The Fantastic Four are honored with the title of "Marvel's First Family," for inaugurating the modern era of Marvel Comics as readers know it – and along with their debut came the publisher's first great villain, Doctor Doom, who over six decades later still ranks at the top of the list of Marvel's most dangerous bad guys.
In an interview with AIPT, Ryan North – author of the upcoming One World Under Doom series, which features art by R.B. Silva – spoke about "the fun and challenge of writing a Doom story," and elaborated on what makes the masked, Latverian dictator both a complicated, and enduring character in the Marvel Universe.
Currently reigning as Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme, the One World Under Doom crossover event will feature him extending his supremacy to all of Earth, in a move that firmly reminds readers why he is among the biggest threats in Marvel history.
Marvel Writer Ryan North Explains What Makes Doctor Doom The Publisher's Original Greatest Villain
One World Under Doom #1 – Written By Ryan North; Art By R.B. Silva; Color By David Curiel
The release of One World Under Doom #1 is still a month away, but Marvel has been steadily building to this major storytelling event for the better part of a year now. Central to that patient plotting has been a concentrated effort to re-establishing Doctor Doom in a position of prominence, both in-universe – by making him Sorcerer Supreme, in a shocking turn from last year's Blood Hunt event – and also as a character that makes a significant impact in whatever story he appears in.
Writer Ryan North touched on this in his AIPT interview, in the process offering a valuable distillation of what makes Doctor Doom a perennial power-player in Marvel plotlines. As North explained:
The fun and challenge of writing a Doom story is that he is so good at what he does, and what he does is not great. Even when he loses, he extracts something. He takes something from you in that loss that you maybe didn’t want to give him.
In other words, what the author is saying is that Doctor Doom tend to – as they should – have dramatic after-effects for the characters he squares off with, and often, for the wider Marvel Universe in general. There is a gravity to the character's appearances that some other Marvel villains, even some of its most "dangerous," might at times lack.
Doctor Doom's Ability To Leave A Lasting Impression On Marvel Heroes Is What Makes HIm A Legendary Antagonist
One World Under Doom #1 – Main Cover By Ben Harvey; Variant Covers By Rod Reis, R.B. Silva, & More
Often, mainstream comic book stories – this is a storytelling issue faced by both major publishers, Marvel and DC – can be said to do a good job of hyping up a villain as a threat in the beginning and middle stages of an arc. Frequently, though, by the time the hero has managed to triumph in the end, the threat-level of the foe has been mitigated, as once they are neutralized the heroes return to their prior status quo. Arguably, what makes villains memorable is when they leave a lasting impact on the heroes themselves.
The case can be made that this is what defines Marvel's greatest villains, from X-Men's Magneto, to Avengers' Thanos, to Doctor Doom, who has taken his toll on the Fantastic Four countless times over the decades, and has more than once changed the trajectory of the entire Marvel Universe. In One World Under Doom, he will do this once more, and as series writer Ryan North explained, however Marvel's heroes manage to defeat him this time, Doctor Doom will "take something" from them in exchange.
Source: AIPT, Ryan North Interview
One World Under Doom #1 will be available February 12, 2025 from Marvel Comics.
