ThreeA x Marvel - Doctor Doom: Classic Version.

"My methods are a means to an end, no different than pruning weeds in order to let an orchid flourish. Those who stand in the way of my vision oppose me because they fear me, but more than that they fear what I represent. Change."

- Dr. Doom.

“Confounded, though immortal. But his doom, reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought both of lost happiness and lasting pain torments him.”   
- John Milton, Paradise Lost.  

A mis-interpretation:

Name: Viktor von Verderben.

Alias: Dr. Doom; The Tyrant of Latveria.

Age: Unknown.

Affiliation: Pontifex, Adeptus Ministorum - Ecclesiarchy of Mars (former); The Red Corsairs warband - leader (current).

Abilities: Genius level intellect; master strategist and tactician; cunningness; demagogue; leadership; cybernetic enhanced physiology; master hand to hand combat; technological manipulation; magic manipulation; psychic abilities; slowed aging.

Std. armaments: "Armour of Verderben" - Luna titanium hyper alloy; "Doombolt" - electricity generation; "The Will of Doom" - force field generator; .75mm bolt pistol x 1; Hyper auspex - multi-scanners; life-support system.

Viktor von Verderden was once the Pontifex of Latveria, one of Megagrad shrine hive city of after Imperial Eurasia is conquered by the forces of the Ecclesiarchy of Mars. Latveria administrative borders are established by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. It suffered significant damage and casualties during the Great War. Later Latveria came under the theocratic ruling of the Ecclesiarchy of Mars, become a member of MARSA (Mars Advocates), actively opposing Terra's AMC (Anti Mars Coalition) faction. Large scale fighting has been reduced from 1947 and although regional wars still rage, the fight for dominance between Terra and Mars in The Great War are expressed through global proxy wars between various factions.

In 1956, the Latverian Uprising begun, a spontaneous sector wide rebellion against the ruling faction sponsored by AMC, with thousands of militias being formed as disorder and violence erupted throughout the entire parishes, resulting in the collapse of Cardinal Caedicius ruling diocese. Led by then Preacher Viktor, the Frateris Templar brutally crushed the revolution within a month of fighting. The Cardinal Caedicius bestowed upon Viktor the rank of Pontifex, ruling over Latveria shrine hive city and its parishes. Under his rule, Viktor turned Latveria into an economically viable parish by re-organising its manufacturing industries, essentially turning it into a major military industrial complex. However, it comes at the price of freedom. The sector's population were reduced to servitude and absolute obedience and adherence to the religious theocratic policies of the Ecclesiarchy through fear and terror imposed by Viktor's vast network of the dreaded Preachers, MIssionaries and Confessors. Upon carrying out the purging of heretics, a genocidal act against enemies of the Ecclesiarchy within the sector, Viktor was nicknamed "Dr. Doom". He ruled over Latveria as a dictator for the next twenty decades.

Viktor was born in an underground shrine city on Mars. His father was a Terra aristocrat but Viktor's mother was a Romani, Terrans whom came to Mars during the Great Migration in the nineteenth century. He was orphaned at a young age and taken into a Schola Progenium where Viktor was brought up and trained to be inducted into service for the Ecclesiarchy. He was recognised for his genius level intellect, a polyglot with fiery oratory skills and natural affinity for mastering areas of technology, engineering and cybernetic sciences. Viktor also possesses psychic ability, often considered heretic. He was given exemption by the Wardens but closely monitored by the Inquisitors. As a psyker, Viktor is capable of manipulating the art of sorcery and meta-physics. Upon completion of his tenure at the orphanage, Viktor was inducted as a member of the Inquisitors. He later learnt that his mother was executed by the Inquisitors after being found out to be practising acts of heresy, against the doctrine of the Ecclesiarchy while his father was assassinated by a Martian cult on Terra.

Later, Viktor was assigned to the Frateris Templar as a Preacher. He proved to be a natural leader and insightful tactician in a number of battles. His rise was meteoric from then on, as he rose through the ranks, where his superlative combat skills saw him commanded other commanders with far more practical experience than him. Viktor displayed his true strategic prowess and unleashed innovative tactics that saw his army defeat enemy forces several times their size and power. However, some saw Viktor's rapid ascension and the fanatical devotion of those that served him as a threat, for they feared that the growing loyalty to him was greater than their fellow Templars devotion to the Ecclesiarchy.

During his thirty years of rule, Viktor had experienced several attempts to remove him from power. Each coup was brutally crushed but Viktor had grown paranoid. After each coup attempt, he would swiftly carried out internal purge against those he deemed as heretics and threats to his power. By then Viktor had personally taken matters into his own hands. Viktor's chosen servants and political allies were placed in positions of power, turning Latveria into a pocket empire. He became an absolute dictator, and became known as "The Tyrant of Latveria". Watch bastions were established amongst the sector's borders by his own paramilitary group, the Red Redemption. The Tyrant's Red Redemption militia proved their worth as they were sent to support and repulsed numerous Europa Union army raids, freeing Megagrad own defence force from their defensive stance. The Red Redemption was able to conduct a series of lightning raids beyond the Iron Curtain defence perimeter into outlying areas to harass and destroy Europa Union controlled districts and sub-sectors. With the increase of Viktor's tally of victories, and the curtailing of Europa Union military activity and the increase of manufacturing production never before reached, the fame of Pontifex Viktor grew beyond Megagrad.

The formation of the Red Redemption was far from Viktor's only deliberate move to concentrate all military power within his own hands and that of his shrine city and parishes, as through a system of patronage, charisma, might and political skill he also inveigled the noble houses and commercial interest of those sub-sectors and zones he protected under his direct control, and even suborned the local Deacons and various sects under his personal authority. Spurred by this success, Victor delivered a formal and lengthy petition to Cardinal Caedicius, making a detailed case for completely subduing the neutral sectors of Megagrad's surrounding area. In order to achieve this, Viktor advocated the deployment of several more Frateris Militia and Templars to the Red Redemption ranks to meet the needs of his plan. Unfortunately, Viktor's petition was dismissed without full hearing on the grounds that the requirements of the Ecclesiarchy were better met elsewhere. In his arrogance and pride, Viktor began to seek ways to expand his army.

By the mid-70s, Latveria submission of manufacturing tithes to the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars became infrequent and incomplete. Although an initial cause for concern, such occurrence was not uncommon, particularly sectors which deployed their armies to border areas or on a crusade, simply because they would need to temporarily retain the tithes to sustain battlefield losses. But as the omission persisted, the Adeptus Mechanicus begun to secretly investigate and found out that Latveria had been withholding the tithes to expand their own parishes' army and reinforcing its defences. Viktor had also begun to withhold the submission of Latveria incomes tithes to the Creed Temporal of Adeptus Ministorum. He ordered primary supply and trade passages to be blocked unless direct permission was given by him. The clashing entitlement of the Adeptus Ministorum's tithe and the ancient rights of a Pontifex to defend a shrine city and parishes by any means necessary swiftly came to be known as the Latveria Schism and would last for more than a year and a half, during which Viktor and the Red Redemption would continue to carry on military operations as usual, against a volatile backdrop of worsening tensions with the Administratum and Segmentum authorities.

Viktor's downfall began when political conditions throughout Terra and Mars worsened. His plans were thwarted by causes beyond his control. Increasingly dictatorial and paranoid, the megalomaniac leader of Latveria plunged his sector into a war known as The Megagrad Civil War. It began when the Arch Deacon of Adeptus Ministorum officially charged Viktor, his shrine city and parishes with heresy, deceit and treason. This was due to Viktor's secret negotiation with the ICG (Independent Countries Group) faction for military alliance in return for full independence of Latveria as well as rejection of Lectitio Divinitatus, the central doctrine of the Ecclesiarchy that proclaimed the Ecclesiarch Boniface as Messiah of Humanity. Though Viktor became an increasingly unstable commander, throughout the war he remained a brilliant tactician who favoured strategies of stalwart defence married to high-speed counter attack and subtle flanking actions. He also led many of his strike forces from the frontline where he could, inspiring the warriors that followed him and assuring them of the righteousness of their cause.

The war burnt for seven weeks, consuming millions of lives and destruction of Megagrad sectors. The uprising came to an end with the fall of Latveria last defence line and the loyalist Frateris Militia occupied the capital of Latveria, Haasenstadt and moved directly towards Viktor's shrine palace. The Red Redemption and their vassal forces made the Frateris Militia bleed for every scrap of ground, but hour by hour, more of their defensive positions were lost, and the tally of dead mounted. Viktor made a final stand and was mortally injured with a melta blast. The Tyrant fell, and the civil war ended. Scoured from the Holy Synod records, the honours won by Viktor and the Red Redemption in their long service became ash after being put into memory holes, their domains given to those who had cast them down.

Yet, the Tyrant lived. Taken from the battlefield by a cadre of his veterans, he had clung to life through sheer force of will, despite being reduced to an unrecognizable heap of charred flesh and armour and missing most of his torsos. They managed to fight through the Exorcists' blockade and fled into deep space, taking refuge in the Outer Rim Territories, eventually settled on Charon. There the tech-priests and apothecaries laboured over the remain of Viktor over a week on the icy, barren world. When he came into consciousness and rose, Viktor saw what was left of his troops. The former Cardinal himself looked into a reflection of his current self - a walking body of scar tissue and machinery, its wound-chewed face twitching from an agony held back by his iron will. Without a word the Red Redemption knelt to Viktor then and there in reverence. He beheld his remaining warriors in silence and, through the film of pain and near-death madness, saw a new path for him and his surviving followers. He spoke then, telling them to rise. They would survive, he said, and they would rise beyond their current state. For during his state of unconsciousness, he had journeyed into the Seas of the Undead, encountering entities, gods and goddesses, learnt from them and gained his absolute faith and believe in them. With their powers, Viktor and his followers shall rise in glory once more.

Viktor exposed networks of cybernetic prosthesis, neural sensors, transfusion ports and mechanical joints would be sealed within a master crafted armour called the Armour of Verderben. It is a completely enclosed suit of combat armour composed of shaped plasteel ceramic composite plates, encased in Luna titanium hyper alloy. The plug-in points mesh with the armour, linking Viktor's nervous system to his suit's mind impulse controls, turning the suit into a second skin that moves with all the enhanced speed and precision of his own body. The electrically motivated fibre bundles within the armour replicates the Viktor's movement and enhances his physiology to that of a superhuman level. The armour possesses a full suite of life-support functions for operation in hostile environments, an automated medicae system to provide some level of first aid to Viktor and the Auspex, the highly advanced and fully integrated tactical targeting, threat analysis system with auto multi-sensors. As an integrated life support system, it should be noted that Viktor would not survive without the armour. But nevertheless, it slowed down Viktor's aging. The suit is powered by an alternative version of the ultra-compact Arc Reactor refined by Ezekiel Starke of which Viktor secretly reversed engineered personally. Physically imposing, Viktor has reincarnated as a giant of a half man half machine.

The armour also serves as a weapon by itself. Viktor could generate electrical bolt to shock and kill an enemy or disable vehicles. In full extent, the armour enabled Viktor to unleash a massive electrical storm covering distance of up to ten miles radius, infamously known as "Doombolt" which melt flesh and vaporise metals. The entire armour is protected by a force field which was tuned to withstand any form of projectile, energy weaponries as well as psychic and magical attacks.

After coming back from the brink of death, Viktor's full psychic potential was unleashed and amplified. He drawn much of his power from dark rituals, daemonic pacts and unholy incantations which all draw to some extent on the power of the Warp. Viktor constantly seek out additional sources of esoteric and forbidden information. He had secretly studied a broad array of arcane knowledge, including ancient practices, legends, and secrets long thought lost. No targets or types of data may be off-limits. Virtually any information is useful as it could be enough to persuade the sponsors within the Warp to empower him yet further. The notion of forbidden knowledge is anathema to Viktor, as he knew that his personal destinies transcend any mortal strictures. As a psyker, Victor possesses the powers of telekinesis, technopathy, gravitation, short distance flight as well as precognition, magic combat and defence. His powers extend to include altering the flow of time around himself, allowing Viktor to attack with supernatural precision, making his foes to spontaneously combust, absorbing negative energies of a battlefield and then unleash rolling energies which leaves the victims burning like wax, overloading his enemies with sensory and nervous system causing them to behave in frenzy before dying with all bones in their bodies break.  Officially, Viktor had become a tech-magos for his actual power was bestowed upon him by the foul warp entities from the Immaterium which he utilised in combination with his knowledge of technological science. He is one of the handful of individuals whom could hold his own in a combat against a Nom de Plume of the NOM Legion. This made him one of the most dangerous individuals in the entire Sol System.

Viktor carried a sidearm, a .75mm bolt pistol of ancient design, with armour piercing depleted uranium tipped, rocket propelled explosive ammunition. He used this to execute dying, unworthy enemies.

As Viktor put on his armour, sealed perpetually within, he held his audience and declared that this was the new beginning, for he is Doom, and what person, short of being a god, would dare stand against him? With that declaration, Viktor von Verderben, now referred to as Dr. Doom, would embarked on a journey to rebuilt his army, the power that was denied him and to reclaim his lost from the Terra and Mars governments. The Red Redemption was re-named the Red Corsairs, and Viktor would led them to plunder, sowing discord and chaos across the Sol System from his base at the Outer Rim Territories.

..............................................

Dr. Doom, the long time nemesis of The Fantastic Four, is one of the most recognisable and iconic villians in comicdom. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #5 on July 1962, wearing his trademark metal mask and green cloak. Unfortunately I am not a fan of The Fantastique Foursome and as such I don't know much about the armoured cladded villain. After the Iron "Floppy Body" Man, this is the second figure to be released by ThreeA x Marvel line. Three variants were released on Bamba, the classic, stealth and "ghost" version. White colourway is out, so it narrowed down to either classic or stealth. I bought classic version but sent an email to 3A CS to change it to stealth to go in line with Iron Man Stealth version. Curiously I was informed it would be changed but lo and behold, when the figure arrived, it is the classic version. Initially a bit disappointed but that changed when I saw the classic version in hand and likes it immediately. No floppy torso joint this time 'round because there's no chance to move it as I believe the torso is designed to be static in order to accommodate the lighted up feature. This applies to the neck joint as well. Overall figure design is great (or else I wouldn't be detonating my wallet on it), very Ashley Wood-ish, just like Ironic Man and of course, based on the classic rendition of the character. No loose joints. 'Cept that once I tried to pose the figure, one of the finger joints became loose like a goose. Sigh...never mind. The colourway is nice and absolutely loves the overall texture. Comes with a sidearm which looks like a Luger, but extra big to go hand in hand with the rather taller than usual 1/6th figure. It is said that Dr. Doom carries a sidearm, but a Mauser instead, to dispose of enemies not of his worth. Again I am too lazy to get any batteries for the lighted up feature. Maybe later. I took the entire "mis-interpretation" from Games Workshop/Forge Worlds' The Badab War character, Lugft Huron (how do we pronounce his name?) and as usual certain background elements from WH40k.