Marvel sure knows how to create villains. From the likes of existential cosmic threats, like Thanos and Galactus, to the Earthbound criminals, such as Norman Osborn and Baron Strucker, the villains of the Marvel Universe never cease to entertain fans around the world. One such villain who has always been a fan-favorite is Dr. Victor von Doom. Doctor Doom, as he more commonly goes by, rose to prominence by being the archenemy of the Fantastic Four.
More specifically, Doctor Doom and Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic, have always been rivals. They have fought against each other on the battlefield as many times as they have tested the limits of their minds against each other in a laboratory. One edge that Doctor Doom has always had over his old rival is the fact that he is an evil man. One could argue that some of the things he does are just for the good of his country, but there have been many occasions when the Doctor has acted completely immorally. His long history is rife with cruelty, and it's likely that there will be much more to come.
10 Attacked Wakanda For Their Vibranium
Doctor Doom is someone who is always trying to better himself. Not necessarily in the sense of becoming a better person, but in the sense of achieving and maintaining a status of superiority over everyone else. Once, in his quest for superiority, Doctor Doom decided he was in need of a vast amount of vibranium, Wakanda's special metal. Instead of asking politely, he decided that he needed to provide aid to another of Wakanda's enemies, the Desturi, in their hostile takeover of the nation. He then made off with a large amount of vibranium, which he used to build himself a new set of armor and enhance his forces. Luckily, whatever cruel acts he sought to carry out were thwarted when Black Panther and other heroes defeated him.
9 Rules Latveria With An Iron Fist
One would not think that a supervillain would be a good leader of a nation. Doctor Doom, even with his infamous selfishness and delusions of grandeur, is actually a good leader. He has always promoted the advancement of the scientific and economic fields of his nation, along with longstanding periods of peace. This prosperity comes at a cost, though. He rules as a dictator who is almost completely disconnected from his people, and one who lacks empathy on the most basic levels. He imposes extremely strict rules on his people and has no problem punishing those who don't follow his commands.
8 Tried To Use Scarlet Witch For Her Power
Doom has never been shy about his lust for ultimate power and absolute control. Anyone who talks to him or hears him talk could instantly make note of this aspect of his personality. This lust has led him to commit some truly horrible acts throughout his long history. One instance saw Victor almost succeed in using Scarlet Witch to capture and master the Life Force, which would essentially make him a God. Fortunately for the rest of the Marvel Universe, Victor couldn't control the power he sought, so it left him.
7 Killed His Friend Doctor Strange
It is not uncommon to see two magic wielders team up together to try and save the world. That is, unless the two sorcerers were Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange, and they were trying to save all that was left of reality. This is exactly what happened in the 2015 Secret Wars storyline. Having gained ultimate power, Doom created a new world out of the scraps that were left of reality. Doctor Strange was by his side this entire time, and they even considered each other to be friends. However, when some heroes of the old reality found their way onto Doom's world, Doctor Strange helped them escape from Doom's forces. In return, the all-powerful Doctor Doom struck his old friend down. His ego simply couldn't allow him to forgive Strange for helping his enemies.
6 Has Conquered The Earth Multiple Times
Even though he is just a human, Doctor Doom has proven himself to be extremely capable in many respects. He is a skilled sorcerer, an excellent combatant, and has a genius-level intellect, among other things. Add these to his selfish drive to rule over everything, and it's no wonder that Doom has a knack for taking over the Earth. He has done so by using the psychic powers of the Purple Man, another Marvel villain, to place the world under his control. He also ruled over Counter-Earth, which he renamed Planet Doom.
5 Erased The Memories Of His World's Citizens
Doctor Doom's actions during the 2015 Secret Wars story were truly heroic. He saved many lives and reality itself from imploding into nothingness. Those he saved lived under his protection on Battleworld, the planet he formed using the power of the Beyonders. The citizens seemed happy and completely safe, for the most part.
However, nothing is ever perfect with Victor von Doom. He used his powers to wipe all memories of the old multiverse from everyone's mind, robbing them of all memories of their old family and friends. There is no doubting the goodness in him saving reality, but taking away people's memories is just downright cruel.
4 Used Asgardians For His Experiments
Doom is someone who appreciates science very much. He was able to leave his life in eastern Europe behind for a time when he earned a scholarship to attend a university in the United States, where he learned more and improved his research habits. It's fair to say that he probably didn't learn about experimenting on humans or human-like beings at that school, though. In what originally seemed like an act of kindness, Doom allowed Asgardian refugees to reside in Latveria after their home was destroyed. Unsurprisingly, he had ulterior motives. He kidnapped some of the Asgardians and conducted experiments on them, which involved mutilation and transforming some of them into cyborgs.
3 Condemned A Child To Hell
The intense rivalry between Doctor Doom and the Fantastic Four is very well-documented. The group of heroes have thwarted Doom's plans many times, but Doom has also gotten the upper hand many times. Being an unstable sociopath however, he has also taken things too far a lot of the times. One of those times being when he sent Franklin Richards, the young child of his rival, Reed Richards, to Hell. Sending anyone to Hell is bad enough, but sending a child there is absolutely appalling.
2 Took Reed's Place In Secret Wars
Yet again, Doctor Doom manages to turn an initially good and honorable act into something despicable. After saving what he could of reality and making Battleworld, the Doctor decided to really disrespect his old rival, Reed Richards.
See, on Battleworld, there was no Reed Richards, but Sue Storm and her and Reed's children did exist there. So, naturally, Doom and Sue eventually fell in love and Doom took Reed's place in his family. It's no wonder why Reed wanted to tear this new reality down.
1 Killed His Love Interest For Power
In order to gain the power to send Franklin Richards, a child, to Hell, Victor von Doom first had to sacrifice a woman named Valeria. This woman was one of the only people he'd ever loved. Apparently, he didn't love her more than the thought of sending Reed Richard's kid to Hell. Nothing about this act is justifiable in any way. Killing is wrong, killing a loved one is unheard of, and killing a loved one to gain the power to send a child to Hell is just unthinkable. At least Doom himself eventually wound up in Hell for some time.