May your doom be nice

As y’all must know, Damage Control was a series by Dwayne McDuffie and Ernie Colon dealing with the company that cleans up after superhero battles, alien invasions, giant robot clashes, etc. In the second issue they face a problem: Doom is one of many people who has them on retainer but he hasn’t paid in a while. How do they get him to settle his account?

The answer is simple: ask for the money. It turns out one of Doom’s lackeys has been embezzling the cash; Doom pays up, then exiles his lackey. It’s a fun story … but I don’t buy the rationale behind it.

McDuffie said the story was pushback against Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #9, the well-known tale (Steve Englehart, George Tuska, Billy Graham on the cover) in which Luke charges into Latveria to collect $200 Doom owes him for services rendered the previous issue. Doom stiffed him on the bill; sweet Christmas, Cage ain’t putting up with that.

McDuffie’s point was that Doom would never do that because evil though he may be, he’s a man of honor. Which had me scratching my head because that wasn’t at all my impression of Doom. My Silver Age reread has confirmed my sense of Victor Von Doom: the classic Lee/Kirby version is a double-crossing bastard.

In Fantastic Four #6 he plots to kill Sub-Mariner as soon as their team-up has destroyed the Fantastic Four. In #23 he recruits the Terrible Trio with an offer of $5,000 apiece. After they’ve captured the FF he instead traps the trio in another dimension to wait until he needs them again. The multi-part FF#84-87 shows Doom is a ruthless tyrant in his homeland, one who will punish the slightest hint from one of his subjects they’re not blissfully happy to be ruled by him (good thing we don’t have leaders with egos that fragile in the real world!).

Now, though I’m up to late 1971 and I can see a different Doom emerging. Not a hero, nor even an antihero, but not a complete monster either. First we have Astonishing Tales #8, the last story in Doom’s feature there before Ka-Zar took over the entire book. “… Though Some Call It Magic,” (Gerry Conway, Gene Colan) opens with Doom and Boris preparing for something sinister, ominous and yes, magical.

The Latverians, like the superstitious Eastern European stereotypes they are, assume the worst.

Kristin’s mother is correct, Cynthia von Doom died with her soul burdened by black magic. Doom’s purpose this night is not evil however, but to open a gate into hell and fight to save Cynthia’s soul.

Doom’s been doing this for a while. It never works.

Doom, however, loves his mum. He will try again.

This is, I think, the most humanity Doom had ever showed at that point. It works for me (though Roma, witches or not, did not get “von” in their names, as it’s a title of the nobility. I’m guessing Doom took the “von” for himself, then gave it to his mother, establishing the illusion he’s born to the throne).

A second chink in Doom’s armor shows in Incredible Hulk #143-4. The plot has Doom offer Bruce Banner sanctuary in Latveria, then brainwashing him to build a nuclear device for his glorious leader, Victor von Doom. Dr. Doom then plans for the Hulk to transport the bomb into a hostile neighboring nation — a launch system nobody can intercept  — and thereby eliminate a threat to Doom’s rule.

Into the middle of this in #144, enter Valeria. No, not Valeria Richards; this was a Roma girl Victor had loved in his youth, as detailed in “This Man … This Demon,” (Roy Thomas, Larry Lieber) in Marvel Super-Heroes #20. In the past, Victor walked away from love in favor of power; in the present, Diablo captures Valeria as bait to bring Dr. Doom into his clutches. Doom ultimately defeats his foe, of course, but his ruthless gloating convinces Valeria the young man she loved is gone. Now it’s she who walks away, telling Victor not to seek her out again.

Turns out in #144, “The Monster and the Madman” (Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, Dick Ayers) he didn’t listen.

Doom wants it all — world dominion and the love of a good woman. So, of course, he lies.

Turns out he’s right, though. She’s no fool.

What she did was to let Bruce regain his mind and thwart Doom’s scheme. The outraged monarch condemns Valeria to trial for treason. Then a pissed-off Hulk shows up and smashes things.

By giving Valeria some brains and personality this relationship gets a lot more interesting. I’d have loved to see Valeria keep turning up — not necessarily every story, but she adds an interesting complication to Doom’s ambitions. However nobody showed any interest in using her again until Mark Waid killed her off in his Fantastic Four run.

Speaking of Fantastic Four, here’s the third story I wish to write about, FF #116, “The Alien, The Ally, and Armageddon” by Archie Goodwin and John Buscema (who provides the cover above). It’s the finish of the Overmind arc, which I will blog about soon. For the purposes of this post, all you need to know is that Overmind is the science fiction version of Thor’s foe Mangog. He’s the last survivor of an imperial race, enhanced by having his entire people, a billion strong, pour their minds into his before their end.

By this point in the arc, Reed has become Overmind’s slave. New York has fallen to the alien’s control. He’s beating the crap out of Ben and Johnny while Susan tries and fails to find allies. Until it occurs to her that with the world facing doom, maybe the last, best hope is … Doom.

Like I said, I don’t recall Doom showing much in the way of honor or nobility before. Did this means the “man of honor” idea was already in play? Or did Goodwin think it worked better for the story than Sue saying “if we die, you die”?

Suffice to say the Thing and the Human Torch don’t take this sudden team-up well.

However they realize under the circumstances, beggars can’t be choosers.

Overmind’s reaction to Victor’s arrogance is priceless.

For the record, the Psionic Refractor is an invention of Reed’s that Doom took from the Baxter Building and modified. Even in the greatest fight of his life, he can’t turn off his ego.

Unfortunately he also can’t win.

The fight, however, draws the attention of the Stranger, who has a score to settle with Overmind and crushes him like a bug. Doom, obviously stung by defeat, tells the FF he wants neither their thanks nor their sympathy — soon, very soon, they will face him as an enemy once again!

As far as I can see, from these seeds sprouted … nothing. Writing the first two issues of Super-Villain Team-Up (cover by John Buscema), Tony Isabella shows Doom reconsidering his approach to treating someone like Namor as a pawn — maybe an ally, even an equal, would work better? — but otherwise Doom remained the same arrogant, treacherous, ruthless shit he’s always been. When the “Doom is a man of honor” thing became accepted and based on what … well, you tell me.