Doctor Doom is Victor Von Doom, a genius and long-time rival of Reed Richards who became a villain of the Fantastic Four and a scourge to the heroes of the Marvel universe. Whilst at university - during which time he actively pursued his rivalry with Richards - his supposed greatest invention was a machine that he designed to rescue his deceased mother's soul from the netherworld. Richards tried to warn him of some miscalculations, but Doom was too proud to listen. He activated the machine and it exploded in his face. It left him with only minor scarring but, as a perfectionist, Doom despised his new look and it led him down the path of villainy. Ironically, when he created his mask - designed to both look formidable in his role as a villain and hide his existing scarring - he placed it on his face while it was still hot and truly made himself look hideous through scarring. Over time, Doom expanded his scientific knowledge to a superhuman degree and learned magic as well, making him one of the most dangerous characters in comic books.
