Doctor Doom Appreciation 2023 - Scientist, Sorcerer, Romani King

[DoomScribe]

Ah, welcome to 2023 to all of Doom's minions and servants!
Doctor Doom 2023.jpg

(Doom would not heed any admonitions for a dry January, and he demands that his chalice flow freely with the finest Latverian wines!)

Now that you've survived the raucous celebrations of the New Year's eve (far too much gunfire for my taste), let the games begin in earnest!

btw: Doom appears in Midnight Suns #4, but one would hardly call it a substantive appearance. Doom does not approve of these minor roles and heads will roll for these transgressions!

[Iron Maiden]

Ah, welcome to 2023 to all of Doom's minions and servants!
Doctor Doom 2023.jpg

(Doom would not heed any admonitions for a dry January, and he demands that his chalice flow freely with the finest Latverian wines!)

Now that you've survived the raucous celebrations of the New Year's eve (far too much gunfire for my taste), let the games begin in earnest!

btw: Doom appears in Midnight Suns #4, but one would hardly call it a substantive appearance. Doom does not approve of these minor roles and heads will roll for these transgressions!

Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking Doom might show up again so I may pick up issue #5 to see if there are further developments. Isn't Doom supposed to be in the Midnight Suns game too?

[DoomScribe]

Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking Doom might show up again so I may pick up issue #5 to see if there are further developments. Isn't Doom supposed to be in the Midnight Suns game too?

I think the teaser trailer we saw last year only showed Doom picking up the Darkhold at the end of the game.

This is the extent of Doom's appearance in Midnight Suns #4:
Midnight Suns 004 pgs 20n21.jpg

And the final page of Timeless #1:
Timeless #001 2023 pg42.jpg


ds

[Iron Maiden]

Thanks...it's a good thing I didn't pick up Timeless for $5.99. I did thumb through that one at the LCS and put it back on the shelf.

And now for something completely different. I'm sure everyone had their various guilty pleasures. Maybe you like to watch really cheesy sci fi or horror films for the 1950s or a certain comic book that no one else seems to have read.

As for myself, I recently discovered that Disney Plus carries the Marvel Superhero Squad cartoon show from some years back. It ran for two season back in 2009-2010 with about 56 episodes. My nieces and nephew loved the show and loved playing the online multiiple player game.

The cartoon itself was very cleverly written so the kids would enjoy it but with some jokes that only an adult would get. Naturally, the character I liked the most was Doctor Doom with his two henchmen M.O.D.O.K and a dim-witted Abomination. Later on Doom would rescue his mother Cynthia Von Doom from the nether regions ruled by Cthon in a sort of homage to the plot of Triumph and Torment. But once Mother Doom is turned loose she turns out to be a bit of a nag and insists on being called Coco. Some of her lines were taken from the Mommie Dearest bio pic or a famous Bette Davis line like "What a Dump!" In fact her voice actor makes her sound like Bette Davis from "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" . Most importantly, this show is where the Doomy Bear comes from!

Doom, mother Coco von Doom and M.O.D.O.K are voiced by Charlie Adler, who is one of the most well known voice actors in the profession. Strangely enough his Doom voice is better than all the movie actors we've had do Doctor Doom so far!

Does anyone else have a guilty pleasure? Or has anyone else watched this show?

[Reviresco]

I didn't know that Superhero Squad was on Disney+. May have to sit down and watch that.

Thanks...it's a good thing I didn't pick up Timeless for $5.99. I did thumb through that one at the LCS and put it back on the shelf.

But the important thing about Timeless, for Doom fans, is that Kang is basically taken out by the big bad and he can now turn his attention to other foes ... like Doom! Hopefully, with Aaron moving on, we can move on from Mephisto. And Kang is taken out in this issue. Sinister will probably be limited to the X books. So, all that's left is Doom, maybe Ultron, and that other figure that I can't make out.

[Iron Maiden]

I didn't know that Superhero Squad was on Disney+. May have to sit down and watch that..

I hope you do. They are fun to watch. I do have some little Squaddies figures. The funny thing is there is a Namor figure but he was never on the show unfortunately. BTW, George Takei aka Mr Sulu from Star Trek did Galactus's voice!

But the important thing about Timeless, for Doom fans, is that Kang is basically taken out by the big bad and he can now turn his attention to other foes ... like Doom! Hopefully, with Aaron moving on, we can move on from Mephisto. And Kang is taken out in this issue. Sinister will probably be limited to the X books. So, all that's left is Doom, maybe Ultron, and that other figure that I can't make out.

I hope you are right. Every time I see all the click bait videos speculating about the next phase in the MCU, it seems like Kang will be usurping Doom's role in Secret Wars which really ticks me off.

[Reviresco]

I hope you are right. Every time I see all the click bait videos speculating about the next phase in the MCU, it seems like Kang will be usurping Doom's role in Secret Wars which really ticks me off.

Well ... in the MCU, things are different. But the comics ... I was stunned they took Kang off the board in Timeless. It was like when they killed off Dr Strange right before his movie came out.

[ImperiusWrecked]

Thanks...it's a good thing I didn't pick up Timeless for $5.99. I did thumb through that one at the LCS and put it back on the shelf.

And now for something completely different. I'm sure everyone had their various guilty pleasures. Maybe you like to watch really cheesy sci fi or horror films for the 1950s or a certain comic book that no one else seems to have read.

As for myself, I recently discovered that Disney Plus carries the Marvel Superhero Squad cartoon show from some years back. It ran for two season back in 2009-2010 with about 56 episodes. My nieces and nephew loved the show and loved playing the online multiiple player game.

The cartoon itself was very cleverly written so the kids would enjoy it but with some jokes that only an adult would get. Naturally, the character I liked the most was Doctor Doom with his two henchmen M.O.D.O.K and a dim-witted Abomination. Later on Doom would rescue his mother Cynthia Von Doom from the nether regions ruled by Cthon in a sort of homage to the plot of Triumph and Torment. But once Mother Doom is turned loose she turns out to be a bit of a nag and insists on being called Coco. Some of her lines were taken from the Mommie Dearest bio pic or a famous Bette Davis line like "What a Dump!" In fact her voice actor makes her sound like Bette Davis from "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" . Most importantly, this show is where the Doomy Bear comes from!

Doom, mother Coco von Doom and M.O.D.O.K are voiced by Charlie Adler, who is one of the most well known voice actors in the profession. Strangely enough his Doom voice is better than all the movie actors we've had do Doctor Doom so far!

Does anyone else have a guilty pleasure? Or has anyone else watched this show?

This show is fun! I loved the comic too, where Doom and Namor "team up" XD

Marvel Super Hero Squad #3

marvel super hero squad 3.jpg

[Iron Maiden]

I never did read the comics for some reason. I should check out Marvel Unlimited to see if they have them there.

As I mentioned, the online game came out around the same time but after a while it was shut down. I see there is a site that has made it available again but I have to figure out how to make it work on my PC.

[DoomScribe]

Doctor Doom appeared in the following issues of Marvel Super Hero Squad in 2009:

Marvel Super Hero Squad (2009) 1 Nov-09
Marvel Super Hero Squad (2009) 2 Dec-09 "And Lo, There Shall Be a Reptil!!"
Marvel Super Hero Squad Spectacular 1 Apr-11 The Beyonder kidnaps the Squaddies and recreates Secret Wars
Marvel Super Hero Squad: Hero Up! 1 Mar-09 Marvel kids; Variant Villains cover


And in 2010:

Super Hero Squad 1 Mar-10 "Baby on Board!"
Super Hero Squad 5 May-10 "Hulked-Out Squaddies!"
Super Hero Squad 6 Aug-10 "The Savage Land Adventure / Good Vibrations"
Super Hero Squad 8 Oct-10
Super Hero Squad 9 Nov-10
Super Hero Squad 10 Dec-10 "Halloween at Doom's Lair" backup story
Super Hero Squad 11 Jan-11

I didn't have issue #3, so I'll have to look that one up!
thx
ds

[llozymandias]

That is a bit vague. To be sure the "Von Doom" name implies it but we know his birth parents were both Romani. Perhaps Victor's father is half German, half Romani. We've never seen a writer/editor come up with a family tree so it's anyone's guess. I think over the years Kang is no longer considered a relative and he has been one of the few possible family relations other than his parents.

As i imagine it; Latveria is an old german principality that was excluded from the united germany. Maybe in Latveria Romani were more welcome & accepted, than they were in the rest of europe. Maybe Latverians are majority of Romani descent. With a lot of german mixed in.

[Iron Maiden]

As i imagine it; Latveria is an old german principality that was excluded from the united germany. Maybe in Latveria Romani were more welcome & accepted, than they were in the rest of europe. Maybe Latverians are majority of Romani descent. With a lot of german mixed in.

I suggest you read Doom's origin again, either in Fantastic Four annual #2 or in the Books of Doom mini series. His parent's people were not welcomed in Latveria. You have to remember that Doom's creators, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby date back to another era that younger. For example, Jack Kirby served under General Patton's regiment as a scout and saw first hand some evidence of the concentration camps. Along with millions of Jews, many of the Romani across were also put in these camps and died.

[Iron Maiden]

Doctor Doom appeared in the following issues of Marvel Super Hero Squad in 2009:

Marvel Super Hero Squad (2009) 1 Nov-09
Marvel Super Hero Squad (2009) 2 Dec-09 "And Lo, There Shall Be a Reptil!!"
Marvel Super Hero Squad Spectacular 1 Apr-11 The Beyonder kidnaps the Squaddies and recreates Secret Wars
Marvel Super Hero Squad: Hero Up! 1 Mar-09 Marvel kids; Variant Villains cover


And in 2010:

Super Hero Squad 1 Mar-10 "Baby on Board!"
Super Hero Squad 5 May-10 "Hulked-Out Squaddies!"
Super Hero Squad 6 Aug-10 "The Savage Land Adventure / Good Vibrations"
Super Hero Squad 8 Oct-10
Super Hero Squad 9 Nov-10
Super Hero Squad 10 Dec-10 "Halloween at Doom's Lair" backup story
Super Hero Squad 11 Jan-11

I didn't have issue #3, so I'll have to look that one up!
thx
ds

Thanks Doomscribe. I did find some of these on Marvel Unlimited but I see there were different titles.

[DoomScribe]

Additionally, Latveria is shown in maps to be closer to the Balkans or Southern Slavic countries, east of Germany between Romania and Hungary.

OHOT Marvel Universe 4 pg10.jpg
Latveria atlas 1.jpg
Latveria atlas 2.jpg

Although the Romani have ranged from Spain to Russia and beyond, and the distances in modern times aren't that far, the Latverian Roma tribes were generally perceived to be tied to this Slavic-Balkan region, and more removed from the Bavarian tribes of Germany to Denmark. Not that some crossing could not have happened, and the Von Doom name is more Germanic than Croatian, we also have to acknowledge that the Nazis persecuted the gypsies of WWII, interring them along with millions of Jews in concentration camps as "undesirables". The Romani genocide resulted in nearly half a million Romani's being murdered. So there is that also.

Note that this history in the Marvel universe is far more fluid, sometimes muddled by less precise writers.

ds

[FRC Coazze]

And a new year of Doom begins! Happy new year, every one!

As i imagine it; Latveria is an old german principality that was excluded from the united germany. Maybe in Latveria Romani were more welcome & accepted, than they were in the rest of europe. Maybe Latverians are majority of Romani descent. With a lot of german mixed in.

Yeah, romani people were heavily persecuted in Latveria by the ruling Fortunov family. Doom was the one who, by absurd, brought freedom to his people and the country. But your thesis about Latveria being a german principality is in line with the first version of the country, when Stan Lee placed it in the bavarian Alps, and it also made sense at the time that latverians had german names.
I personally like the modern geography of Latveria better. The Balkans are a way more interesting area than Germany, a place we don’t know much about since it was hidden behind the iron curtain for so long. And, let me tell you, the old trope of villains being German has become pretty boring and outdated! Germans are really kind people once you get to know them

Victor von Doom is descended from german nobility. And He is the rightful ruler of Latveria.

“Von” is a particle used in german surnames that means “of”, exactly like the scottish “Mc”. Literally Doom’s name means “Victor of the Doom family”. The “von” was mostly used in noble families, but isn’t a prerogative. So, yeah, Doom has definetely a german/austrian ancestry, maybe his family reached Latveria during the Austro-Hungarian empire which indeed included the area where Latveria is now… but being a family from a nomadic ethnic group, who knows where they came from! Romani is an ethnic group and a culture, not a nationality, they don’t care about nationalities at all. They’re free. Their very name means “free people”.

I seem to remember it was indeed hinted somewhere that Doom was the rightful heir to Latveria, though it was never brought up again. Was it in Brubaker’s Winter Soldier? Am I’m making it up? Help!