Doctor Doom


Name: Dr. Victor von Doom
Aliases: Doctor Doom
Alignment: Evil
Identity Status: Public
Age: 38
Height: 6'2" / 6'7" (in armor)
Weight: 225 lbs / 415 lbs (in armor)
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Powers & Abilities: Doctor Doom is not only a scientific and mechanical genius, but in mastery of magical energies is second only to the Sorceress Supreme herself, Clea. Additionally, he is a gifted leader and brilliant strategist.
Weapons: Suit's various armaments
Base of Operations: Castle Doom, Latveria
Occupation: Monarch of Latveria, CEO DoomCorp
Education: Ph.D., Empire State University, Sc.D. MIT
Group Affiliation: none
History: Victor von Doom was born into a tribe of gypsies in small village just outside Haasenstadt - a place that's now known as Doomstadt - in Latveria. His mother was a gypsy woman named Cynthia, his father a renowned doctor named Werner. When Victor was still young, Cynthia made a pact with the Hell-Lord Mephisto to gain demonic power in order to overthrow the monarch who oppressed her people, King Vladimir. The demon raged out of control, however, killing many in the village, and Cynthia herself was finally slain by a soldier.
Werner was forced to treat Vladimir's wife, and the king blamed Werner when he was not able to cure her cancer. Fearing for their safety, Werner took Victor and fled into the mountains, dying from exposure while protecting the boy. Before succumbing, Werner placed Victor into the care of his best friend Boris, who raised Victor and eventually became his retainer.
In time Victor learned of his mother's practice of sorcery and began dabbling with her magical artifacts himself. He became so proficient at it that he began a tradition of annually challenging Mephisto in order to gain back his mother's soul. By the time he was a teenager he had also become a scientific genius and was engaged in a one-man war against the monarchy of Latveria. So renowned was his genius, in fact, that he was invited to study in New York at Empire State University. At first he turned down this invitation. He was engaged to Boris' granddaughter Valeria and wished not to leave her, but this changed after one of his annual contests against Mephisto. He lost Valeria's soul to the hell-lord.
Wracked with guilt and anguished not only by the loss of his love but also by the loss of the faith of his retainer, Doom accepted the invitation and went to study at Empire State University, having his own goals in mind. Combining his knowledge of science and sorcery and utilizing the resources provided by the institution he attended, Doom constructed a machine to open a portal into Mephisto's realm not to retrieve his mother but to rescue Valeria.... and it worked. He glimpsed into that realm and saw Valeria's spirit bound in chains.... but only for an instant.
Earlier another student whom Victor was studying with, Reed Richards, had noted a flaw in his calculations. Victor secretly double-checked and found that Reed was right, and so fixed this calculation. In doing so he mistakenly calibrated his machine incorrectly. While Victor's calculation had been off before and Reed had indeed corrected it, there was also a flaw in the premise of one of his theoretical constants pertaining to Mephisto's dimension. By sheer coincidence the degree to which his premise was off resulted in his later incorrect calculation returning the correct result. What this means is that if Reed had not intervened to correct his calculation, Victor's machine would have worked.
The machine sputtered and finally exploded, nearly killing Victor. He was severely disfigured and left barely alive. It was sheer will that allowed him to move, to rise, and to begin working again. He combined all the functions of the machines that he now needed simply to survive into one suit of armor, and with this armor fled from the US and from his failure. He found himself in a Tibetan monastery where he began to find some measure of peace again. It was here that he began work on an AI program for his suit that could monitor his vital functions. He named this program VAL, in honor of his lost love.
After finding himself once more he returned to America and made an attempt to complete his education there. Because of the explosion he had caused he was very nearly expelled, but because of the severe damage he sustained in it, the educational board took pity on him and allowed him a chance to submit a single original creation that could benefit humanity. He submitted the designs for his wearable life-support systems, which impressed the board enough that he was granted his doctorate.
He returned to Latveria and there inspired the people to rise up against the aging King Vladimir, and with his mastery of science and sorcery easily overthrew the monarchy, installing himself as leader. It is here he has since sat, king of Latveria.