Victor Von Doom: Dr Doom Appreciation 2020

[Chris0013]

I agree....we really should see Kristoff showing up in this series. I think Cantwell did mention him in a tweet at the beginning of the series IIRC. The only person that has made any use of him was Hickman....everyone else just doesn't seem to be interested in him. I was disappointed that Bendis didn't use him in Infamous Iron Man either. I don't think he's made any appearances since Hickman's New Avengers.

Was the She Hulk issue after that??

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Am I the only one thinking Victor standing in front of a fire...with a poker..in his armor is weird?

[FRC Coazze]

This looks great! I always like to see when Doom wears normal attire. Like I said earlier, it can't be comfortable to wear the armor so much!

That’s my Victor! Pity he became Vincent Cassel in following issues. That’s a choice I really don’t understand. Victor’s supposed to be really handsome, Stan Lee describes him as having the features of a demi-god in F4 Annual 2. Cassel is certainly charmant, but he hasn’t the kind of handsomeness I would associate with Doom. He’s like a Rodolfo Valentino.

One of the many reasons I hated "Unthinkable", was the way they portrayed Victor as almost effeminate, think Jared Kushner for a modern example. Very nicely dressed, of course, but thin face, narrow body size, the alternate mask with the big lips. ::ugh:::

I would have given him a more body builder type physique than shown in Infamous (think about it, he wears a suit of armor all the time, it weighs a couple hundred pounds, he's got to be built like a tank under all that). But the face is excellent.
Anyone hear about a rumor circulating that Giancarlo Esposito has been put forward to play Doom in upcoming movie roles? He's the actor who was the big bad Gus Fring on Breaking Bad, and also the latest dark lord (sorta) on the Mandalorian series. An interesting choice since he is far from the typical Eastern European look that's usually proposed. This is rank speculation, of course.

I didn't like Unthinkable either. It was just... too much. As for Victor's phisique, yes he surely has a more muscular phisique... I just didn't wan't him to be too bulky.

I heard the rumor. At first it didn’t convinced me, but then the idea started growing on me. I’m not very familiar with the actor, I didn’t watch Breaking Bad, but I really liked his Moff Gideon in the Mandalorian. At least, if it is Esposito, Doom won’t have those damn blue eyes XD, and even if Esposito is no Romani I still much prefer a dark skinned Doom to a white Doom.

In the early days, Doom was often portrayed with quasi-Nazi paraphernalia and associations, a by-product of lazy writers and artists and editors who didn't know the difference between Bavaria and Baltic states, and the Balkan states in eastern europe. They also failed to acknowledge that by making Doom a gypsy, he would be automatically opposed to the Nazis who imprisoned, terrorized and murdered gypsies. So we do see the gold eagle shield in many of the early Latveria insignia. Your distaste is well founded.

Germany’s prejudicial representation really gets on my nerves. I hate it when villains must be Germans ‘cause Germans are the epitome of evil, I understand the reason behind it and it is acceptable in older stories, but given what we know now about Latveria and Doom it really annoys me. Latveria is a Balcan state, which means it is related to Germany like a pencil to a earthworm. It seems to me, by the way, that Latveria has much more in common with Hungary than its others neighbors, Romania and Serbia.

I think Latveria was occupied by Germany in WWII wasn't it? But I think it was because the old King was a sympathizer.

I’m sure it was occupied. The Fortunovs probably let Nazis in because it was the most advantageous thing to do at the time (and to get rid of all the Romani people). It probably got a Soviet occupation too after the end of the War, I bet Fortunovs were very swift to let USSR take over like it did in most Eastern Europe countries. They’re the kind of leaders that are always ready to side with the winners, whoever they might be. It’s a pretty common trait in ruling families that control a very small nation, ‘cause it was the only way they had to make their country survive and to preserve their power. Italy’s ruling family was just the same… problem is it’s a very medieval way of thinking that worked really well in the past but that in modern terms is translated to opportunism.

No mention of Kristoff. A shame...time to beat another dead horse...I think he would have made a nice addition to this story. After Victor is taken into custody he shows up and takes over leadership of Latveria. Show him not as tyrannical as Victor...but just as capable of leading and defending his homeland. Could even have given him a unique armor.

I feel like Kristoff has been replaced by Zora. If you think about it, (maybe with the only exception of when she inspires Victor to retake his place as leader of Latveria) anything Victorious says or does could have easily been said and done by Kristoff.

And you guys write too much! I’m struggling to keep up! XD

[Alan2099]

Am I the only one thinking Victor standing in front of a fire...with a poker..in his armor is weird?

No. But that pose is weird.

It's like a sassy seductress pose.

Doom would be standing or sitting by the fire because he felt it made him look dramatic.

[FRC Coazze]

Am I the only one thinking Victor standing in front of a fire...with a poker..in his armor is weird?

I think the champagne glass is the wierd part. How can he hold it with gauntlets and not drop it?

[Chris0013]

I feel like Kristoff has been replaced by Zora. If you think about it, (maybe with the only exception of when she inspires Victor to retake his place as leader of Latveria) anything Victorious says or does could easily been said and done by Kristoff.

And you guys write too much! I’m struggling keeping up! XD

She is more loyal general than son and heir type. She seems to me to be someone who could temporarily hold onto Latveria for a short time until Victor returned...but I think that Kristoff could be its future....if written right.

[Iron Maiden]

My internet has been down since a storm rolled through this morning. So many intriguing posts ! I hate keying in on my phone so will try later

[nj06]

I would like to see more of Kristoff as well. He is a unique member of Doom's supporting cast that I think still has a ton of potential as a character.

[Iron Maiden]

I would like to see more of Kristoff as well. He is a unique member of Doom's supporting cast that I think still has a ton of potential as a character.

I wish more writers would see that! He's getting older now and it seems like he's a couple of years older than Franklin judging by their respective behaviors. Franklin has been going through some growing pains and I think he should have been mixing more with other children. But I can why Sue and Reed were reluctant to do that considering his powers. Kristoff also was a bit sheltered by Doom but then there were times when he was adrift, esp times when Doom was M.I.A. for one reason or another. I'd like to think that Boris takes care of him a lot in those times. But the Doombots did get control of him and implanted Doom's memories and personality into Kristoff. I wish we would get another series featuring him like the Spiderman/Fantastic Four one.

[K7P5V]

I would like to see more of Kristoff as well. He is a unique member of Doom's supporting cast that I think still has a ton of potential as a character.

Agreed. Still grateful for how Tom DeFalco handled him during the '90s F4 series...

[Iron Maiden]

It's a shame that Cassie has apparently developed amnesia and has forgotten how she was living at Four Freedoms Plaza with Kristoff. They were good friends. At least Tom DeFalco followed up on their relationship in his MC2 comic A-Next. I don't like a lot of what he did on the Fantastic Four but for me this was a highlight.

From A-Next 5, Kristoff as an adult

[K7P5V]

I don't like a lot of what he did on the Fantastic Four

In agreement with what you've written (especially when it comes to Shary Ventura).

But, for the most part, he did do well with the supporting cast & numerous guest-stars.

[Iron Maiden]

And he also killed off Reed and Doom, or at least for a while. That was not such a surprising thing with Doom since most villains have been presumed dead at one time or another. They "died" in issue #381 and then didn't return until issues 406-407. I think I recall reading somewhere DeFalco would have preferred they stayed dead longer but then had to come back for the Onslaught event. This lead to Image taking over some Marvel titles for a while, with Jim Lee on the Fantastic Four.

[K7P5V]

OMG! Those two issues (F4 #406 & #407) were what brought me back,
and I consider this period before the Jim Lee/Heroes Reborn takeover the true highlight of the DeFalco '90s run:

[Ravin' Ray]

It's a shame that Cassie has apparently developed amnesia and has forgotten how she was living at Four Freedoms Plaza with Kristoff. They were good friends. At least Tom DeFalco followed up on their relationship in his MC2 comic A-Next. I don't like a lot of what he did on the Fantastic Four but for me this was a highlight.

From A-Next 5, Kristoff as an adult

The first though that darted into my head when I saw this, was Flynn and Rapunzel (with short hair) from Tangled, as I've been watching and re-watching it while working from home these last two weeks!

[Chris0013]

It's a shame that Cassie has apparently developed amnesia and has forgotten how she was living at Four Freedoms Plaza with Kristoff. They were good friends. At least Tom DeFalco followed up on their relationship in his MC2 comic A-Next. I don't like a lot of what he did on the Fantastic Four but for me this was a highlight.

It is not like she is the only one this happened to. Writers tend to ignore the parts of characters history that they don't want to use in their stories.