Doctor Doom's 5 Greatest Super Hero Team-Ups

Getting on Doctor Doom’s bad side usually spells your, well, doom. However, now and then, Victor proves to be a powerful ally—even for heroes.

This week offers further evidence of that phenomenon. In not one, not two, but three books—DOCTOR DOOM #3, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #35, and SAVAGE AVENGERS #8—Doom throws in his lot with heroes like Doctor Strange, Spidey, and Blue Marvel. He may not like it, they may not like, but sometimes even the ruler of Latveria needs to swallow his pride and make the pragmatic choice.

Don’t believe us? Look at these five previous examples of the Doctor joining with his enemy for his own personal advantage.

A Doom By Any Other Name

It may seem difficult to believe, but not so long ago, Doctor Doom shed the moniker and his evil ways to become Iron Man. Even harder to believe? It wasn't a trick!

Throwing himself fully into the role of a hero inevitably led to teaming up with the Avengers in AVENGERS (2016) #7. Though skeptical, Earth's Mightiest Heroes needed Doom’s gift for magic and no time to seek someone else's help. Heading to a summer camp where a trio of girls had let their ambition overwhelm their good senses, the reformed Doctor proved as good as his word. He may not have liked saving the teen magic miscreants, but he still acquiesced to the heroes’ request—especially the Wasp.

Even as a hero, though, Doom remained himself in many ways; in this case, he had an ulterior motive for the collaboration. They needed his help and he needed to make sure the Wasp could be trusted. Seeing her protect the girls, despite their crimes, led Victor to decide that, despite what he had been told, she could be relied on to be a hero through and through.

Staring Down the Onslaught

Doctor Doom may be arrogant, but even he recognizes that, at times, a threat looms too large to not join with others to repel it. Thus, when Charles Xavier became so corrupted by the essence of Magneto and became Onslaught, Doom knew he could not stand idly by. Even if taking on this monster meant teaming up with the accursed Reed Richards.

In the end, Doom and his allies did achieve a kind of victory. However, it came at the cost of exiling them to a pocket dimension, the Heroes Reborn universe. In that place, their history ended up largely erased and they started almost anew. In time, Franklin Richards would bring them back to the Marvel Universe but none of the sense of comraderie that sent Doom into that alternate world remained.

A Child Is Born

Sue Storm, through a complex process involving time travel and alternate worlds, found herself close to term with a daughter. History, however, repeated itself and it suddenly seemed likely she would lose this child as she had lost her previous pregnancy. Without Reed available, a desperate Johnny did the only thing he could think of in FANTASTIC FOUR (1998) #54... He called on Doom.

The Doctor, of course, loved the idea of showing up Reed by doing what he could not. Thus, he took and completed the task, saving Sue and her new daughter, Valeria. Then, for good measure, he cured an issue the Human Torch had been experiencing with his powers. It turned out, though, that beating his rival at science stood as only a cover for Doom’s larger game. He eventually used Valeria to achieve even more incredible powers for himself, a new magical might than dwarfed his natural abilities and his science acumen.

Doctors On A Highway to Hell

This, it turns out, was one of the rare times Doom teamed up with a hero and largely told the truth about his goals.

Years before, Doom had lost his beloved mother to disease. It hurt him but he processed it. However, he came to learn that, after death, she'd somehow ended up in Hell, which proved too much for Victor to accept. He could not and would not let his mother live out eternity under the cruelty of Mephisto.

However, the demon, in his realm, would be more than a match for Doom—and Victor knew it. The solution he came to in TRIUMPH AND TORMENT (1989) made sense...who better to help you beat the devil than the Sorcerer Supreme?

Back to Salem

While on one of his time traveling excursions in MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) #43-44, Doom ended up in Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600s. Facing off against the Dark Rider, a powerful being that drew the Doctor to that time and place with evil designs, Victor found himself at a loss; every element he seemed to toss at Rider only made the villain more powerful.

Thankfully for Doom, he dragged Spider-Man, Vision, and Scarlet Witch back through the timestream with him. While Spidey and Vision seemed content to let Doom be destroyed, Scarlet Witch quickly realize they had to help him if they ever wanted to get back to their timeline too. Even then, though, the fabulous foursome proved unequal to the task...

Their actions echoed up the timestream and invaded Moondragon’s dreams. Feeling as though she must intervene, she too rushed to 1692. Now a kingly quintet, the heroes and Doom managed to overwhelm Dark Rider and secure a return to the present day. Alas, even together they could not stop the death of an innocent, making their return home bittersweet.

Get your fill of Vic at your local comic shop this Wednesday in DOCTOR DOOM #3, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #35, and SAVAGE AVENGERS #8!