Is Doctor Doom the most versatile supervillain in terms of story potential?

[Hybrid]

I feel like the best thing about Doctor Doom is his unmatched versatility as a character. He's the Fantastic Four's greatest nemesis, and has the biggest rivalry in all of comics with Reed Richards. Yet, he doesn't have to be an FF villain. Doom has tangled with many heroes throughout the MU, in very different stories, while the FF were nowhere in sight. Even better, none of this diminishes his role as the FF's greatest enemy or Reed's fiercest rival.

Seriously, you can make an excellent story out of...

• Doom vs. Avengers
• Doom vs. Strange
• Doom vs. Thor
• Doom vs. Black Panther
• Doom vs. Iron Man
• Doom vs. X-Men
• Doom vs. Hulk
• Doom vs. Spider-Man
• Doom vs. Captain America
• Doom vs. Everyone

And so on. He's just got that kind of style and charisma to him that makes it work no matter what story he's in. I think the versatility is due to the facets of his personality and style. He can be a criminal mastermind, a powerful sorcerer, a mad scientist, a political figure, a greater scope villain, an uneasy ally, and so on, and it's believable because all elements are well-developed and explored.

Are there any other villains who have this level of versatility to them as characters?

That's what I wonder since many villains fit a specific niche, but not Doom. What do you think?

[JudicatorPrime]

Yes and no. In some ways Doom is antithetical to good character writing. Try assigning all of his attributes and personality traits to a hero and most of the readership would reject him as a plausible character. But the boogeyman has to encapsulate all of our fears. Doom has to be the ultimate villain, hence the many facets. I think Thanos is right there, too.

[Sutekh]

Versatile in one respect, limited depending on the nature of the character though. There's less logical reason why he'd show up facing down the Heroes for Hire or Daughters of the Dragon, for instance, because what on earth would they be fighting about? And, due to his gravitas, it doesn't make much sense that he'd be facing off with the Power Pack or the Runaways or some other team of kids, because he's way outside their pay grade, and he's either got to come up with some Doomsy reason to let them live because 'it's beneath him to play fisticuffs with children' or whatever, or he ends up looking like a chump because Squirrel Girl or Gwenpool or some other 'fun' character gets to make everyone look like a chump as part of her super-power of Plot Armor.

He's kind of 'too big' for some stories. And for that reason, I think he's best used sparingly. (And he's not the only one. There's a lot of 'big names' that I feel like Marvel trots out *way* too commonly, and kind of cheapens by having them eventually rack up a string of failures in too short a time period, until everyone just sort of yawns and says, 'Oh look, it's Thanos with his twelfth attempt this decade to destroy all creation. Been there. Done that. A lot.')

[Iron Maiden]

Yes and no. In some ways Doom is antithetical to good character writing. Try assigning all of his attributes and personality traits to a hero and most of the readership would reject him as a plausible character. But the boogeyman has to encapsulate all of our fears. Doom has to be the ultimate villain, hence the many facets. I think Thanos is right there, too.

I have to disagree about Thanos and for the same reasons Sutekh mentions. He should only be used sparingly because it takes so much effort to thwart whatever his plans are, assuming he gets possession of some all powerful artifact like the Infinity Gauntlet again.

As for Doom, I don't think his attributes are all that overdone. To many part of his appeal is because he is a human with no special powers granted to him by an accident with cosmic rays, not a genetic mutation etc which makes him a far more interesting character.

Sometimes his plans take years to come to fruition. Like Doctor Strange, he has spent years studying the mystic arts only Doom started much younger and has acquired a vast library of arcana, many of which Strange would consider sources of forbidden knowledge. There are no half measures with Doom...if he is going to acquire a skill he's going to strive to be a master in that field. It's part of his getting back at a world that looked at his family and fellow Roma as worthless and inferior.

[xcoijoi]

If they could restrict Doom storylines to writers who respect that Doom is a terrestrial, and sometimes a cosmic threat, then sure.

And if the writers remember that he's also a Head of State, then he could be attractive as a foe to even SpiderMan at times.

But too many times, they make Victor look like complete novice. And yes, I know he has an ego and is capable of hubris. But he should have evolved past those kinds of mistakes, long ago.

And as a Head of State AND an egomanic at times, he should never be bowing down to Black Panther or anyone else. Part of the essence of Victor's character, at least for me, is a certain degree of Magesty. Whatever evil intentions he demonstrates, he's earned the right to be the rightful leader of a country.

[ARkadelphia]

Super Adaptoid

[K7P5V]

Are there any other villains who have this level of versatility to them as characters?

Doom is unbeatable. But, these three could be a challenge:

Baron Zemo





Thanos





Otto Octavius

[Michael Watkins]

Not sure that I agree with your use of 'versatile.' There is only one Doom story. And I'm kind of bored of it. The Wrecking Crew are just as versatile.

[XPac]

Versatile as far as which characters you can use him against yes. Doom's evolved from being an FF rogue to really being a rogue of the MU as a whole.

But due to his status as being really the top villain in the MU, you obviously don't want to use him in just any story. It's gotta be something big in order to drag out the biggest villain in the company. If it's not worth his time, use someone else.

[babyblob]

Doom maybe used to be versatile. Like how he showed up in the early issue of Amazing Spiderman to try and recruit him. At one point it was kind of cool to see him show up in other places besides FF> But at this point he has moved past that. I agree with what has been said. He is no longer a random baddie. He is no longer the guy who can show up in a one and done Avengers story. Him showing up should be an event. Like Oh **** Doom is here something bad is about to happen. So he is not longer versatile. His success has made him limited in what can be done with him.

[Hybrid]

Doom maybe used to be versatile. Like how he showed up in the early issue of Amazing Spiderman to try and recruit him. At one point it was kind of cool to see him show up in other places besides FF> But at this point he has moved past that. I agree with what has been said. He is no longer a random baddie. He is no longer the guy who can show up in a one and done Avengers story. Him showing up should be an event. Like Oh **** Doom is here something bad is about to happen. So he is not longer versatile. His success has made him limited in what can be done with him.

That's a good point. Maybe "versatile" is the wrong word, because you can't just use Doctor Doom as some random baddie who gets beat up and taken to jail, in the same way you could use someone like Rhino or Scorpion. His presence, regardless of how it's being used, has to be a big deal. If he shows up marching to you, your thoughts should be "Is this how I die?". If you're on a mission that has you infiltrating Latveria, you should think "Uh, this isn't what I signed up for!" If he's your ally, you should be very uncomfortable for what happens next once business is taken care of. Basically, if Doom is in play at all, he absolutely has to be an important factor in the plot.

In that sense, he has many applications, but he has to be used with a right amount of seriousness to highlight his worth.

[Michael Watkins]

Like I said, the wrecking crew are the most versatile.

[Iron Maiden]

We actually have a lot of empirical data that bears out that Doom is quite the versatile character. Just go through the sheer number of writers who have chosen to include him in various stories, major arcs, written a one shot or a Doom series. Stan Lee of course but then you have:



Alan Davis (writer/artist)
Ann Nocenti
Archie Goodwin
Bill Mantlo
Brian Michael Bendis
Charles Soule
Chris Claremont
Christopher Priest
Chip Zdarsky
Chuck Dixon
Dan Slott
David Michelinie & Bob Layton
Dwaye McDuffie
Ed Brubaker
Fabian Nicieza
Gerry Conway
Gerry Duggan
Grant Morrison
Greg Pak
Howard Mackie
Jeph Loeb
Jim Shooter
Jim Starlin
Jim Steranko
Jonathan Hickman
John Byrne
Jonathan Maberry
Karl Kesel
Mark Millar
Mark Waid
Marv Wolfman
Neil Gaiman
Peter David
Reggie Hudlin
Rick Remender
Robert Kirkman
Roger Stern
Roy Thomas
Scott Lobdell
Steve Englehart
Steve Gerber
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Tom DeFalco
Walt Simonson
Warren Ellis


Then you have the "Hollywood" writers like
Allen Heinberg
J.Michael Straczynski
Christopher Cantwell (who is really knocking it out of the park IMO)

[DrNewGod]

That's a good point. Maybe "versatile" is the wrong word, because you can't just use Doctor Doom as some random baddie who gets beat up and taken to jail, in the same way you could use someone like Rhino or Scorpion. His presence, regardless of how it's being used, has to be a big deal. If he shows up marching to you, your thoughts should be "Is this how I die?". If you're on a mission that has you infiltrating Latveria, you should think "Uh, this isn't what I signed up for!" If he's your ally, you should be very uncomfortable for what happens next once business is taken care of. Basically, if Doom is in play at all, he absolutely has to be an important factor in the plot.

In that sense, he has many applications, but he has to be used with a right amount of seriousness to highlight his worth.

As far as being usable against a very wide range of adversaries, yes. Dr. Doom is versatile.

But there are a relatively narrow range of plots into which he can properly fit. Almost all of them revolve around a) tormenting Mr. Fantastic, or b) acquiring world-conquering power for himself. You just can't make him work for, say, running a drug syndicate, unless it somehow leads back to one of his two most common plots.

[Michael Watkins]

If doom is so versatile, why has he failed so miserably as a movie villain? Magneto and Loki don’t seem to have that problem. Thanos also proved to be a threat across the cinematic universe.