8 Comic Book Villains Whose Own Desires Are Their Downfall

4. Doctor Doom

The Joker
Marvel Comics

The initial motivation for the Victor Von Doom character was his love for his mother. D’aww.

After his mother Cynthia – who was a witch – messed around a little too much with the all-powerful Mephisto, the end result was her death at the hands of Marvel's equivalent of Satan. Desperate to bring his mother back, Victor began to learn about the dark arts of magic in the hope of combining that with his genius-level intelligence to formulate a way to bring Cynthia back to life.

Unfortunately for Doctor Doom, it was this that led to his downfall.

Victor created a swanky piece of machinery designed to bring back his mother, yet the technology exploded and disfigured him. This would lead to him fully embracing the villainous life of Doctor Doom and spewing hatred on the world around him.

To think, this descent into becoming one of Marvel Comics’ most nefarious of villains all came about because of Doom’s refusal to accept his own personal loss and his desire to be reunited with his mommy dearest.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.