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Doctor Doom

From Marvel Movies

Doctor Doom
Alias(es) Victor Von Doom
Appeared in Fantastic Four (1994)
Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Actor Joseph Culp
Julian McMahon

Contents

Biography

Fantastic Four (1994)

Doom also was the main villain of a film based on the Fantastic Four, which was produced by Roger Corman in 1994, though never publicly released. In it, Doom (portrayed by Joseph Culp) was a college classmate of Reed Richards, who was nearly killed in an accident when both he and Reed try to capture the power of a comet called Colossus. Reed would tell Doom before the experiment that Doom's calculations were not right and to do a test run of the machine before hand. Doom stated that there wasn't time because the comet was near. Doom's loyal henchmen dressed as doctors would tell Reed that Doom was dead; they would then sneak him out of the hospital back to Latveria. Years later Doom has already taken his armor; Reed would again try harnessing the power of the same comet crossing the Earth's path like before during college by going into space. However, this time he would bring Ben, Sue, and Johnny with him. He would dedicate this mission for Doom, believing his friend was dead. After the Fantastic Four gained their powers, Doom would try to obtain this cosmic power for himself by extracting it out of them. At the film's end, he is left for dead, though his gauntlet is seen moving.

Fantastic Four

Victor Von Doom is portrayed as a billionaire industrialist, an old college rival of Reed Richards and suitor of Reed's ex-girlfriend Susan. In addition to funding Richards' trip to space, he also accompanies the future Fantastic Four on the ship.

Dr. Doom, receives superpowers in the same accident that creates the Fantastic Four. Here, he is endowed with two abilities by the cosmic rays - exposure to the rays imbues him with Electric manipulation, which, similar to his technologically-derived power from the comics, allows him to project bolts of superheated energy, the only difference being that it is derived from the accident in space.

Doom is fully encased in high tech armor of his own design to hide the many horrible scars (or one small scar on his face) that he incurred in a lab accident. Using a mixture of science and sorcery, Doom has come close to world domination several times, being thwarted only by the Fantastic Four or his own ego.

However, this process deforms his face, so Doom angrily dons his familiar mask to hide his face (which is portrayed as a mask given to him by the people of Latveria as shown on a plaque on display in his office/boardroom). In the climax, Dr. Doom's metal body is super-heated and then immediately cooled with water from a fire hydrant, which turns him into an immobile statue. He is later transported back to Latveria via a cargo ship.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

In Rise of the Silver Surfer, we see Dr. Doom in a coffin, still solidified after his fiery defeat from the first film. After the Silver Surfer flies by on a quick patrol around the Earth, disrupting the energy waves all around him, it inadvertently awakens him. After removing his mask and killing a welder that was trying to separate his face from his body, he hides his horribly scarred face behind a dark green cloaked hood. He begins to study the Silver Surfer in an attempt to steal the extra-terrestrial's vast array of cosmic power. During an encounter with the Surfer, Dr. Doom is hit by one of the Silver Surfer's cosmic bolts and his scarred visage disappears and his previous face is restored, although he retains his electricity-based powers.

He filmed the encounter and goes to the United States military, under the leadership of General Hager with a plan to stop the Surfer's destruction of the Earth. He discovers that the Surfer's power comes from his board. After teaming with the military and the Fantastic Four, they subdue the Surfer with an energy device that separates the silvery menace from his board and capture his board. The five of them accompany General Hager to a Siberian military base. The Fantastic Four are held captive and Doom receives permission to study the cosmic surfboard that is the source for the Surfer's power under Hager's strict supervision. He knocks out all the guards guarding the board and kills General Hager by obliterating him.

He dons a new mask and full-on body armor, along with a dark green leather cloak. Using a tachyon-pulse wrist device that he designed while in Reed Richard's lab, he attaches himself to the surfboard and goes on a rampage throughout the Earth. During a chase with the Four in their new Fantasticar, Reed attempts to tell Dr. Doom that the board is drawing Galactus to Earth and he must get rid of it, but Dr. Doom either disbelieves Reed or simply doesn't care, as he simply says "I've never been the giving type". After the team crash-land in China, Dr. Doom attempts to kill the Silver Surfer, but Susan steps in with her force shield. Doom throws a spear made from cosmic energy that goes right through the shield and into Sue, killing her, although she is later revived by the Silver Surfer.

Out of options, Reed and Ben, along with Sue, transfer their powers to Johnny who goes to face the cosmically charged Dr. Doom head on with nearly unlimited power; no one of the Four can get close enough to Dr. Doom to stop him, but all of them combined could have a chance. Using Sue's invisibility and his flight powers to get in close to Dr. Doom, as well as the Thing's strength and Mr. Fantastic's flexibility to hold him down, Human Torch swiftly defeats Dr Doom after destroying his tachyon-pulse wrist device (separating him from the surfboard), who is then bashed into the Shanghai River by a human Ben Grimm, who has taken control of a crane. We last see Dr. Doom sinking to the seabed, though his ultimate fate remains open (although Julian McMahon has signed on for another film, possibly indicating a return).

Dr. Doom's appearance is clad in body armor with mystical figures carved into the pieces, and his chest armor has a giant dragon carved into it. He also replaced his cloth green trenchcoat that he lost in the first film with a much darker green leather cape. After taking the Silver Surfer's board, his steel-colored armor turns silver, which seems to be an effect of the board. His powers haven't differed very much from the first chapter as he retains his electric powers, other than the fact that when he acquires the Silver Surfer's cosmically charged board, he has near limitless power (a deleted scene shows that he has also retained his metal body under his skin). Another change to note that makes the character more in line with the comics is in the manner he refers to Reed Richards; while previously referred to as Reed, at the climax of the movie he calls him by his last name, much like his comic counterpart.

Character traits

Dr. Doom is an extremly intelligent individual. It has been speculated that he is the most intelligent man on earth, second only to Reed Richards, though Doom himself would dispute that fact. Doom is also extremly arrogrant. His hubris and constant underestimation of his foes is what often leads to his defeat.

Relationships

In all of his incarnations, Doom was an early colleague/rival of Reed Richards in college.

In the 2005 film he was romantically involved with Susan Storm and was planning to propose marriage until the accident that gave Doom and the Fantastic Four their powers. Doom's increasing mania drove her back to Reed.

Appearances/Actors

Trivia

Although unreleased in theaters, the 1994 film was rated more watchable by Wizard Magazine than Batman & Robin, Steel, Virus and Red Sonja, all of which were released in theatres.

Gallery

Dr. Doom from the 1994 FF film.

thumb|left|Doctor Doom as he appered in Fantastic Four

The scarring begins.

Dr. Doom from Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Dr. Doom from Rise of the Silver Surfer.

As once handsome billionaire Victor Von Doom. (Julian McMahon).

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