Doctor Doom Appreciation - 2021

[Ravin' Ray]

New CBR article: Doctor Doom: How Ultimate Marvel Completely Reshaped the Villain

[Iron Maiden]

New CBR article: Doctor Doom: How Ultimate Marvel Completely Reshaped the Villain

Sad to read the tangled history of Ultimate Doom aka Victor Van Damme. First off, the renaming of the character IIRC, was a joke by one of the creators, either Millar or Bendis. The Van Damme came from action star Jean Claude Van Damme, who was born in Brussels. I think the flashback scene with Victor's father making him recite the the name of his ancestors in order (with one of them being Dracula), they are shown to be living in Brussels.

I suspect Marvel got some fan mail that was critical of this version of Doom, particularly the strange decision to give him goat legs. The next time he appears it's shown that he has a special suit of armor that disguises them. I think it is possible he could have survived the final incursion. The Maker certainly did.

[DoomScribe]

So many times that Marvel has attempted to "update" or "modernize" or just plain re-write Dr. Doom's story/origin have too often fallen flat, imho. The latest attempt can be found in Fantastic Four Life Story 70's issue #2, which is out now if you haven't seen it. Spoiler alert, they completely re-create the story of Victor Von Doom and no surprises it loses all of the majesty, pathos and allure of the original and retains none of what makes the character remarkable. In short, it fails completely. Doom is found working with/for Tony and Reed to construct an apparatus to defeat Galactus. And Reed makes Doom's armor, which he steals in order to confront the heroes and is defeated with a single blow. It's so pathetic I was loathe to even discuss it, but again, it diminishes Doom to new readers, and that is the real tragedy.

[spike1228]

Some more information on the Doom omnibus. Some surprising omitted stories, and a disappointment in the Waid story being included.
Screenshot_20210707-172445_Facebook.jpg

Screenshot_20210707-172445_Facebook.jpg

[Iron Maiden]

Some more information on the Doom omnibus. Some surprising omitted stories, and a disappointment in the Waid story being included.
Screenshot_20210707-172445_Facebook.jpg

Screenshot_20210707-172445_Facebook.jpg

Thanks for posting this. is there a video link for this?

I'm glad that they are including the Marvel Double Shots #2 story by Priest. That one came out just before Waid's Unthinkable IIRC's. I was hoping something would be done to bring back the character of Valeria and then was disappointed with Waid's story. At least Cantwell's Doom series shows that her soul still exists even if she is in Mephisto's realm. I'd like to see a writer bring her back some day but I suppose that will never happen.


Also If I'm not mistaken this is the first time the Emperor Doom GN will be reprinted. Another good inclusion is the Fantastic Four Special from 2005 that has a story about Victor and Reed having dinner together.

[Iron Maiden]

So many times that Marvel has attempted to "update" or "modernize" or just plain re-write Dr. Doom's story/origin have too often fallen flat, imho. The latest attempt can be found in Fantastic Four Life Story 70's issue #2, which is out now if you haven't seen it. Spoiler alert, they completely re-create the story of Victor Von Doom and no surprises it loses all of the majesty, pathos and allure of the original and retains none of what makes the character remarkable. In short, it fails completely. Doom is found working with/for Tony and Reed to construct an apparatus to defeat Galactus. And Reed makes Doom's armor, which he steals in order to confront the heroes and is defeated with a single blow. It's so pathetic I was loathe to even discuss it, but again, it diminishes Doom to new readers, and that is the real tragedy.

I was really underwhelmed with issue #2 also but I suppose I will still get the rest of the series to see how things turn out. This 60th year anniversary of the FF is a bit short on excitement. I guess the last thing will be the wind up of Dan Slott's pathetic wedding of Doom story.

[DoomScribe]

In better news, the previews for September comics has Doom on the cover of Darkhold Alpha #1 (on sale Sept. 29) and Excalibur #23 (on sale Sept 8).

Excalibur 23 : The Call of Doom!
"As guardians of the gate, Excalibur has sworn to safely escort those who quest to the Otherworld within, but their duties are tested to their limits when Doom returns to Avalon."

No indication whether Doom continues to make appearances in SWORD, Marauders, or Guardians of the Galaxy. So Doom appears to be popping up randomly in different X-titles since the Hellfire Gala.

[Iron Maiden]

In better news, the previews for September comics has Doom on the cover of Darkhold Alpha #1 (on sale Sept. 29) and Excalibur #23 (on sale Sept 8).

Excalibur 23 : The Call of Doom!
"As guardians of the gate, Excalibur has sworn to safely escort those who quest to the Otherworld within, but their duties are tested to their limits when Doom returns to Avalon."

No indication whether Doom continues to make appearances in SWORD, Marauders, or Guardians of the Galaxy. So Doom appears to be popping up randomly in different X-titles since the Hellfire Gala.

I recall that Darkhold event was supposed to happen the summer of last year but then the pandemic put it in limbo. I remember seeing the cover teased last year anyway. Kind of spoilery but Wanda is in that too but she was just murdered. I really hope that the X titles don't claim her. She needs to go back to the Avengers. But sad to say most writers just don't know what to do with her. The X-Men side of the Marvel always wants to paint her as this mass murderer when that was not how House of M ended. There were originally only a few that died while using their powers in Bendis's story. I remember some mutants were flying near an active volcano and then lost their powers and fell in. Or a woman with a neck like a giraffe that died when she could no longer support her head. That was crazy. I didn't like Bendis's writing in that but other writers in the X-Men titles later made it worse with the Decimation follow up etc.


As for Guardians of the Galaxy, I think Doom will be in there for a while or at least for the Last Annihilation arc.

This week I picked up Runaways #37 because I just love me some Doombot. Unfortunately the comic only took about 2 minutes to read because for some reason the writer Rainbow Rowell decided to make it a mostly silent issue. That's a shame because I like the voice and attitude that Rowell has given Doombot. I suspect the next issue, which will be numbered #100 goes back to the legacy numbering, may the the list issue for this team. In this issue Doombot is just seen tidying up by vacuuming. I hope he still gets remembered now and then. He's probably the longest living Doombot that has a life of his own. I enjoyed his appearances in Avengers A.I.

Here's the cover for the next (last?) issue

[Iron Maiden]

I'm a bit slow in getting this going but I'm surprised no one has brought up last week's Loki episode. Much speculation around the internet that this is Doom's castle.

I have to admit that this is very much like the versions (and there have been many) of Doom's castle in Latveria. My thoughts are that I doubt Doom will appear but I do hope that Latveria will at least get name checked in the series. I recall the RW country of Latvia had come up several times during the Falcon and Winter Soldier series and Latvia is near the Baltic sea. Latveria has always been placed in the vicinity of Hungary and Transylvania in the Marvel reference books and various articles. And then there is the fictional Sokovia which would be in SE Europe so that would be near to Latveria.

So would this image mean that the TVA has captured this castle?




There was a more substantial story on the internet about one of the screenwriters for the Black Widow movie trying his best to get a Doctor Doom Easter egg into the MCU

I might've had a reference to [Doctor Doom’s home country] Latveria in there -- I might have, but I don't think so. I don't think that lasted very long,” he laughs. “I'm always trying to throw Latveria into stuff. … It's like one of those things where you want to be the first one to say it on an Instagram post or something!”

He doesn't make it clear where he was going to put this. I guess the next movie where we will start getting rumors of a Doom reference of appearance will be the AFAIK untitled Doctor Strange 2

[Doom'nGloom]

A latveria namedrop would be lit but I doubt it. They had the perfect opportunity with FATWS. Maybe they mention Doom as someone related to Kang as the show has pretty heavy Kang connections.

[Iron Maiden]

A latveria namedrop would be lit but I doubt it. They had the perfect opportunity with FATWS. Maybe they mention Doom as someone related to Kang as the show is pretty heavy Kang connections.

Well, I guess I'll find out later on tonight when I watch the finale.

[Doom'nGloom]

Well, I guess I'll find out later on tonight when I watch the finale.

spoilers:

After the finale we are one step closer to Hickman's Secret Wars though it's still a long way.

end of spoilers

[Iron Maiden]

That would be EPIC

[Ravin' Ray]

Another CBR highlighted Doom meme.

https://www.facebook.com/ComicBookRe...90938507597582

[Iron Maiden]

Another CBR highlighted Doom meme.

https://www.facebook.com/ComicBookRe...90938507597582

I have to confess I had no idea who Biz Markie is. Not into rap. R.I.P whoever he is.