With Avengers: Doomsday coming this December, more people are recognizing Doctor Doom as one of the greatest, supervillains in Marvel Comics, if not the greatest. Since his debut, the Ruler of Latveria has been the sworn enemy of Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four. Yet, despite his undying hatred for the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom’s status as Marvel’s big bad, along with his dreams of world domination, has led to him to battle numerous other superheroes as well. With his near-unrivaled intellect, advanced technology, and reality-warping spells, most heroes fall to Doom’s might. However, there have been times when Doctor Doom has found himself bested by heroes other than the Fantastic Four.
Doctor Doom constantly boasts about his unlimited power, but he’s practically destined to lose thanks to his inherent flaws as a supervillain, and the nature of comic book stories. Whether through outsmarting or overpowering him, many superheroes have managed to defeat Doctor Doom.
5) Luke Cage
Not even Doctor Doom can escape someone to whom he owes money, if that someone is Luke Cage. Early in his superhero career, Luke Cage was known as the Hero for Hire who sold his services to the highest bidder. In Hero for Hire #9, some of Doctor Doom’s Doombots went rogue and escaped to America while wearing human disguises. To track the robots down, Doom hired Luke Cage. Yet, when Luke found and destroyed the evil robots, he discovered something that made his blood boil. Doom returned to Latveria without paying his $200 bill and had no intention of ever paying Luke. Furious, Luke took one of the Fantastic Four’s jets and flew to Latveria to confront the villain who stiffed him. Storming into Doom’s castle, Luke proceeded to beat up his former employer until the Ruler of Latveria conceded. Not only did Luke get his $200, but he got something few people in the universe have ever earned: Doctor Doom’s respect.
4) Black Panther
Doctor Doom and Black Panther are the kings of some of the most powerful nations on Earth. So naturally, Doom has attempted and failed to add Wakanda to his Latverian Empire. Black Panther has defeated Doom on two separate occasions. Their first conflict was in Black Panther Vol. 4 #19, when Doom invited the recently wedded Black Panther and Storm to Latveria to discuss an alliance. When the pair declined, Doom attacked. Luckily, Black Panther planned for this and released an EMP that shut down not just Doom’s gadgets, but all the electricity in Latveria, leaving the country defenseless. Black Panther and Doom’s second battle occurred during the Doomwar event when Wakanda was overthrown by insurgents secretly led by the Ruler of Latveria. When Black Panther learned that Doom was planning to steal Wakanda’s Vibranium, the noble king activated a device that rendered all Vibranium in the world inert. With his plans foiled, Doom once again retreated to his homeland with the knowledge that the superior king bested him.
3) Ant-Man
Surprisingly, few heroes have beaten Doctor Doom more brutally than Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man. When Doom killed Ant-Man’s daughter Stature, the hero promised to make the Fantastic Four’s archnemesis suffer. In FF Vol. 2 #16, Ant-Man got his wish when he confronted Doom and challenged him to a fight with no weapons. When Doom refused and tried to blast Ant-Man, the hero revealed that he had developed a method to use the shrinking Pym Particles to increase his strength. With his newfound strength, Ant-Man crushed Doom’s hands and then proceeded to beat him to a pulp while tearing off his armor piece by piece. If Doom’s beatdown wasn’t enough, Ant-Man ensured that the Ruler of Latveria was even further humiliated. With the help of some brain-scanning ants, Ant-Man released all of Doom’s deepest secrets to the internet. With Doom’s spirit and body broken, Ant-Man finally avenged his daughter’s death.
2) Iron Man
Outside of Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four, the other hero that can be considered Doctor Doom’s closest archnemesis is Iron Man. In one of Iron Man’s most famous stories, “Doomquest,” he and Doom find themselves accidentally transported back to King Arthur’s Camelot. Naturally, the pair initially go their separate ways, with the Armored Avenger allying with King Arthur, while Doom works with Morgan Le Fay. Doom leads Morgan’s undead army into battle, where they fight Iron Man and the forces of Camelot. After a lengthy fight, Iron Man sucker-punches Doom and flies away. Although Doom thought that Iron Man was fleeing in fear, the Armored Avenger was instead going after Morgan, who was controlling the zombie horde. Once Iron Man made Morgan retreat, Doom’s undead army was no more and Doom’s fight was over. Yet despite suffering defeat at the hands of Iron Man, Doom finally recognized that the only way that they were getting back to the present was by working together.
1) Squirrel Girl
Doctor Doom may be the big bad of Marvel Comics with an endless supply of gadgets and spells, but they don’t call her the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl for nothing. The running joke with this fluffy-tailed hero is that despite her power being to talk to squirrels, she still somehow manages to defeat all-powerful villains. In fact, in Squirrel Girl’s debut appearance, Marvel Super-Heroes Vol. 2 #8, she went up against Doctor Doom to prove that she’d be a worthy sidekick to Iron Man. When Doom kidnaps Iron Man and Squirrel Girl, she uses her powers to call upon her tree-dwelling friends for help. Within moments, Doom finds his ship crawling with squirrels that begin chewing through the aircraft’s wiring. Then, to Doom’s horror, the rodents start overwhelming him as they latch onto his suit. To escape the tiny menaces, Doom retreats into the water. This is one defeat that Doom is unlikely ever to live down.
What do you think? Leave a Comment below and join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!
Leave a Reply