One of the most consistent threats to the Marvel Universe is Doctor Doom. He’s cold, calculated, holds the power of a country under his thumb, and is smart enough to endure a mental battle with Reed Richards. One can look no further than Doctor Doom’s best Marvel stories to see what he’s capable of.
Yet, when readers hunt down many of these stories, they will also see Doctor Doom on the losing end of a battle. Granted, at the end of the day, Doom is a supervillain (arguably the best supervillain of all time) and, as is the nature of most superhero stories, the bad guy needs to always lose at the end, hence why Doom often loses. That being said, Doom is still an utterly capable foe, especially whenever he acquires godlike power. Defeating Doctor Doom, on paper in-story, is no easy task, so it’s worth knowing how some characters did the unthinkable.
10
The Fantastic Four Outsmart Doctor Doom to Take Away His Power
Fantastic Four #60 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
In what was his most powerful feat up to that point in time, Doctor Doom suffered his most humiliating loss to The Fantastic Four. Previously, he had stolen the Silver Surfer’s cosmic energy, and with it, continued to overwhelm the foursome at every turn. A true turning point comes when Doom chases after Reed’s Anti-Cosmic Flying Wing.
The wing was never meant to significantly weaken Doom, but serve as a decoy, as Doom chases the wing into space. Doom hadn’t realized that Galactus designed the Cosmic Power to never leave Earth, and so Mister Fantastic gives Doom a reason to fly out of the planet’s orbit. This results in Doom being stripped of his power entirely. When Reed could not outmatch Doom in terms of power, the former smartest man alive outsmarted him instead.
9
Luke Cage Beats Through Doctor Doom’s Armor for $200
Luke Cage: Hero for Hire #9 by Steve Englehart, George Tuska, and Billy Graham
Doctor Doom’s high-intellect Doombots escape to America and disguise themselves as Black people. In Doom’s mind, the only way to retrieve them is to hire a Black man, and lo and behold, Luke Cage is that hero for hire. Cage commits to his part of the deal, but solely out of sheer pettiness, Doctor Doom skips out on the bill.
Luke Cage isn’t someone one should skip out on paying, because he makes it his life’s mission to get his money at any cost. Doom learns this the hard way after a hellbent Cage crashes through Doomstadt. A fight ensues and Cage proceeds to pound repeatedly into Doom’s chest plate, the solitary point of Doom’s armor. No one’s beaten him this badly before, so Doom couldn’t prepare his armor to endure the damage. His armor that controls his weaponry is instantly rendered inoperative. Needless to say, Cage gets his money.
8
The Beyonder’s Power is Beyond Doctor Doom’s Control
Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #12 by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck
During the 1984 Secret Wars, Doctor Doom manages to steal power from The Beyonder, The Avengers’ most powerful villain. Doom is supplied with unlimited cosmic power, but the power proves too great for him to control. Doom is supplied with unlimited cosmic power, but the power proves too great for him to control. By the story’s end, Doom is forced to relinquish his god-tier power back to The Beyonder or risk letting it kill him.
This quickly begins a trend for Doctor Doom losing nigh power that remains prevalent to this day. Doctor Doom frequently takes on massive amounts of power, but it’s always more power than he can handle. The alternative for stories like this is always for him to either let go of that power or die trying to maintain it.
7
Doctor Doom’s Insecurities are His Downfall as Reed Richards Decides Their Fight to the Finish
Fantastic Four #200 by Marv Wolfman and Keith Pollard
Doctor Doom and Reed have fought several times over, but this landmark 200th issue was meant to decide their final battle. While most of their one-on-one encounters have been mental challenges for each other, this one was purely unadulterated fisticuffs. Throughout the entire issue, both men draw blood and tear each other’s clothes, determined that there must be a winner.
Doctor Doom’s depiction of his face without the mask tends to vary by interpretation. Sometimes, his face is horribly disfigured or burnt, while in others, he only wants the mask to conceal a small blemish that, in his mind, is a fatal imperfection.
Near the fight’s final moments, Doctor Doom grips his hands tight around Reed’s throat. Richards doesn’t think their fight needs to end as definitively as death, but as an alternative, he decides to expose Doom’s insecurities about his face. Just by unmasking Doom, it’s enough to leave the supervillain in an inconsolable state of horror. While Reed feels bad about putting him in this state, it leaves him the victor in a matter of life and death.
6
Doctor Doom Submits to Iron Man in Defeat
Iron Man #150 by David Michelinie, Bob Layton, and John Romita, Jr.
Tony Stark and Doctor Doom have a long and storied history together. So much so, that once, Doom infamously adopted the Iron Man mantle. At the height of the 80s, though, they were sworn enemies interlocked as archrivals. The two-issue “Doomquest” arc sees Doom’s Time Cube send both men back in time to the middle of Camelot.
Traditionally, mythical lore spells her name as “Morgana le Fay,” but in this story, Marvel has it spelled as “Morgana Le Fey.”
Doom seeks Morgana Le Fey’s help in pulling his mother from the depths of Hell. Morgana is willing to help on one condition: Doom must kill King Arthur. Iron Man defends King Arthur’s court as a battle ensues. The fight is lengthy, but eventually, Doom is incapacitated when Tony sucker punches him. Later, Doom begrudgingly admits defeat when he strikes a truce in favor of working together to return to present-day.
5
The Squirrel Girl Started Her Unbeatable Streak with Doctor Doom
“The Coming of … Squirrel Girl” by Steve Ditko and Will Murray for Marvel Super-Heroes #8
Sometimes, Doctor Doom can be beaten by brute strength or overwhelming brain power, but in this instance, it takes a horde of squirrels to overpower Doctor Doom. In her on-panel debut, Squirrel Girl is just a teenage girl trying to impress her hero, Iron Man, enough to become his sidekick.
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For someone with magic and technology on his side, Doctor Doom is physically stronger than given credit for, and these moments showcase why that is.
She has the opportunity to do just that when both are ambushed by Doctor Doom. Not only does Doreen Green free Tony from imprisonment, but she unleashes a swarm of squirrels that chew through Doctor Doom to bits until he flees the scene. In all his years, this might be Doctor Doom’s most humiliating loss. He’s not defeated by rival Tony Stark or a fellow Avenger, but a 14-year-old girl with powers to summon squirrels. It’s not exactly the most menacing feat on his resume.
4
Thanos Flicks Doctor Doom Away Easily Like a Bug
Infinity Gauntlet #4 by Jim Starlin, George Perez, and Ron Lim
When Thanos first acquires the Infinity Stones (then Gems) with the encompassing Gauntlet, he proves far too powerful and unpredictable to withstand. To counter-attack, both superheroes and supervillains attempt to overwhelm The Mad Titan at once. Some hope to save the day, while others just want Thanos’ power for themselves. Doctor Doom falls into the latter category.
His own quest for power befuddles his best efforts, as he is no match for a god incarnate in the form of Thanos. Multiple instances, he uses his best attempts of strategy and his best usage of technology to take Thanos down, but every time, Thanos swats Doctor Doom away with ease. Whether Doom’s attempts can be filed under boldly brave or stupidly overconfident is up for interpretation. If one thing is certain, it proved how powerful Thanos is compared to Doom.
3
Doctor Doom Must Relinquish Scarlet Witch’s Power
Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #8 by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung
Following the events of House of M, an amnesiac Scarlet Witch winds up in Latveria, seduced by Doctor Doom. When the Young Avengers, X-Men, and actual Avengers intervene, Doom takes an opportunity to steal Wanda Maximoff’s reality-altering powers from underneath her. A battle ensues, during which Wanda and her son, Wiccan, use their magic to open a portal.
Once again, Doom’s hubris proves to be his downfall.
The portal gives Doom access to even more infinite power, but as has been his problem in the past, the power is too much for him to handle. At Wanda’s urging, Doom gives up the power to avoid risking destroying either himself or the rest of the universe. Once again, Doom’s hubris proves to be his downfall. Doom has always had a God complex, one that only intensifies when he develops the power of a god. In more ways than one, it gets to his head.
2
Ant-Man Beats the Tar Out of Doctor Doom to Avenge His Daughter
FF (2013) #16 by Matt Fraction, Lee Allred, and Michael Allred
It’s worth noting that during the afformentioned Avengers: The Children’s Crusade, Doctor Doom kills Stature, the daughter of Scott Lang. Ant-Man doesn’t have a chance to confront Doctor Doom on the matter until he joins The Fantastic Four, and Doom uses his Cosmic Power Siphon to steal the powers of Annihilus and Kid Immortus.
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Scott sneak attacks Doom from Uatu the Watcher’s home, dispersing Doom’s powers. Taking advantage of a powerless Doom, Ant-Man challenges Doom to a fight with no weapons, just fists. Doom accepts, and Ant-Man proceeds to, as the kids say, dog walk the Latverian dictator. Years of grief over losing Cassie reaches its boiling point for Scott, driving him to expose Doom’s true colors and name with a long-overdue beatdown. A father’s love for his daughter is a power that not even Doctor Doom could prepare for.
1
A Loophole Renders Doctor Doom Powerless Against Mister Fantastic
Secret Wars #9 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic
To his credit, Doctor Doom is a well-spoken wordsmith, but even he has a tendency to put his own foot in his mouth on occasion. One such occasion is during the 2015 Secret Wars event, where Doctor Doom once again steals the power of The Beyonders, this time killing the all-powerful beings.
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Reed Richards’ Powers Reach Their Horrifying Limit in Brutal Doctor Doom Fight
Reed Richards’ power tips the scale into complete body horror as Doctor Doom viscerally pushes the limits of the Fantastic Four hero’s abilities.
With the fate of the multiverse at stake, Doom and his archnemesis Reed Richards fight one last time (for the umpteenth time) when Molecule Man evens the odds by making both men powerless, all because Doom didn’t bring him a treat. In the midst of the battle, both men begrudgingly agree that they could’ve done better in the past. When they both agree, Molecule Man transfers Doom’s godhood to Reed Richards. Had Doctor Doom chosen his words more carefully, maybe he’d still be an Emperor God.
