's gracious offer of Latverian caviar in that last one and the subtle threat she shot his way.

[Iron Maiden]

Ah yes, and even allies! Off the top of my head I can remember Reed, Namor, Sif-Loki, Storm, and both the FF and X-Men. Still remember how Sue turned down Doom's gracious offer of Latverian caviar in that last one and the subtle threat she shot his way.

I remember that too. I hope the new Fantastic Four vs X-Men mini series is as good as that one.





Now I have to move on to the next Santa Doom day and in a way it involves this...,

[Iron Maiden]

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, Santa Doom gave to me....

FIVE IMPERIAL RINGS
Four French Chefs
Three Bengal Tigers
Two Doomy Bears
And a Throne Made from Asgard's World Tree

I think this is the first and only time we see Doom brandish the Ring Imperial, which seems to have powers of its own. In Daredevil #37, Doctor Doom had captured Daredevil and brought him to the Latverian Embassy in NYC. Daredevil as you recall helped the then powerless FF (courtesy of the The Frightful Four) in a battle with Doom in issues 39-40. Daredevil asks Doom how he is alive since last seen he seemingly was killed when he ran afoul Galactus's barrier around Earth. The barrier was meant to enforce the Surfer's punishment. But seeing that the barrier was triggered by the Cosmically Powered Doom, Galactus just sends him back to Earth and takes away the Power Cosmic. After he tells DD all this in a flashback, Doom then springs his trap. He has place Daredevil and himself in this Transformatron, This allows for Doom to switch bodies with Daredevil. But wait a minute..... shouldn't Doom be able to that without a machine and use the Ovoid Mind Transfer he learned from the Ovoids? I wonder if Stan had to give out a no prize for that?

[Reviresco]

On the the Third Day of Christmas, Santa Doom gave to me
Three Bengal Tigers
Two Doomy Bears
And a Throne Made from Asgard's World Tree

This goes back to Doom's first appearance in Fantastic Four #5 . Not only does Doom have a pet tiger he keeps around the castle but he was flying around in a helicopter with a shark-like paint job.

At this point in time, Stan and Jack hadn't given much background to Doom's origin. The castle he is using for his lair is in Upstate New York. It would eventually be abandoned when Doom gets his full origin in Fantastic Four Annual #2. But the castle does figure in some other stories in the 70s and 80s. Diablo uses it as a hideout when he kidnaps Valeria and tries to force Doom into an alliance in Doom's first solo comic in MSH #20. Later it will be taken over by Arcade. After that I can't recall it being used much. But the fate of that tiger was always a mystery. Did Doom still have it? Does he have other pets? Did he give it a name?

The picture I put together does show the return of the Tiger in the repeated panels on the left and the right. But unfortunately I can't remember what series that was from. I was just so intrigued that the tiger showed up again after all that time! I thought it was from Iron Man: Legacy of Doom since that was the last chapter of David Michelenie and Bob Layton's Iron Man/Doctor Doom trilogy that started way back with Iron Man 149-150. If I find it, I will update this. But that tiger remains M.I.A

Update: This panel comes from Marvel's Infinite comics line that came out in 2014 / 2015. They were digital comics on the Marvel site. The The panel with Doom and his pet Tiger appeared in Avengers Vs Infinity and the artist is Ron Lim. Latveria was under attack from pony-tail Dracula and the Avengers came to help. These stories are not in current continuity from what I can tell. Too bad....that still leaves the mystery of the fate of Doom's pet tiger

Hmmm. When has Doom needed help handling Dracula? Especially Pony Tail Dracula?


Did they ever give a name for the tiger?

[Iron Maiden]

Hmmm. When has Doom needed help handling Dracula? Especially Pony Tail Dracula?


Did they ever give a name for the tiger?

Nope. they never did. Sometimes I wonder if he was an artificial creation...and experiment in robotics.

Doom wouldn't have needed the Avengers because as he told the tuxedo Dracula in Captain Britain and the MI13, Doom has anti-vampire protection in his armor

[Iron Maiden]

On to the next verse....

On The Sixth Day of Christmas Santa Doom gave to me
Six vultures perching
FIVE IMPERIAL RINGS
Four French Chefs
Three Bengal Tigers
2 Doomy Bears
And a Throne Made from Asgard's World Tree

Not only did Doom's first lair seen in Fantastic Four #5 feature a pet tiger, apparently he kept a vulture around as a pet. But like that tiger, he/she is never seen again. One wonders if there were bats around the place. Eventually the renamed Castle Doom in Latveria became his main residence and the Castle in the Adirondacks was abandoned and guarded by the Army when we see it in MSH #20.



Doom does return to in from time to time, most notably when he was overthrown and went mad in Fantastic Four #200. After regaining his sanity, he returned to the castle in upstate New York and set up the Liddleville experiment along with the Puppet Master to entrap the Fantastic Four and Alicia in FF #236. Doom's mind would remained trapped in his synthe clone body in Liddleville until he is rescued by a Doombot in FF #246

[Reviresco]

I'm going to have to criticize Doom's choice of birds. He should have a hawk, not a vulture!

[Iron Maiden]

Yeah, a scavenger creature is not the way to go. I think the only thing uglier is a turkey buzzard.

Maybe I should update my 12 Days of Doom with the raven on the Cover of Doctor Doom #6 for March next year

[Iron Maiden]

Continuing....

On the Seventh Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me....
Seven Doombots Dancing
Six Vultures Perching
FIVE IMPERIAL RINGS
Four French Chefs
Three Bengal Tigers
Two Doomy Bears
And a Throne Made from Asgard's World Tree

The above panels are from Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #25 in a story by Fred Van Lente with artist Cory Hamscher. I actually met Hamscher at a local comic con several years ago and he had this page for sale. I almost bought it but passed only because I am running out of room to store things but I may change my mind if he comes to the yearly con agaion. He does live in the next county over IIRC.

Doombots have been around for just as long as Doom has been around. The first one is seen in Fantastic Four #5 and is a decoy that gets destroyed. One loses track how many Doombots have been destroyed over the years. There are several that have actually evolved to the point that they are self aware (with one exception) and lead lives of their own. The most notable one appears in Books of Doom and I speculate that this is the Doombot that would sometimes try to remove Kristoff/Doom from the throne of Latveria. Doom straightens things out between them in Walt Simonson's FF #351 . After blasting the Doombot, Doom relents and says that he wlll keep parts of it for further study. This may be the Doombot that we see in a prison cell in Castle Doom and it is the Doombot that was being interviewed by the ill fated reporter (I wonder where she is these days?)

The next two Doombots are self aware....they know they are creations of Doom but have gone on to have lives of their on. Doombot doesn't have a name or even a number but he was a Doombot that Hank Pym modified by putting a miniature black hole in his chest so that he would think twice about rebelling. This Doombot became a member of the Avengers A.I. While on the team, he became friends with Victor Mancha and they were later reunited in the Runaways series where he is a semi regular.

[Iron Maiden]

The third Doombot actually has a name and an identity introduced in the unbelievable Gwenpool #8-9. He lives in Brooklyn under the name of Vincent Doonan and he is the protector of his little section of New York. Doom had just completed him when his lab was attacked by the old lady Squirrel Girl (too weird to get into here) and ran away in the confusion. He ended up being taken in by shopkeeper Phineas Mason before he turned into the Terrible Tinkerer. Phineas finished some of the things that were left undone with his programming when Squirrel Girl invaded Doom's lab. He created a an outer skin-like mask to make him look more human and gave him programming so that he could speak.



Later on he does meet his creator who had decided to take up the mantle of Iron as Infamous Iron Man.

[Abe]

I know that I'm a bit late to the party, dear Iron Maiden, but be sure that I have enjoyed every day and every post of the 2019 twelve days of Santa Doom!

Thanks a lot! The best of nostalgia and so many wonderful new ideas!

I just love it!!!

[Iron Maiden]

You are welcome, Abe! On to the next.....

On the Eighth Day of Christmas Santa Doom gave to me...Eight Flying Horses
Seven Doombots Dancing
Six Vultures Perching
FIVE IMPERIAL RINGS
Four French Chefs
Three Bengal Tigers
Two Doomy Bears
And a Throne Made from Asgard's World Tree

One of the most talked about parts of Mark Waid's Fantastic Four run is the Unthinkable arc where the story opens with Doom sacrificing his first love Valeria in exchange for enhanced powers in the Dark Arts. The character made her debut in Marvel Superheroes #20 and next appeared in The Incredible Hulk #143-144. Then she seemed to vanish, never to be seen again, that is until Unthinkable. But just prior to that story, the name did come up in a story in Marvel Double Shots #2 in a story called "Masks" written by Christopher Priest.



One of the members of the orchestra playing for the Latverian audience is planted there by NATO intelligence. She is a reporter from Germany who was recruited and then surgically altered to resemble Valeria. This is all known to Doom and he lets her know that he is aware of the deception. But then things get a little strange when he whisks her away in a flying chariot and both of their masks come off, literally and figuratively. IIRC it is one of Paolo Rivera's first works at Marvel and it is a beautifully painted work. He describes working on the art on his blog

So then along comes the Unthinkable story and Valeria is no more.....or is she??

[Iron Maiden]

Fast forward to Doctor Doom #3 and once again Doom is in Hell. He should be dead, taken down by Taskmaster in a back street in NYC. And Mephisto is there to greet him to his realm and offer up a new bargain for the soul of Valeria. But it remains to be seen if this is the shade of the woman he was in love with and betrayed or another deception by Mephisto.