The Fantastic Four have faced some of the greatest threats in the entire universe and beyond in Marvel Comics, but most fans likely consider Doctor Doom to be their biggest villain. The intense rivalry between Victor Von Doom and Reed Richards, along with the rest of his family, has formed the spine of sixty years of comic book stories.
Doctor Doom's galactic insecurity and lust for power have driven him into conflict with the Fantastic Four again and again, leading to some of the most consequential events both in and out of the main Marvel continuity of Earth-616. The roap to the Fantastic Four's story in the MCU is likely drawn in the many comic battles with Doctor Doom.
Doctor Doom Replaced Reed Richards
The driving force between the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom rivalry is really the intense jealousy Doom has for Reed Richards. That manifested in perhaps its most shocking form during 2015's Secret Wars comic book event, when Doom rewrote reality and replaced Richards at the heart of the Fantastic Four.
Doom completely collapsed reality to the point where he positioned himself as leader of the Fantastic Four and husband of the Invisible Woman, all in a maniacal attempt to live the life of his most hated enemy.
He Blames Reed Richards For His Injury
Comic book fans know that Doctor Doom is defined by his iconic metal mask. In the original version of his origin story, Victor Von Doom blamed Reed Richards for a scientific experiment gone wrong at their university. The experiment resulted in Doom's altered appearance and need for the mask.
The accident came about when Ben Grimm tampered with a machine Doom invented to try and communicate with his dead mother Cynthia. Though Doom considered himself horribly transformed, the scars were in fact relatively minor.
Doom Becomes Beyonder
The rivalry between the team reached one of its peaks in the 1985 version of Secret Wars, when Doctor Doom acquired the power of The Beyonder, one of the most powerful Marvel cosmic beings.
In issue #12, he achieves possibly his greatest victory against the Fantastic Four when he kills them along with most other Marvel superheroes. This was a bleak moment for comic book fans, but by the end of the issue, the heroes had been restored through the power of The Beyonder, and Doctor Doom was punished for his actions.
Doctor Doom Helps Deliver Valeria Richards
Doctor Doom and the Fantastic Four are bitter rivals, but they have found common ground in some cases. One of the most significant, and consequential, was the birth of Valeria Richards. Doom actually helps Sue Storm deliver Valeria through a difficult pregnancy after the Human Torch asks him for help.
Doctor Doom's motives might have been complicated - Reed Richards wasn't there for the event because he was otherwise engaged in saving the world - but his concern and efforts seemed to be sincere. With his magical knowledge and ability, he helped deliver Valeria.
The Time Platform
The Fantastic Four not only had to deal with Doctor Doom's ambitions in the present, but in the past and future as well. With the invention of the Time Platform, Doom began a quest to increase his knowledge and power by raiding history.
Time travel would be a recurring theme in the rivalry, as Doom used the platform to go back in time to steal Blackbeard's Treasure, Merlin's Stones, and other artifacts. The Fantastic Four were there to stop him every time. The Time Platform would also play a key role in the team's first encounter with Rama-Tut, one of the most powerful Kang The Conqueror variants.
Crashed Weddings
Doctor Doom's pettiness toward the Fantastic Four knew no bounds, and in Fantastic Four Annual #5, he sought to disrupt the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman by unleashing essentially every Marvel supervillain on them at the same time.
Many years later, Doctor Doom's wedding is itself disrupted by the Fantastic Four, but it's not intentional. Doom actually asked Reed Richards to be his Best Man, but the ceremony descends into chaos when it's revealed that Johnny Storm had a prior romantic relationship with Doom's fiancee.
The Terrible Trio
Doctor Doom is a genius and one of the most powerful magicians in the Marvel Universe, but sometimes that wasn't enough for him with the Fantastic Four. He created the Terrible Trio, a group of supervillains, to destroy the team in issue #23 of Fantastic Four.
All three of the Trio were originally regular people who Doom endowed with superpowers. The gambit didn't work though, and the Terrible Trio would end up in prison for their actions. They would remain loyal to Doctor Doom and periodically try to get back at Fantastic Four, to no avail.
Killing Reed Richards
The rivalry between Reed Richards and Doctor Doom ended, seemingly, when Doom killed Richards in Fantastic Four #394 in the 90s. The two had been working together against an alien threat known as The Hunger, but Doom took advantage of the situation to get his ultimate revenge on his enemy.
Doom and Richards didn't actually die, but were transported to the future by a villain called Hyperstorm. Hyperstorm was in fact the superpowerful son of Franklin Richards, and therefore Reed's grandson, from an alternate reality.
Inspiring Kang The Conqueror
The rivalry between the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom has has major consequences for both, and for the world. It's also influenced the behavior and actions of other major villains, such as Kang The Conqueror.
Not only did Doctor Doom's Time Platform contribute to the FF's first meeting with Rama Tut, Kang The Conqueror was inspired to create a suit of battle armor based on Doom's. Kang's armor was constructed from technology and material from the 31st century, which he's used to plague the present-day Marvel Universe ever since.
Teaming Up With Namor
Doctor Doom generally sees himself as the king of the hill in Marvel Comics, but that hasn't stopped him from aligning with other supervillains. Early on in the Marvel Universe, Doom teamed up with Namor the Sub-Mariner to take out the Fantastic Four in issue #6 of the series.
He preyed on Namor's anger and grief over the loss of Atlantis to convince him to trick the FF into thinking he was offering a truce while Doom then planted a bomb inside the Baxter Building. The scheme didn't work but proved that the Fantastic Four were never safe so long as Doctor Doom was around.
