The Doctor Doom guide
Doctor Doom's relationships
His mother and father, his first love, his heirs, and the rival he has hated since college: the people who shaped Doctor Doom.
Doom is a man of grudges and debts, and most of his stories are driven by a handful of people: the mother he lost, the rival he blames, the family he resents and envies, and the few people he has ever treated as equals. Here they are, grouped by what they mean to him.
Family
Doom's mother, Cynthia, is the reason he became what he is: his first great machine was built to reach her soul, and he spent decades fighting Mephisto for it. His ward Kristoff and his goddaughter Valeria are the closest he has come to children of his own, and Valeria inherited everything he owned.
- Cynthia von Doom
- His mother, damned by her deal with Mephisto; he freed her soul in Triumph and Torment (1989).
- Kristoff Vernard
- Adopted son and heir (FF #247), once programmed with Doom's memories to become Doom (FF #278–279).
- Valeria Richards
- His goddaughter. He named her after his first love and made her his familiar (FF vol. 3 #54, #68), she restored his damaged mind (FF #1–2, 2011), his armor killed her (One World Under Doom #8), his life bought her back (#9), and she inherited everything (The Will of Doom #1).
The Fantastic Four
Reed is the rival he blames for his face and the one mind he has never beaten for long. Sue is the one he respects most, and on Battleworld he made her his wife. Ben and Johnny he has fought, possessed and, once, helped.
- Reed Richards
- College rival and eternal enemy. Reed healed his face (Secret Wars #9), altered his memories to make him think Reed was dead (Marvel 2-in-One Annual #1), and is the executor of his will (One World Under Doom #9). Doom vs. Mister Fantastic: the odds
- Sue Storm
- The one Doom respects most: he called her the most powerful of the four (FF #400), delivered and named her daughter (FF vol. 3 #54), made her his wife on Battleworld, and was unmasked by her before the world (FF vol. 6 #8–9). Doom vs. Invisible Woman: the odds
- Ben Grimm
- Crushed Doom's hands (FF #40); possessed by him and killed to stop him (FF #508); made human by him (One World Under Doom #2); still fears his college prank helped scar him (FF vol. 4 #9). Doom vs. the Thing: the odds
- Johnny Storm
- Doom wore his body (FF #508) and overloaded him with the Armagedron after Johnny's night with Victorious (FF vol. 6 #34). Doom vs. Human Torch: the odds
Love and loss
Doom's loves have a way of ending badly. He sacrificed his first love for power, planned to marry a Latverian hero he had made, and spent centuries on and off with the sorceress who taught him.
- Valeria von Frazen
- His first love. He sacrificed her to the Haazareth Three and wore her flesh as armor (FF vol. 3 #67); in 2026 her damned soul hunts him in Hell (Captain America vol. 14 #14–15).
- Zora Vukovic (Victorious)
- The Latverian hero he empowered and planned to marry; the wedding collapsed (FF vol. 6 #33–34).
- Morgan le Fay
- Lover, teacher and enemy across time (Iron Man #150; Mighty Avengers #9–11).
Rivals, allies and devils
The handful of men Doom treats as peers: a sorcerer, a king, an inventor and a devil. He has fought beside all of them, and against all of them.
- Doctor Strange
- Ally in Triumph and Torment, Battleworld's sheriff whom Doom killed (Secret Wars #4), and the man who gave him the title of Sorcerer Supreme (Blood Hunt).
- Namor
- On-again, off-again ally since FF #6, and a fellow member of Norman Osborn's Cabal in Dark Reign (2008–09), not to be confused with Namor's own Cabal of 2014. Doom vs. Namor: the odds
- Tony Stark
- Rival across time in Doomquest; Doom took his name as the Infamous Iron Man.
- Mephisto
- The devil who has his mother's soul and, in 2026, his own.