While comics are a medium reliant on heroes, without great villains the whole thing would be moot. Heroes need villains to battle, to strive against, to prove their heroism. Marvel and DC have some great villains like Lex Luthor, the Joker, Green Goblin, Magneto, and countless others. However, there's one that can be argued to be the greatest - Doctor Doom.
Doom is the total package when it comes to villainy - smart, powerful, and entertaining. He can be bombastic and unrealistic, pontificating about his plans and speaking in the third person like an old fashioned serial villain or serious and deadly. This list is going to make the argument that Doom is the greatest villain of them all... and also give reasons why he's not.
10 Not The Greatest: He's A Little Hokey
Doom has grown a lot over the years. He started off as a cartoonish Silver Age foil to the Fantastic Four and as the years have gone by, subsequent writers have added to his myth, making him more of a well rounded and realistic character.
However, he still speaks like Stan Lee is writing him and it's the '60s. Even with all the added depth and pathos that have been added to him over the years, he's still a little hokey compared to a lot of other villains.
9 The Greatest: More Interesting Than Most Heroes
Doom may still talk like nothing about him has ever changed, but one of the things that he has going for him is that he's just so interesting. There are plenty of heroes that have had their own books for years who aren't a tenth as interesting as Dr. Doom.
He's the monarch of his nation, one of the smartest human beings on the planet, and a master magician. His insults are second to none and he's powerful enough to take on all comers. Doom is just a fun character to read about, which isn't something that most villains have going for them.
8 Not The Greatest: Too Emotional
Doom's biggest weakness is that he's too emotional. Whether it be his massive ego or his mercurial temper, Doom's over the top emotions have cost him so many victories. It's gotten to the point where anyone who's fighting him knows that they can manipulate him by either playing to his ego or angering him.
This undercuts the threat he poses significantly. As competent as Doom is, it's oh so simple to play him and that means no matter how cool his scheme is or how bad things look for heroes, he's a lot easier to beat than it seems.
7 The Greatest: The Look
What a villain looks like is very important. They can have all the power in the world, but if they don't look intimidating, then no one will take them seriously. This is not a problem Doom has. Every time an artist tries to modernize his look, he goes back to his classic look and there's a reason for that.
Doom just looks great. The dark green clothes, the matte gray armor, and the way the armor's face looks. It's iconic and intimidating and has the perfect look for a monarch. There's something medieval about the whole thing that works so very well.
6 Not The Greatest: Excuses, Excuses
Doom only takes credit for his triumphs, but his losses are always someone else's fault. Doom didn't lose, it was just one of his Doombots or his enemy cheated or the machine was made of substandard material and that's not Doom's fault.
Doom whines. A lot. He throws fits. This sort of behavior makes him seem childish and not very threatening. Compare Doom's behavior when he loses to someone like the Joker or Magneto and it's night and day.
5 The Greatest: A Self Made Monster
Doom's origin rivals that of any hero's. Born to a tribe of Romani, his mother was a powerful sorceress and his father a renowned medicine man. His mother would be destroyed by Mephisto and his father would die protecting him as they tried to escape the Baron of Latveria's forces, who erroneously blamed Doom's father for the Baroness's death. Returning to his people, he would study sorcery and technology, swearing revenge on all who wronged him.
And that's just in the first ten years of his life. He would go on to study in America with Reed Richards, injure his face, join a group of monks, build his first armor (and injure his face more in his zeal to hide his "disfigurement"), and return to Latveria and take the throne. He rose from nothing and triumphed over all who stood against him.
4 Not The Greatest: One Of His Schemes Was To Launch The Baxter Building Into Orbit
Any villain who has been around long enough has had some lame schemes, especially ones from the Golden or Silver Age. Doom is no exception. As great as Lee and Kirby could be, they were writing for a younger audience. This meant that a lot of times, the plans their villains hatched were, well, toothless.
So, one time, Doom tried to launch the Baxter Building (the headquarters of the Fantastic Four) into space. Would it have killed the Fantastic Four if it succeeded? Sure. However, if someone has the technology to send a building into orbit, they can just blow up the building. And this isn't the only lame scheme of Doom's. It's just the funniest.
3 The Greatest: A Well Rounded Threat
Being the monarch of Latveria means that Doom has diplomatic immunity. He can commit any crime he wants and there's nothing that anyone can do about it. On top of that, he's easily one of the smartest people on Earth - not only has he created a time machine but he's invented ways to siphon off the powers of beings like the Beyonder. As if that wasn't enough, he's a master of magic. Add to that his armor, which allows him to trade blows with the most powerful superheroes.
Doom can do it all. He has the resources of an entire country, the intelligence to put those resources to their best use, magical might, and the ability to be a daunting physical threat to just about anyone.
2 Not The Greatest: Obsession
One of Doom's most defining traits is his obsession with Reed Richards. It's fueled so much of his villainy over the years... but it's a little much. It's one thing to have an archenemy, but Doom's obsession with Reed Richards takes it a level that kind of hurts him as a character.
He'll do anything to make Richards look bad and while that's worked in a lot of stories, it would be great if Doom could grow beyond that. He's changed so much over the years but this one trait has stayed with him and it holds him back.
1 The Greatest: He's Won
Many villains have won over the years, but it's always a small victory or the hero pretending they were beaten to draw the villain out or something. Doom is different, though. Doom saved all of creation where Reed Richards failed and he gained godlike power. He proved once and for all that he was better than Reed Richards and all the other heroes who had fought him over the years.
While he may have lost in the end, that doesn't change just how great of a triumph this was. Villains very rarely get this kind of victory and are able to do something the hero they've been fighting for years failed at. Doom was able to prove his superiority over not only Reed Richards but every villain out there. Doom won.