Following a period of mental instability where Doctor Doom cloned himself and bizarrely named the clone his “son,” and after he subjected the Fantastic Four to a warped reality of “Liddleville,” Doom’s narrative took a turn when he encountered Kristoff, a young Latverian orphan. Adopting Kristoff as his heir, Doom began raising him as a son. Soon after, Doom’s physical form was seemingly destroyed and then reconstructed through a complex scheme involving a herald of Galactus. This led him to the planet Battleworld, a gathering place for villains and heroes alike, where he became aware of the immensely powerful Beyonder. Driven by his insatiable ambition, Doom plotted to steal the Beyonder’s near-omnipotent power, showcasing his ever-present desire to overcome even god-like adversaries.
Doom’s ambition was often met with challenges, even from within his own kingdom. When Kristoff, operating under the imprint of Doom’s own brain patterns, usurped his throne, Doom faced a long and arduous struggle to reclaim Latveria. After a brief alliance with other criminals during the Acts of Vengeance, Doom achieved a personal victory by rescuing his mother’s soul from the Netherworld. However, this triumph was quickly followed by a near-fatal battle with his perennial foe, Reed Richards. Their duel seemingly ended in mutual disintegration, only for a being named Hyperstorm to intervene, spiriting them away to another realm before their eventual return to the living world.
In the aftermath of Onslaught’s devastating war, Doctor Doom journeyed to an alternate reality mirroring his own. After a year spent navigating a distorted version of his life, he returned to Earth and Latveria, immediately setting his sights on annexing neighboring Slokovia. His complex relationship with the Fantastic Four continued to evolve, particularly after his involvement in the birth of Valeria Richards to Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman – his long-standing foes. Doom augmented his magical abilities to match his technological prowess, successfully thwarting Reed Richards’ elaborate plan to imprison him in a specially designed prison, further highlighting their ongoing conflict.
Norman Osborn, the former Green Goblin who had risen to power after the Skrull invasion, invited Doom to join a sinister cabal. Doom’s involvement in global events deepened when he intervened to capture a brainwashed Scarlet Witch, preventing her from destroying the Avengers. For a fleeting moment, Doom attained god-like status by briefly wielding her reality-altering powers. Suffering from memory loss, he responded to a plea for help from Valeria Richards to rescue her father, Reed. This quest led him to the discovery of the Council of Reeds, a gathering of alternate reality versions of his arch-nemesis. In response, and after dealing with a failed Hulk clone, Doom established his own Parliament of Doom, a dark mirror to the Council of Reeds, solidifying his role as a major player and formidable foe in the broader Marvel universe.
