WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Fantastic Four #32 by Dan Slott, R.B. Silva, Jesus Aburtov and VC's Joe Carmagna, on sale now.
Doctor Dooms wedding is about to rock the Marvel Universe to its core. While Doom has a history that stretches back to the early days of the modern Marvel Universe, his soon-to-be wife is a relatively new character.Zora Vukovic, the Latverian superhero Victorious.
Victorious might actually be the one person in the world Victor von Doom trusts completely. That trust is now being rewarded, as he intends to make her queen of all Latveria so that someone strong may sit on the throne while Doom is pursuing his other ventures. Now, we're taking a closer look at who Victorius is and why she's so special to Doctor Doom,
Zora Vukovic debuted in 2018's Fantastic Four #1 by Dan Slott, Sara Pichelli and Simone Bianchi. She was born in Latveria and grew up loving her country and its leaders. But her nationality was in contrast to her true origins. Her parents were from Symkaria, Latveria's neighboring nation, and they had been sent to Latveria to help destabilize his rule and -- following his ousting from the throne -- ensure he could never return. Ironically, it was their daughter who would light the way for Doctor Doom to reclaim his title as king of Latveria.
Zora grew up to be the leader of a rebel group that attempted to undermine the new president of Latveria. Zora, as bold as she is loyal, heard rumors that Doom had returned to Latveria and infiltrated Castle Doom to see if it was true. She found her beloved leader there, but he was far from ready to reclaim the country he had worked so hard to rule. Yet it was Zora's words of loyalty that inspired him to take back his throne. After this, Doom was not done with the loyal young woman who had helped him at one of his lowest moments.
As a reward for her service, Doom imbued her with a part of the Power Cosmic. Bestowing upon her the title of Victorious, Zora became Doom's champion and a hero of Latveria. Ever the schemer, Doom had other reasons for giving her this gift beyond rewarding her loyalty. Zora's new power drew Galactus to Earth, whom Doom intended to capture and use as a source of limitless energy for the Earth. Victorious attempted to help her master accomplish this task, even though she was an unwitting pawn in his long game. Unfortunately for them, the Fantastic Four managed to stop Doom before his plan destroyed the Earth.
Even after that though, Zora stayed. She remained his first and most loyal servant, bond to him by her love of Latveria. And as time progressed, Doom began entrusting her with more and more responsibility. Recently, Doom placed her as the head of the Latverian embassy in America to keep an eye on the Forever Gate. But Doom decided to give her the ultimate honor by proposing to her.
It wasn't a choice born out of love. It was a practical decision based on mutual respect and trust. Doom admired Zora's dedication to him and their country. He understands that this marriage is one for their home and not themselves. And in his eyes, that makes Zora the perfect queen for Latveria.
Outside of her recent affair with the Human Torch, Victorious is fierce and loyal to the last. She's picked him up when he's fallen down and never once did it in hopes of reward, but simply because she loves her homeland and would fight armies singlehandedly if that's what it took. Zora is everything Doom ever wanted in a subject, but she has continued to amaze him time and again with just how far her loyalty goes. And now he's ready to give her the country she loves more than anything.