A Guide to the Baron's Favorite Fictional Characters (SPOILERS)

[The Baron]

(Hamlet of Earth-1948)

Real name: Hamlet, son of Hamlet

Aliases/Other Names: None,.

First Appearance: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Occupations: Prince of Denmark, student, avenger

Bases of Operations: Elsinore Castle, the University of Wittenberg

Place of Birth: Elsinore Castle, Denmark

Group Affiliation: Royal House of Denmark

Friends/Allies: Horatio, Marcellus, Barnardo

Enemies: Claudius, Polonius, Laertes

Height: Varies*

Weight: Varies*

Eye Color: Varies*

Hair Color: Varies*

Strength: Above average human

Speed: Above average human

Intelligence: Genius level human

Energy-Manipulation Ability: None

Magic-Manipulation Ability: None

Special Abilities: Excellent swordsman, skilled forger, gifted actor

Special Weapons/Equipment: None.

History: Hearing of his father's death, Prince Hamlet of Denmark returns home from Wittenberg, only to find that his uncle Claudius has assumed the throne and married Hamlet's mother, Gertrude. Already suspicious, Hamlet is visited by a spirit purporting to be that of his father, which asserts that the elder Hamlet was murdered by Claudius. Feigning madness, Prince Hamlet, with his friend Horatio's help, schemes to trap Claudius into a public admission of guilt, which would allow Hamlet to avenge his father and assume the throne of Denmark. Claudius, aware of the threat that Hamlet poses to him, plots to find a way to eliminate Hamlet. Thus begins a game of trap and counter-trap, resulting in the deaths of almost everyone involved, leaving only Horatio behind to watch as young Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, assumes the throne of Denmark.

Why He's a Favorite: Hamlet is the protagonist of my favorite Shakespeare play. I own eight different versions of the play of on DVD, and I enjoy watching them all.  there's just something that I find enthralling about the play, and it's always interesting to see how various actors interpret the part, and how different directors choose to film the story. I enjoy the cat and mouse between Hamlet and Claudius, and Hamlet's interaction with the not-as-clever-as-he-thinks-he-is Polonius. I find it interesting that the only character who seems to be able to match Hamlet's at wordplay is the First Gravedigger. Anyway, you can find way more of what I think about Hamlet here.

*Depending upon who's playing him

[The Baron]

Updating My List So Far

1. Hamlet
2. Winston  Smith
3. Green Lantern Alan Scott
4. The Doctor
5. America
6. Bender Rodriguez
7. Osaka
8. Godzilla
9. Sherlock Holmes
10. Daffy Duck
11. Popeye the Sailor
12. Captain Haddock
13. Excel
14. Speed Racer
15. Baby Bonnie Hood
16. Son Goku
17. Princess Ozma
18. Astro Boy
19. Randall Flagg 
20. Montgomery Scott
21. Superman of Earth-Two
22. Takashi Kamiyama
23. Doctor Strangelove
24. Super Milk-chan
25. Ebenezer Scrooge
26. April Patterson
27. Kayako Saeki
28. Mo Testa
29. Tom Servo
30. Haruhi Suzumiya
31. Frankenstein's Monster (Universal)
32. Worf
33. Gamera
34. Vyvyan Basterd
35. Asterix the Gaul
36. Brian Cohen
37. The Flash Jay Garrick
38. Ellen Ripley
39. Yosemite Sam
40. Doctor Doom

[Randy Jackson]

Doom doesn't need friends. Doom has Doom to keep Doom company and watch True Detective with.

[The Baron]

Randy Jackson said:

Doom doesn't need friends. Doom has Doom to keep Doom company and watch True Detective with.

HAW! HAW! HAW!

[Ron M.]

Secret Wars showed his face, breaking a rule going back half a century.

[Richard Willis]

Magic-Manipulation Ability: Doom has a formidable knowledge of magic and sorcery.

His first appearance was my first Fantastic Four comic. The concept of marrying science and magic was very different. If it had been done before I'm not aware of it. I think the magic part gets overlooked by most writers.

Special Abilities: Doom can psionically switch his consciousness into another body.

Didn't this involve a machine? I know he switched with Reed and Daredevil in the Silver Age. I don't think this is an ability that he "walks around with."

Subsequent writers have usually done a good job maintaining the character's mystique, or at least, often enough that even down unto the present day, Doom is still presented as the most dangerous character in the Marvel Universe.

No writer being able to louse up the character illustrates just how good a character he is.

[Ron M.]

When has he ever used magic for anything? I don't remember ever seeing him cast a spell. The psychic ability to switch minds comes from FF#10 and was something he learned from aliens.

[The Baron]

Richard Willis said:

Special Abilities: Doom can psionically switch his consciousness into another body.

Didn't this involve a machine? I know he switched with Reed and Daredevil in the Silver Age. I don't think this is an ability that he "walks around with."

 

Not sure. The only time I ever saw him do this was when he was fighting Tyros. All I remember is that he was rude to Aunt May afterwards.

[Ron M.]

I think this was one of those powers Stan decided to drop that other writers weren't supposed to pick up and use again, like all those powers Thor's hammer had for one story. Surprised he used it a second time with Daredevil.

[Luke Blanchard]

In Fantastic Four #10 he's learned how to do it from the aliens who rescued him and switches minds with Reed. He uses a machine with a "body-transferral ray" in the Daredevil story.

[The Baron]

Here's the scene I was thinking of. It's from Fantastic Four  #260 (November 1983). Doom has just switched into this guy's brain.

[Luke Blanchard]

In Fantastic Four #10 Doom learns the trick from the Ovoids, who move their minds into another body when they die. The example shown indicates their bodies stay in place and their minds move, as above. But when Doom does it to Reed their bodies switch place or transform. This is quite clear the first time they switch.

[Ron M.]

That might have come from the Great Race of Yith in Lovecraft's Shadow Out of Time. They escaped their dying world by replacing the minds of a weird cone race that lived millions of years ago on Earth, and eventually when they died out jumped into the beetle like creatures that will rule the world after we're gone.