It was them wasn't it? I'm not sure but I think it was first to have a supervillain ruling a country on a permanent basis wasn't it? Luthor had ruled a planet or two I'm sure, and there was always Ming, but making Dr. Doom the leader of Latveria and having it recognized in the UN... That's kind of a strange idea when I think of it. Is there a back story on this?
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I think it was a pretty shrewd move myself. Giving Doom a country meant that prosecuting him for his crimes was really, really difficult, so that created a lot of story tension, plus gave a plausible reason as to why Doom never seemed to be punished.
Luthor became Lexor's hero before Victor von Doom was revealed to rule Latveria, in publishing history. Of course, Luthor didn't exactly rule Lexor. The people of Lexor loved him and valued all the things he did for them (before he came on the scene they had regressed to a primitive society and their planet was a near desert--after Luthor, they had a rich advanced civilization and a thriving eco-system). And he doesn't appear to dictate to them--they seem to have a just and fair political system that has nothing to do with Luthor (although he may have played a part in drafting their legislation and re-establishing their institutions).
Luthor may have spent years or more at a time on Lexor--but we're never really shown this in the stories (at the end of a couple of stories, we're shown Lex staying with his wife Ardora on Lexor--just how long he stayed there, before taking off to commit another crime on Earth is anyone's guess).
It seems to me that Victor didn't rule Latveria continuously either. He would be there for awhile, but then he would go off to do some more bad business with the FF.
I think Doom had Latveria completely intimidated, so he could go off and do other things while his minions (human and robot) enforced his rule. Did they ever show any opposition to his rule?
Jimmm Kelly said:
It seems to me that Victor didn't rule Latveria continuously either. He would be there for awhile, but then he would go off to do some more bad business with the FF.
Doom bots were pretty active, they had to have been considering how many times he wasn't around. On the other hand it might have been like She from the Rider Hagard novels. Ayesha would vanish for a while, maybe even a century, but everyone was too scared to try and take over. After all unless you see the body Doom probably isn't dead and no one wants to make him mad.
In Doctor Doom's solo feature in Astonishing Tales #1-3 (Au-D'70), we are introduced to Prince Rudolfo, son of King Vladmir who Doom overthrew. He leads a Latverian underground to regain the throne. He reappeared in a long story arc in Super Villain Team Up #8-12 (O'76-Ju'77) where he once again tries to become King when Doom is supposedly dead. He was severely injured and carted off at the end.
He was later revealed to have died in Fantastic Four #198 (S'78) when Reed Richards meets his brother Zorba the Latervian! He possesses an energy-blasting cybernetic eye. He leads forces against an increasing unstable Doom and becomes King of Latervia in FF #200.
But things don't run smoothly afterwards. He had to raise taxes to maintain Latervia's infrastructure and the people weren't happy. Crime returned without Doom's laws. Zorba unleashed modified Doombots to control the population and to ensure his power. In short, he became a worse tyrant than Doom. Doctor Doom returned to power in FF #247 (O'82) and apparently "disposed" of Zorba.
But there was a touching moment when Doom frees his longtime retainer Boris from a harsh captivity.
As Fantastic Four enemies go, I think Sub-Mariner was depicted as a ruler before Doc Doom was. In fact, those scenarios unfolded in two consecutive issues of FF Annual.
That's only because of the great reveal at the end of a Steranko story line with the Yellow Claw that suggests that Doom has been playing chess against some A.I. robot.
Mark S. Ogilvie said:
It did set him up as one of the top villains, able to bother everyone including the FF. At one point I think he was playing games with SHIELD.
The entire establishment of Doom as ruler of a county is revealed in FF Annual #2, where he is unveiled at a banquet in honor of the FF. They appear quite unaware of his majesty prior to that.
I always took that Latveria was the region where Doom had come from...that is, when the whole gypsy-angry mob scene was introduced to give Doom backstory, I took it that he came back and took over. In the first several Dr. Doom stories in the FF, he is shown with a castle in upstate New York, where the Time platform is located.
He has a rocket ship in #6 where he is lost in space.
He walks into the offices of Lee & Kirby in #10, but never has a home base that I can recall..except for wherever he takes Reed to perform the switch.
In #16, he's shrunk down into the Microverse, where he's ruling a kingdom. Upon his return in #17, he has a floating fortress among the clouds.(Oops, spoiler!)
In #23, he's hiring 3 henchmen to capture the FF, and has them imprisoned in a room with particles that will transport them to deep space....but he panics under sue's force field, and steps off into space again.
In FF Annual #2, he then is rescued by Rama-Tut and returned to earth, where he walks into the Latverian embassy like he owns it. (Next time we see this embassy is in DD #37-38.)
And in #36, he's on the throat of Latveria under the delusion that he rid the world of Reed Richards.
So, the concept of Latveria first arrives in FF Annual #2, I believe.
Can anyone back me up on this? His only other two appearances were in Spider-man #5 and Avengers #25, neither of which I recall establish anything new.
Namor might have ruled, but for his early appearances wasn't Atlantis thought destroyed? That was the whole source of his grudge against the surface world.
I thought the story where Doom regained his kingdom from Zorba to be a strange one. In effect the story said that a benevolent tyranny was better than a unsteady democracy.
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I think it was a pretty shrewd move myself. Giving Doom a country meant that prosecuting him for his crimes was really, really difficult, so that created a lot of story tension, plus gave a plausible reason as to why Doom never seemed to be punished.
It did set him up as one of the top villains, able to bother everyone including the FF. At one point I think he was playing games with SHIELD.
Luthor became Lexor's hero before Victor von Doom was revealed to rule Latveria, in publishing history. Of course, Luthor didn't exactly rule Lexor. The people of Lexor loved him and valued all the things he did for them (before he came on the scene they had regressed to a primitive society and their planet was a near desert--after Luthor, they had a rich advanced civilization and a thriving eco-system). And he doesn't appear to dictate to them--they seem to have a just and fair political system that has nothing to do with Luthor (although he may have played a part in drafting their legislation and re-establishing their institutions).
Luthor may have spent years or more at a time on Lexor--but we're never really shown this in the stories (at the end of a couple of stories, we're shown Lex staying with his wife Ardora on Lexor--just how long he stayed there, before taking off to commit another crime on Earth is anyone's guess).
It seems to me that Victor didn't rule Latveria continuously either. He would be there for awhile, but then he would go off to do some more bad business with the FF.
I think Doom had Latveria completely intimidated, so he could go off and do other things while his minions (human and robot) enforced his rule. Did they ever show any opposition to his rule?
Jimmm Kelly said:
Doom bots were pretty active, they had to have been considering how many times he wasn't around. On the other hand it might have been like She from the Rider Hagard novels. Ayesha would vanish for a while, maybe even a century, but everyone was too scared to try and take over. After all unless you see the body Doom probably isn't dead and no one wants to make him mad.
In Doctor Doom's solo feature in Astonishing Tales #1-3 (Au-D'70), we are introduced to Prince Rudolfo, son of King Vladmir who Doom overthrew. He leads a Latverian underground to regain the throne. He reappeared in a long story arc in Super Villain Team Up #8-12 (O'76-Ju'77) where he once again tries to become King when Doom is supposedly dead. He was severely injured and carted off at the end.
He was later revealed to have died in Fantastic Four #198 (S'78) when Reed Richards meets his brother Zorba the Latervian! He possesses an energy-blasting cybernetic eye. He leads forces against an increasing unstable Doom and becomes King of Latervia in FF #200.
But things don't run smoothly afterwards. He had to raise taxes to maintain Latervia's infrastructure and the people weren't happy. Crime returned without Doom's laws. Zorba unleashed modified Doombots to control the population and to ensure his power. In short, he became a worse tyrant than Doom. Doctor Doom returned to power in FF #247 (O'82) and apparently "disposed" of Zorba.
But there was a touching moment when Doom frees his longtime retainer Boris from a harsh captivity.
That's only because of the great reveal at the end of a Steranko story line with the Yellow Claw that suggests that Doom has been playing chess against some A.I. robot.
Mark S. Ogilvie said:
The entire establishment of Doom as ruler of a county is revealed in FF Annual #2, where he is unveiled at a banquet in honor of the FF. They appear quite unaware of his majesty prior to that.
I always took that Latveria was the region where Doom had come from...that is, when the whole gypsy-angry mob scene was introduced to give Doom backstory, I took it that he came back and took over. In the first several Dr. Doom stories in the FF, he is shown with a castle in upstate New York, where the Time platform is located.
He has a rocket ship in #6 where he is lost in space.
He walks into the offices of Lee & Kirby in #10, but never has a home base that I can recall..except for wherever he takes Reed to perform the switch.
In #16, he's shrunk down into the Microverse, where he's ruling a kingdom. Upon his return in #17, he has a floating fortress among the clouds.(Oops, spoiler!)
In #23, he's hiring 3 henchmen to capture the FF, and has them imprisoned in a room with particles that will transport them to deep space....but he panics under sue's force field, and steps off into space again.
In FF Annual #2, he then is rescued by Rama-Tut and returned to earth, where he walks into the Latverian embassy like he owns it. (Next time we see this embassy is in DD #37-38.)
And in #36, he's on the throat of Latveria under the delusion that he rid the world of Reed Richards.
So, the concept of Latveria first arrives in FF Annual #2, I believe.
Can anyone back me up on this? His only other two appearances were in Spider-man #5 and Avengers #25, neither of which I recall establish anything new.
Namor might have ruled, but for his early appearances wasn't Atlantis thought destroyed? That was the whole source of his grudge against the surface world.
I thought the story where Doom regained his kingdom from Zorba to be a strange one. In effect the story said that a benevolent tyranny was better than a unsteady democracy.
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