Mutantkind’s History with Latveria, Explained

Doctor Doom isn't just a villain. While his personal vendettas and relentless quests for power have led him into battle with heroes like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, he has also acted as a relentless defender of Latveria and its residents. As Latveria's somewhat benevolent dictator, Doom has tried to bend his homeland's future to his whims, while also responding to events outside of his control by folding them into his grand plans. 

As most of the world's mutants congregated on Krakoa, Doom transformed Latveria's few remaining mutants into a team that he protects from anti-mutant forces like Orchis. Now, before the Latverian mutants face off against the X-Men, let's take a closer look at the X-Men's history with Doctor Doom and Latveria as Doom's new mutant team debuts in X-MEN (2023) #28 by Gerry Duggan, Joshua Cassara, Marte Gracia, and VC's Clayton Cowles.

THE X-MEN MEET DOCTOR DOOM 

The X-Men encountered Doctor Doom's forces for the first time during the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman in FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL (1963) #3 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Later, Beast and Magneto faced off against Doctor Doom when he used neurogas to make the Avengers and much of the world obey him in SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP (1975) #14 by Bill Mantlo and Bob Hall. 

The X-Men also encountered one of Doom's robotic replicas, a Doombot, posing as Doom in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #145 by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. After Doom took Arcade captive for insulting him, Miss Locke—Arcade's assistant—compelled the X-Men to rescue her boss by taking several of their friends hostage. When Storm asked the Doombot to discuss Arcade, the pair sat down to dinner at Castle Doom in the Adirondack Mountains. 

However, the meal ended with the Doombot taking Storm and the other X-Men captive by holding them in specialized traps designed to neutralize their powers. While stuck in a trap that aggravated her claustrophobia, Storm unconsciously created a massive storm across the eastern seaboard of the United States. When freed, Storm unleashed her elemental fury until Colossus helped her regain her senses. After the Doombot released Arcade, the real Doctor Doom destroyed him for his incompetence.

DOCTOR DOOM'S MUTANT SON

Dazzler and Beast teamed up to face Alexander Flynn—a Latverian mutant who claimed to be Doctor Doom's son—in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1985) #1 by Ann Nocenti and Don Perlin. Flynn was allegedly born to Doom and a Romani woman from Latveria. When Flynn's mother tried to meet Doom, the Latverian ruler exiled them both. As he grew into adulthood, Flynn made plans to depose Doom and take over Latveria by using his telepathic mutant powers to build an army.

Meanwhile, Flynn acted as a scout for the Underground Mutant Theatre, a mutant fight club where a group called the Gladiators fought. Shortly after Dazzler's mutant status was exposed to the public, Flynn manipulated the pop music star into joining the Gladiators. As Flynn made plans to use the Gladiators to conquer Latveria, Dazzler and Beast teamed up with a few rebelling Gladiators to stop him. After the heroes freed the other Gladiators from Flynn's control, Doom revealed himself, proclaimed Flynn's claims "nonsensical," and left the defeated and disgraced telepath alone.

FANTASTIC FOUR VS. X-MEN

During a particularly tense time for the X-Men in FANTASTIC FOUR VS. THE X-MEN (1987) #2 by Chris Claremont and Jon Bogdanove, the mutant heroes turned to Doctor Doom to save Kitty Pryde. While trying to protect the mutant Morlocks during the MUTANT MASSACRE, Pryde was struck by an energy weapon that trapped her in an intangible state. When Mister Fantastic doubted his ability to help her, the mutants accepted Doom's offer to treat Pryde in Latveria. 

While Doom prepared to treat a worsening Pryde, he ordered the X-Men to fight the Fantastic Four, who traveled to Latveria to help Pryde after Reed Richards overcame his self-doubts. But even after the teams agreed to work together, Doom still taunted Reed, which put Pryde's life in even greater jeopardy. Mr. Fantastic was ultimately able to jumpstart Pryde's natural healing process, and she returned home with the X-Men. 

As Pryde healed, she joined an offshoot team of X-Men called Excalibur, who had their own run-in with Doom. While trying to gather the mystical metal promethium, Doctor Doom asked Pryde to help him travel to Limbo in EXCALIBUR (1988) #37 by Scott Lobdell and Mark Badger. Although Doom betrayed the team and tried to destroy Limbo, Excalibur ultimately defeated him and saved Limbo with help from the West Coast Avengers.

X-FORCE AND LATVERIA 

After the psionic entity Onslaught attacked the Marvel Universe, Doctor Doom was shunted into another dimension, which left Latveria without a leader. With Doom's headquarters unprotected, Cable and X-Force traveled to Latveria to retrieve Doom's time-travel technology before it could fall into the wrong hands in X-FORCE (1991) #63 by John Francis Moore and Anthony Castrillo. Although Doom's Castle was briefly sent back in time, X-Force successfully destroyed Doom's time machine and faced the demon Pandemonia on Latveria's Mount Sorcista. 

Around the same time, Stryfe—Cable's evil clone—crashed his pyramid base into Castle Doom in X-MAN (1995) #46 by Terry Kavanagh and J.H. Williams III. Cable, Nate Grey, and Madelyne Pryor ultimately teamed up in Latveria to defeat the time-traveling telepathic villain.  

After Doom returned to the Marvel Universe, he worked with X-Factor's Layla Miller—a mutant with knowledge of the future—and abducted the Invisible Woman to save her from a villainous Reed Richards from another dimension, as revealed in X-FACTOR (2005) #202 by Peter David and Bing Cansino. Wolverine fought Contagion, a disease-spreading Latverian mutant who debuted in WOLVERINE: THE BEST THERE IS (2010) #1 by Charlie Huston and Juan Jose Ryp. Although Doom took in the infectious mutant and trained him, Contagion used his power to kill scores of Latverians before leaving the country.

THE X-MEN IN LATVERIA

As Doctor Doom enacted some of his more ambitious plans, the X-Men participated in several broader conflicts in Latveria. During Storm's marriage to Black Panther, Doctor Doom attacked Wakanda in an attempt to claim all of the nation's Vibranium. Storm was imprisoned and sentenced to death by the Doom loyalists who had taken over Wakanda. As a result, the X-Men helped T'Challa rescue his wife and retake his country starting in DOOMWAR (2010) #1 by Jonathan Maberry and Scot George Eaton. 

When Doctor Doom manipulated an amnesiac Scarlet Witch into marrying him in order to claim her power, Magneto and the X-Men joined the Avengers in fighting Doom in Latveria during AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE (2010) #9 by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung. After Captain America and Cyclops waged war against each other in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN, the two were reluctantly paired up by a Skrull alien looking for Cadre K, a group of mutant Skrulls who had been trained by Professor X, starting in A+X (2012) #13 by Gerry Duggan and David Yardin. Although Doom initially appeared to help the heroes' search, Cyclops and Captain America ultimately stopped him from harvesting Skrull DNA to create shape-shifting robots.

KRAKOA AND LATVERIA

When the world's mutants came together on the island of Krakoa, Doctor Doom enacted his own plans for his nation's mutants. To protect Latveria from any potential war on mutants, Doom sent Latveria's mutant population to Doom Island, an outpost in the Pacific Ocean that housed 2500 residents, as revealed in X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR (2020) #2 by Chip Zdarsky and Terry Dodson. Doom also brought Pryde and Franklin Richards to the island, ostensibly to treat Franklin's malfunctioning "mutant" powers. 

As Doom prepared to siphon off Franklin's power, the X-Men and Fantastic Four arrived to investigate the island, where they came under attack by a squad of Doombots. After Wolverine slashed into one, the heroes realized Latveria's mutants were being kept in the Doombot armor. Doom responded to this attack by unleashing his Latverian Sentinels: Latviathans. However, the partially restored Franklin used his power to take the Latviathans down, and Professor X gave the island's mutant residents the choice to move to Krakoa. 

Later, Doctor Doom invited Storm to dinner in S.W.O.R.D. (2020) #7 by Al Ewing and Stefano Caselli. After apologizing for the earlier incident with the Doombots, Doom offered Storm advice on the mystical ramifications of the metal Mysterium, which mutants were forging. However, Storm refused his offer and his advances. 

Following that, Doom asked Excalibur for safe passage to the mystical dimension of Otherworld in EXCALIBUR (2019) #23 by Tini Howard and Marcus To. Although the X-team helped Doom recover the possessions of the seemingly late Morgan le Fay, Doom later restored the villain's castle to its place in England.    

Now that the anti-mutant organization Orchis has sent most of the world's mutants off-world, only the X-Men and a few other mutants remain on Earth. In X-MEN (2021) #28, Orchis realized five mutants survived the purge in Latveria. Firestar, the X-Men's spy in Orchis, got that information back to the X-Men and tried to make the anti-mutant organization believe these mutants were inconsequential. After this information reached the X-Men, Pryde, Ms. Marvel, and Wolverine traveled to Latveria to investigate, only to be greeted by Doctor Doom and his new mutant team, who seem far stronger than rumors suggest.

Meet Doom's X-Men in X-MEN #28, on sale now!

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