Marvel’s greatest villain Doctor Doom has fought in countless epic battles with his mortal enemies the Fantastic Four. And while the FF always seems to thwart Doom’s attempts at world domination, he often comes dangerously close to his goal and frequently leaves lasting scars on the planet. Moreover, he always lives to plot another day – making it easy for Doctor Doom to see his losses as only temporary setbacks.
But even Doctor Doom experiences defeats too devastating for his massive ego to shake off. Many of these losses are so humiliating, in fact, that Doom has blamed these embarrassing episodes on his Doombot decoys. Yet the more he protests, the more likely the following five take downs all happened to the real Victor Von Doom.
The Time Squirrel Girl Destroyed Doom – With Squirrels
One of Doctor Doom’s most embarrassing defeat occurs in Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special when he first meets the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Even more humiliating? At the time, Doreen Green was an insecure teenager who wanted to be Iron Man’s sidekick. When Doom captures Iron Man, however, Squirrel Girl orders her squirrel friends to chew through the wiring in Doom’s airship and disable it. She then makes her squirrels pile onto Doctor Doom, causing the Latverian monarch to utter the immortal line, “Confound these wretched rodents! For every one I fling away, a dozen more vex me!”
Squirrel Girl’s victory over Doom is so absolute that during the Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular, Doom refuses to fight her. Instead, when Squirrel Girl mentions she needs to travel through time, the terrified despot just gives her directions to his nearest Time Platform. Considering that Squirrel Girl’s original meeting with Doom gave her the confidence to defeat other incredibly powerful beings like Thanos and Galactus, Doctor Doom’s inability to triumph over the squirrel-powered mutant basically birthed Marvel’s most powerful superhero.
The Time The Leader Gave Doctor Doom Brain Damage
Doctor Doom repeatedly claims to be the most brilliant man alive. So, it must have really hurt him when Hulk’s gamma-powered villain the Leader took all that brilliance away. In The Incredible Hulk #606, the Leader sends a cosmic-powered Hulk robot after Doom, causing the greedy dictator to simply absorb its power. However, Doom soon learns the robot’s energy contains a “radiant neural anesthetizer” or “dumb ray” that damages key parts of his brain.
According to Doctor Bruce Banner, Doom went from one of the smartest men in the world to the 4,956,342,261st. Unable to remember how to cast spells or use his armor, Doom finds himself at the mercy of those he always considered to be his inferiors. And while Reed Richards’ daughter (and Doom’s goddaughter) Valeria later performs brain surgery that restores Doctor Doom to his full brilliance, the temporary loss of his intelligence really got Doom where it mattered.
The Time Galactus Swatted Doom Away Like a Fly
One of Doctor Doom’s greatest triumphs came when he stole the Silver Surfer’s Power Cosmic and used it to nearly take over Earth. So, when he sees an opportunity to sneak aboard the giant ship of the Surfer’s former master Galactus in Marvel’s original Secret Wars, he takes it. Doom views this as a chance to steal Galactus’ technology and become even more powerful. However, Galactus, upon sensing Doom’s presence, violently flings the dictator away with a mere thought. Somehow, Doom – his armor in shambles – makes it back to his lair and collapses into bed, utterly demoralized. For someone who considers himself to be on the level with gods, that beating had to be a rude wakeup call.
The Time Luke Cage Beat Up Doctor Doom – Over $200
Doctor Doom has been known to be petty – but this character flaw proves to be his undoing in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #9. When some of Doom’s robots escape to the United States and disguise themselves as African Americans, Doom has the ridiculous (and frankly, racist) notion that he needs to hire a black man to track them down. He offers to pay Luke Cage $200 to eliminate the robots, which Cage does at great risk to his life. However, when he arrives at the Latverian embassy for his pay, the doorman states, “Doctor Doom pays no money when can avoid it” and informs Cage that Doom has flown back to Latveria.
Furious, Cage gets the Fantastic Four to loan him one of their ships and flies to Latveria to settle his score with Doom. After joining a robot revolution led by an alien that seeks to liberate Doom’s robotic slaves (yes, really), Cage smashes his way into Doom’s castle and battles the monarch. Unbelievably, while Cage isn’t in the strength class of the Hulk or Thing, he manages to cripple Doctor Doom’s armor by punching the same spot in his chest repeatedly. Shocked, Doom finally pays Luke Cage his $200. Considering how often Doom brags about his country’s prosperity, being exposed as a cheapskate probably hurt more than the beating itself.
The Time ANT-MAN Tore Apart Doctor Doom ON EVERY LEVEL
Luke Cage may have been an unlikely candidate to beat Doctor Doom in a fist fight, but the most unlikely candidate had to be Ant-Man who gave Doom the beating of his life in FF #16. This took place after Doom had killed Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie Lang (don’t worry, she got better), motivating Scott Lang to take everything from Doom. After launching a sneak attack on Doom that cripples his defenses, Lang challenges the despot to a hand-to-hand fight. Thinking this will be an easy battle, Doctor Doom tries to blast Ant-Man away – only to discover the size-shifting hero has the power to crush his hands through his gauntlets and rip his indestructible armor to shreds.
How did Scott Lang become so powerful? Turns out, he learned he could use his Pym Particles to augment his strength and durability in ways even Hank Pym never could. After trouncing Doom physically, Ant-Man attacks him emotionally. He unmasks Doom, revealing Victor healed his facial scars with some new cosmic power, but then suggests Doom re-scars himself to avoid facing his character flaws. Finally, he gives Doom a public beating in front of the Latverians, forever tarnishing Doom’s reputation as an indestructible monarch.
With Doctor Doom rumored to be showing up in MCU’s Phase 4, the Latverian dictator may finally get a chance to show the Marvel Cinematic Universe how dangerous he is. Even so, audiences may find Doctor Doom keeping a safe distance from characters like Luke Cage and Ant-Man. He wouldn’t want to be turned into a laughingstock so soon after his debut.
Next: Doctor Doom is The Only Hope of Avoiding War With [SPOILER]
