Odds are pretty good that you've heard about the rumors of an upcoming Doctor Doom movie. And it makes sense – Marvel recently re-acquired the rights, but they may be hesitant to jump straight to doing yet another Fantastic Four movie.
So the next question is, what sort of plot can we be expecting for Doctor Doom? This may come as a surprise to some (but not all fans, of course), but Doctor Doom does have his own plots outside of the series he first made an appearance in. And frankly, some of them are pretty fantastic...no pun intended.
10 The Origin
One obvious guess would be that they're going to do a Doctor Doom origin story – and since this would be his first appearance in the MCU, this isn't an unreasonable hope or assumption. Especially if we assume that he'll be appearing without the context of the heroes he's so known for opposing.
Doctor Doom's origin story was told back in 1964 (Fantastic Four Annual #2), and it is a tale that has been steadily built on ever since. This is the story that explains Doom's motivations, and how he ended up in the iconic mask we all know him for.
9 Stiffing Luke Cage
As mentioned above, Doom's character doesn't only exist in the context of the Fantastic Four. Yet he does occasionally come across other heroes during his...misadventures. One such time brought Doctor Doom against Luke Cage. Now, this may sound totally insane but bear with us.
Fans will recall that Luke Cage runs a company called Heroes for Hire – where he (and other heroes) hired out his superhero services. This is something Doom took advantage of...but then he did the villain thing and decided not to pay. Needless to say, the whole ordeal did not go over well.
8 Astonishing Tales
Doom once got his own miniseries in Astonishing Tales (1-8), here Doom's backstory and character was further fleshed out. Some of these issues included expected plots, the sort of thing that solidified Doom as the villain we all love to hate.
But other plots? They turned him into more of a grayscale oriented character. Such as Doom's yearly battles against the Devil (literally) in order to save the soul of his lost mother. This was a twist many readers were not expecting to see in Doom's tale.
7 Doomquest
As mentioned earlier, Doom made an appearance in several different series. One of those series was none other than Iron Man. Here Doom appeared for a plot arc known as Doomquest. This arc continued Doom's journey to rescue the soul of his mother from the devil.
Naturally, this event brought a lot of characters into the mix, including the Fantastic Four, Iron Man (duh), and Morgan Le Fay. Oh, and did we mention that it also involved time travel? All of this because Doom was trying to finish the task at hand.
6 Latveria's Owner And Guardian
Doctor Doom isn't a good guy, and usually, even he can admit that to himself. Yet in one famous plotline, Doom went above and beyond in an attempt to save Latveria. In this plot arc, Doom asked the Fantastic Four for help in taking back control of Larveria. This may seem crazy, but to be fair, Doom isn't the worst ruler out there. And the people are usually content to his rule (especially when in comparison to some others they've had).
This plot showed that Doom, while not necessarily having a heart of gold, is not lacking a heart. He's stubborn but not above asking for help when needed (or when the situation is important enough).
5 Secret Wars
Secret Wars was a major crossover event, so this may not be the most likely plot out there for the Doom movie (though it could allow for a chance to see other MCU characters interacting with Doom).
In this plot, Doctor Doom proved just how far he's willing to go to survive (and win). He drained the Beyonder of his Power...and then went into an even bigger fight. It was an intense plot arc, portraying the darkest plots in Battleworld (an already dark realm, to be sure).
4 Emperor Doom
Emperor Doom is probably a plot that we'll only see if it occurs in one of the other dimensions. Thankfully, the MCU has already introduced this concept, so it's not completely out of the realm of possibility.
During this plot, Doom used the terrifying and traumatizing powers of Killgrave to take control of the world. Yes, you read that right. And yes, it's just as horrifying as it sounds. Though the series did do an excellent job of showing what exactly Doom would do if he had complete control...and all things considered...it could have been worse.
3 Triumph And Torment
Twice now we've brought up Doom trying to save his mother, and we're going to bring that quest up one more time here. Triumph and Torment is a Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom crossover plot, which is a brilliant reminder for readers that Doom is a magic user in his own right.
This plot took Doom to hell – literally – in order for him to battle the monster holding his mother's soul captive. This plot also brings to an end the epic quest Doom has been facing, so it may not be the plot they jump to right away. But we'd still love to see it happen.
2 Unthinkable
Okay, so some of Doctor Doom's best adventures actually do happen within the pages of Fantastic Four, including the 'Unthinkable' plot arc. Here we see a classic story; the antagonist of the series is given everything he wanted, only to throw it all away to the complete and utter surprise of the readers.
Doom had been in love with a woman, Valeria, for years. He finally had her love in return, only to literally sacrifice her to gain more power. And we mean that literally – he traded her life for more magical abilities. This plot told us so much about Doom's character and made us question if he would ever become redeemable.
1 Infamous Iron Man
Speaking of Doom's redemption, let's talk about the Infamous Iron Man plot. In this series, Doctor Doom picked up the Iron Man mantle. And he got away with it because Tony Stark wasn't around to stop him, sound familiar?
But believe it or not, Doom didn't have nefarious intentions for the Iron Man mantle. He saw a need that he could fill (being the iron hero), so he stepped up. He sincerely thought that he could do some good here, and along the way redeem himself. The plot ended up being much more than any reader had expected, pushing Doom's character to new limits.