Doom's will be done!

🔥 THIS WILL BE AMAZING

Hmm… I really don't like this 😖

Okay, I do understand Victor a little better now 🤨

Jeez, I really want to like it! 😭

Nope, I still don’t like this... 😖😖

WHY DO I HAVE 15 COPIES OF THIS COMIC?!

Ok so Panini Comics Italy just announced a bunch of Doctor Doom volumes to coincide with Avengers: Doomsday! Panini actually opened the vault. they went in there and pulled out the good stuff!

We're getting the Cantwell/Larroca run in a new deluxe edition (great news: the first volume had been out of print for ages), Infamous Iron Man by Bendis gets finally collected in a proper volume after years of being scattered across single issues, and we're getting a Doomwar Definitive Edition that also includes Doom (2000) and Doom: The Emperor Returns which have NEVER been published in Italy before.

Vol. 1 (with Larroca's exclusive cover for Panini) and Vol.2 of Cantwell's Doctor Doom. Vol.1 is out of print since 2021.

Infamous is especially significant 'cause it's about DAMN TIME it gets a proper collected edition after years of being buried in Iron Man single issues. One minor gripe about the volume: the ending published in Invincible Iron Man up to #600 is missing. (Though I understand why, it gets too tangled up in Tony Stark's disappearance and Riri Williams' story to fit cleanly here... but honestly i'll take it. Would have loved to see the Zdarsky Marvel Two-in-One issues or the Avengers appearances thrown in as bonus material though).

Infamous Iron Man was published on Iron Man #50-60 in 2017... never reprinted and never collected in a single volume.

The Doomwar volume is the real treasure for long-time fans though. Doomwar's getting printed in a single volume for the first time and it itself is actually accessible enough for newcomers (it's self-contained and it presents Victor in full monarch mode, which is exactly what new readers need to understand why this character is different from every other villain). But Doom (2000) and Doom: The Emperor Returns are the real hidden gems here, never published in Italy before, and genuinely important stories because THIS is where the official Latverian aesthetic was born. the Doom mask emblem that's now the character's official symbol, the green flag with the black nordic cross edged in red... it all starts here.

Doomwar's been published in Italy on Fantastici Quattro #314-319 in 2010... never reprinted or collected in a volume.

The editorial choices here are just smart. These aren't the obvious picks. No 1962 Fantastic Four #5 or the classic Lee/Kirby issues here, and that's the right call: a new reader coming out of Doomsday doesn't need a history lesson, they need to fall in love with the character first. Contemporary stories, modern pacing, Victor front and center. You get hooked, then you go digging for the classics yourself. That's how it should work. And these are actually some of the best Doctor Doom stories of latest years.

Is there stuff I still think need a re-release? Yes. Triumph and Torment is out of print and deserves a reprint yesterday. Brubaker's Books of Doom idem: the single volume is out of print and it can be found only in the Book of Doom Omnibus.

Prose novel by DaVaun Sanders.

America Chavez must gather a team of heroes to make their final stand against Doctor Doom and save Franklin Richards.

So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have we watched Doctor Doom claw after power, dominion, and godhood. But what if there was a higher calling just out of his reach? What if he would tame the entire cosmos to claim it? What if… a Watcher saved the Multiverse? 

Victor von Doom was never one to simply accept his fate. He swept his way across the vast labyrinth of the Multiverse, altering the course of universe after universe. But their sacrifice was one he was willing to make. Every new world granted him the means to conquer his destiny and embrace something bigger than himself, a fate beyond the confines of his own reality. And at long last he has the final piece he needs to uncover the whereabouts of the person this was all for: a boy named Franklin.

America Chavez and Kitty Pryde are battered and broken. Thrown together by the wreckage of a shattered universe, they realize that even with the Phoenix Force barely contained within Kitty, they need a team. A team who has as much skin in the game as they do. So America must gather the nexus beings that survived Doom—Loki, the Scarlet Witch, and Venom-Moon Knight—to make one last stand. 

It actually appalled me that Turin, the capital of black magic and mysticism, one of the most esoteric cities in the world part of both mystical triangles of black and white magic, wasn’t chosen for a Doomination. It's just SO PERFECT for Doom.

Piazza Statuto with the monument dedicated to the workers who died during the construction of the Frejus Tunnel is considered the focal point of dark energy, the black heart of Turin: it's the perfect setting.

A grave mishap has shaken Doctor Doom’s empire to its core. More than the shocking revelations about him, more than the clashes with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, the death of an innocent will have unimaginable repercussions. And once again, the fate of the Multiverse rests — quite literally — in the hands of Reed Richards! The grand finale of Marvel’s event of the year! (from Panini Comics May 2026 Preview)

What do they mean with "the fate of the Multiverse rests — quite literally — in the hands of Reed Richards!"??

Un Mondo sotto Destino #8 Doomination Variant Extra by Giuseppe Camuncoli

We were all wondering what this mysterious cover was gonna be about…

I've gotta say, though, as funny and endearing as it is… Victor, I wouldn’t even dare think about replacing Maradona at the Quartieri Spagnoli: Neapolitans are way scarier and more dangerous than any superhero when someone messes with one of their myths XDXD

Through recent readings, I came to realize just how strongly Doctor Doom resonates with the figure of the Fisher King from Arthurian myth 🤯

So... who's the Fisher King?

Parsifal and the Fisher King

In the Arthurian mythology, the Fisher King - also known as the Maimed King, the Wounded King or the Sinner King - is the last of a long line of rulers descending from Joseph of Arimathea, entrusted with guarding the Holy Grail or, in some versions, the Spear of Longinus, both represent the Truth, the Last Light.

He is a wounded and impaired monarch who reigns over a desolate realm known as the Wasteland. The Fisher King's wound can never be healed: only the knight destined to find the Grail can restore him, because the injury itself is not merely physical: it is a manifestation of the king’s own sins, moral failings and spiritual imbalance. His physical impairment is directly mirrored by the condition of his kingdom which is sterile, ruined, and fruitless.

As long as the Fisher King remains wounded, the Wasteland cannot flourish. Only when the right question is asked and the truth acknowledged can the king be healed—and with him, the land itself.

Why Doctor Doom mirrors this archetype with striking precision.

The Fisher King motif has long been tied to Doctor Doom as a character archetype, but it has become particularly apparent in recent stories such as Secret Wars (2025), One World Under Doom (2025), Doomed 2099 (2025) and Superior Avengers (2025). In the latter two, Doom is shown reigning over devastated, barren Earths; literal wastelands.

Doomed 2099 (2025)

These ruined domains are not merely settings, but symbolic extensions of Doom himself, whose inner wound manifests outwardly. This is particularly evident in the case of the Victor von Doom of Year 128 depicted in Superior Avengers: as Sorcerer Supreme, Doom makes himself the sole possessor of magic, effectively becoming its only vessel and binding the fate of that world to himself.

Nothing exists beyond Doom. From Superior Avengers (2025) #2

Doom's wound is both physical and moral. His disfigurement, hidden beneath his mask, functions as a permanent mark of his hubris: his refusal to accept limits, his obsession with mastery, and his belief that only he is fit to rule. It is a wound that cannot truly be healed, because it would require Doom to relinquish his pride and confront his own fallibility. As with the Fisher King, the injury is inseparable from the king’s identity and authority, his suffering reflects the damage and decay of the kingdom he rules.

This parallel can be pushed even further by turning to Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach. In this version of the myth, the Fisher King’s suffering is not merely passive. The Spear of Longinus, the very weapon that wounded Christ, is repeatedly driven into the king’s leg, deliberately reopening the wound and prolonging his agony.

Doctor Doom’s disfigurement functions in a strikingly similar way. His damaged face is a wound he refuses to let close. Doom continually reenacts his trauma through the mask, and through an identity built entirely around the idea of monstrosity. Even when presented with opportunities for healing or restoration, Doom rejects them. Not because healing is impossible, but because the wound has become inseparable from his sense of self.

Victor is asked why he refuses to heal his face by another version of himself from Doctor Doom #10 (2020) by Christopher Cantwell.

This reading aligns with Jack Kirby’s own interpretation of the character: that Doom is not truly hideously disfigured, but bears only minor scars. The real deformity is psychological. Doom considers himself monstrous, and thus he makes himself monstrous. He continuosly flagellates himself by convincing himself he's unworthy and hideous even though it is not the case, to the point where the very sight of his own face cripples him bringing him to desperation and madness.

This is particularly obvious in Fantastic Four #200: when Reed has to unmask him to save his own life, Victor is forced to see his face in millions of solar enhanced reflections and "Doom falls, whimpering like a mindless cur to the ground, grovelling out of control in a painful, contorted rage... that may never see an end." (Marv Wolfman, Fantastic Four #200)

Fantastic Four #200 (1978)

In this light, Doom’s mask is not merely armor or concealment—it is the Spear of Longinus that pierces him again and again, a reminder of sin, pride, and failure, endlessly reenacted. The tragedy of Doom is not that he cannot heal, but that he will not allow himself to do so.

Doom cannot bear the sight of his face from Fantastic Four #10 and the Spear of Longinus is plounged into the Fisher King's tigh.

And yet, just like the Fisher King, Doom is a custodian of truth. He possesses immense scientific, mystical and political knowledge. He understands cosmic forces beyond the grasp of most heroes, and often sees outcomes others cannot. His wisdom and superior vision make him a guardian of the truth about reality, responsibility, and destiny, even if others don't understand it.

Yet this knowledge isolates him. He is the only possible saviour of the entire Marvel universe, he is the one who holds the answer. He knows what must be done, but cannot (or will not) ask the “right question” that would allow genuine restoration because Doom's vision of order can only be imposed, never shared.

Even Doom’s famous banquets echo the Fisher King myth: just as Galahad is welcomed at the Fisher King’s court, Doom receives all visitors both allies and enemies with a grand banquet—an act that is at once ceremonial and symbolic. Doom’s banquets function as thresholds. To dine at Doom’s table is to enter his domain on his terms—an assertion of sovereignty, control, and authority rather than simple courtesy.

Doctor Doom welcomes his guests in Fantastic Four #87 (1969) as depicted by Jack Kirby, and the Fisher King's banquet shown in a miniature from a 14th-century edition of Perceval, the Story of the Grail, by Chrétien de Troyes.

Oh and I won't point out how Doom's always portraited with that damn chalice of red wine in his hand 'cause, well... erm... any similarity to the Grail is purely coincidental? ^^

Doctor Doom from Super-Villain Team Up #10 by Bob Hall and the Fisher King as depicted by AJ King

Latveria: the Suspended Kingdom

Leeming writes that the Fisher King’s people “live, and yet are dead because God punished them after one brother smote the other for his land.” (Leeming David Adams. Mythology: The Voyage of the Hero., 1998.) This image of a population condemned to a state of living death finds a haunting parallel in Latveria under Doom’s rule.

Latverians are alive, protected, and materially provided for, but they exist in a condition of profound stasis. Their lives are stripped of meaningful choice, history, and moral consequence. Doom has ended conflict, but at the cost of vitality.

Latveria itself can be read as a modern variation of the Fisher King’s Wasteland. Not literally, as it is it is an orderly, technologically advanced and prosperous nation, but spiritually.

Latveria is a country suspended outside normal history and politics. It does not grow, change, or evolve through its people, but through Doom alone. It flourishes only insofar as Doctor Doom’s will remains absolute.

Just like the Fisher King’s injury has broken the natural order of his land, Doom's personal wound (his disfigurement, his pride, his unresolved guilt and trauma) prevents true renewal. There is no succession, no future beyond Doom himself. The land cannot outlive the king.

This parallel is particularly explicit in earliest portrayals of Latveria by Lee and Byrne, where the country is depicted as a seemingly idyllic and bucolic land, peaceful, orderly, almost fairy-tale in appearance. Yet beneath this surface lies something deeply unsettling. Happiness is not organic but enforced; dissent is unthinkable; and no one is allowed to leave the country or exist outside of Doom’s absolute control. (It improved over time; nowadays Latveria is no different from any other country, though it remains tied by a single thread of destiny to its king — but that is not what we are discussing here.).

Latveria as depicted by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four (1961) #84

Latverians smile, work, and praise their ruler, but no one is permitted to leave. They exist under the shadow of an ancient, unresolved sin that dates back to Cynthia von Doom's pact with Mephisto. Doom has ended conflict, Doom has brought peace but also a society bound eternally to the wound of its king.

Until that wound is healed, or acknowledged, the kingdom can only remain a controlled ruin, sustained by power rather than renewed by life. Everything is as Doom wants, he is Latveria and Latveria is Doom. They're bound and cursed together.

Latveria as a wounded Camelot

Latveria is a Camelot turned inward. An “ideal” kingdom on paper: a world power orderly, protected, free from crime and chaos, just and luminous but it is an empty ideal. It is just a memory, a promise deferred, a kingdom caught between what it was meant to be and what it can never really become. Its fate is suspension rather than destruction.

Doom, like the wounded king of Arthurian myth, maintains the structure of the realm while its spirit remains unresolved.

Where Camelot waits for the return of the king or the healing of the land, Latveria waits for something that can never arrive because Doom refuses the conditions that would allow healing. There is no space for the Grail question, no knight allowed to challenge the king’s wound. In this sense, Doom is both Arthur and the Fisher King: founder and destroyer, ideal and obstacle, savior and condemnation.

What ails thee?

Such a simple question, isn't it? What pains you? What's causing you trouble? A question Victor knows, and one to which he already knows the answer.

And yet Doom isolates himself ensuring no one can force the question. Reed glimpses it in Secret Wars (2015) by Jonathan Hickman, Valeria in One World Under Doom (2025) by Ryan North, but Victor rejects them, preferring godhood's stasis. The Fisher King's hope lies in prophecy: the pure fool arrives unbidden. But Doom refuses to see them, and refuses to be them.

Even when saviors do appear, their approach must be just right. Reed’s intelligence and intentions are admirable, but his method lacks the purity and perspective required to awaken Doom (let's be honest empathy and tact have never been Reed's stronger qualities XD) . Valeria comes closer, yet Doom’s refusal to acknowledge the truth bars even her.

Valeria tries to make Victor see reason, but Doom denies her pleas in One World Under Doom #8 (2025)

Doom's refusal to truly "ask the question", his refusal to yield to Valeria's plea in One World Under Doom ("Where does this end? Please, Uncle Doom... I want you to stop.") leads to her death by his own hand, forcing a sacrifice that echoes his eternal wound. Yielding means admitting he's doing everything for pride, it means admitting the wound is what defines him.

Reed makes the accusation explicit across multiple arcs. In Secret Wars: “You’re so afraid of losing what you’ve saved… you hold them too tight,” identifying Doom’s grip as the cause of the "Wasteland". In One World Under Doom: “There was perhaps never another man more gifted… and better suited to be a great and benevolent leader, if he chose to be… than Victor von Doom. But instead of helping people, you helped yourself,” diagnosing the hubris Victor reenacts every day.

Victor concedes that Reed would have done a better job than him in re-creating reality... yet he still refuses to accept it or yield. From Secret Wars (2015) #9.

Doom doesn't need to ask "What ails me?": he knows, and these pleas confirm it. Healing demands release: loosening his grip on Latveria and the world, sharing truth rather than imposing it. But that would mean annihilation for him: the mask is the Spear, pride is his kingship.

He may sacrifice godhood, empire, even life but never his pride, preferring stasis over renewal. Reed and Valeria offer the Grail’s light; Doom extinguishes it, condemning his realm, every realm he rules, in every reality, to a state of living death.

Saviors arrive, but the king bars the castle gate himself. Even the right intentions cannot overcome a will so bound to pride and identity.

EDIT: added the last 5 ^^

Some are easy peasy... others are pure Doom-nerd territory ^^ A few were surprisingly tricky to pin down (err... Venom... 😶)

(Keep reading to see them: don’t wanna spoil them to you in case you wanna hunt them down youself: it's fun :D).