The Marvel universe is home to some incredibly great and truly powerful villains, making it hard to see why evil hasn’t won out sometimes. However, some of their greatest villains are easily Magneto and Dr. Doom.

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Over the years, these two villains have stood out above other evildoers for a variety of different reasons, both accomplishing incredibly powerful and horrifying feats. Looking at some specific factors from each character, here is our list of 5 reasons Magneto is the better villain, and 5 reasons it’s Dr. Doom.

10 Magneto Is A Bigger Symbol

As one of the most powerful mutants on the planet, almost everyone in the Marvel universe is aware of his potential, which is part of what makes him such a terrifying threat. However, Magneto is not only incredibly powerful, but also the leader of The Brotherhood of Mutants, an extremist group who fights to establish mutants as the dominant species on Earth.

Since he is the leader, Magneto is viewed by many average people as a terrorist bent on destroying humanity. Of course, comic fans know that there is much more to his motivations than just that, but it doesn’t change the outcome of some of his actions. With such a deadly motivation though, Magneto is arguably a much bigger symbol of fear in the Marvel universe, helping to make him such a great villain.

9 Dr. Doom Consistently Has A Bigger Influence On The World

However often Magneto may think of himself as a ruler, Doom is actually a ruler in the literal sense. As King of Latveria, Doom has had all sorts of political influence across the globe, using his royalty to his advantage through many of his evil schemes.

Furthermore, Doom is constantly suppressing and abusing those whom he rules over, giving audiences a glimpse of what his worldwide domination would look like. Thankfully, Doom has been thwarted at almost every turn, but the fact that he actually has some form of political power just makes him that much greater of a villain.

8 Magneto Has Taken Down Incredibly Powerful Heroes

Ever since he made his debut, Magneto has been a constant opponent of the X-Men, a group of mutants fighting to coexist with humanity. While Magneto himself has actually been an ally to the team on several occasions, he is easily one of their most powerful enemies as well.

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With that in mind, taking down the next stage in human evolution is no easy feat, yet it is still something Magneto has accomplished many times. Considering how powerful some of the X-Men are, it is truly frightening that Magneto has single-handedly taken down many of them. For a group that should be working together to accomplish their goals, Magneto is not one to shy away from displaying what he is capable of.

7 Dr. Doom Has Taken Down Incredibly Powerful Beings

For such a powerful character already, Doom has taken down some threats that many people wouldn’t think possible. Though he has primarily been seen as a Fantastic Four villain through the years, Doom has actually had a pretty large impact on the entire Marvel universe as a whole.

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Firstly, he has beaten the Fantastic Four on several occasions, both overpowering and outsmarting them from time to time. Secondly, he managed to successfully invade and take over Wakanda, something many others have failed to accomplish in the past. On more than one occasion, he even managed to take over the entire world. Despite all the incredibly powerful heroes that Marvel has, Doom’s ability to take over shows just how threatening he can really be.

6 Magneto Can Be Reasoned With

One of the things that separates Magneto from many other comic book villains is that he can actually be reasoned with. As mentioned previously, he has teamed up with the X-Men several times over the years, for a number of different reasons.

Granted, some of those reasons have purely been for Magneto’s own self-interest, but other times it has been because he actually believed that they had good points. Because he is fighting for a cause and not himself, Magneto is a much more relatable character, which is easily an attribute that has made him so popular with fans. Despite his actions, it is good to know that talking can actually work better than fighting sometimes.

5 Dr. Doom Has Been A God

Emperor Dr. Doom

While Doom has actually ruled over the world, his biggest feats are undoubtedly when he achieved godhood. Doom’s efforts to gain more and more power over the years have arguably been maxed out when the character became a god in more than one instance.

Both Secret Wars events saw the character achieve such power, and the things he did with it were truly incredible. Though horrifying at the same time, it is a true testament to Doom’s motivations that he could actually acquire such abilities. Though Magneto is arguably a God in his own right, these two instances alone easily establish Doom as the more powerful character of the two.

4 Magneto’s Past Is Much Better

age of apocalypse magneto

Though both villains have an incredibly problematic past, Magneto’s definitely makes him the more intriguing of the two villains. Having been a Jewish child during WWII, Magneto saw some of the worst aspects of humanity to date, and also managed to survive the experience.

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Because of that, it comes as no surprise that he has many negative emotions towards the species, and views himself and other mutants as superior. Of course, the irony is that Magneto is essentially causing history to repeat itself, but it is definitely easier for readers to sympathize with him that it is to sympathize with Dr. Doom.

3 Dr. Doom Is Incredibly Smart

Doctor Doom from Marvel Comics

The Marvel universe, in general, is home to some of the smartest comic book characters ever created. Unfortunately, Doom is among the very brightest of those characters, at least in terms of human characters.

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Because of this, Doom has actually done a lot of great things in the name of science, developing all sorts of powerful technology and accomplishing all sorts of impossible feats. However, virtually all of those achievements have been in the name of evil, or to try and spite Reed Richards. Regardless, Doom’s intelligence has made for some pretty interesting moments, however devastating they may have been.

2 Magneto Doesn’t View Himself As A Villain

One of the biggest things that makes Magneto such a great villain is that he actually believes that he is the hero of his story. While Doom believes the same, Magneto can point to several of his actions and explain how they are beneficial to the overall welfare of his species.

While he has done some things for himself from time to time, his general actions tend to be in favor of mutantdom, making it easy to see why he views himself as a hero more so than a villain. Though he is definitely going about finding peace in the wrong way, it is really hard to deny that Magneto actually does make some solid arguments.

1 Dr. Doom Is Pure Evil

However right Magneto may be, part of the fun of comic book villains is that they are just simply evil. Likewise, no other comic book villain is arguably eviler than Dr. Doom aside from a select few. Though he may believe that he is helping in the long run, there are several instances in which Doom displays a complete and total lack of empathy for anyone but himself.

In one instance, Doom actually sacrificed his childhood love just for the sake of gaining more power. With no other external force acting on him at the time, Doom willingly made the decision just to become stronger. However evil some other villains may be, it is really hard to sink as low as Doom has sometimes.

NEXT: Marvel: 10 Worst Things Dr. Doom Has Ever Done